Day 6 The Father’s Tender Love

The Father’s Tender Love

“If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father … Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me who is doing his work”   John 14:8-10

Because Jesus was one with the Father and embodied the truth and life of the Father, He could say to His disciples, “If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.” Jesus recognised His disciples still don’t fully grasp His relationship to God the Father.

From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Because Jesus’ words and works have right though His public ministry been the Father’s words and works (7:16; 9:24; 12:49), what did Jesus mean by “From now on”? The phrase infers some kind of change. Our clue is the context of the passage. Jesus has been explaining to His disciples why He must leave them. Leaving them means, of course, His death and resurrection and nothing will so reveal the Father’s gracious and tender love for humanity than His sending His Son to die for us. The events of the next twenty-four hours will significantly enhance their understanding of the Father’s character as it is revealed through the Son’s actions.

‘Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?”’ There is disappointment in Jesus’ words. Despite living among His disciples for three years, they still couldn’t grasp who He really was. “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” Because Jesus and the Father were (and are) one, anyone who had seen Jesus has seen the Father.

Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?” The disciples had come to believe that Jesus was the Holy One of God who had the words of eternal life (6:66-69) and they accepted Him as their Teacher and Lord (13:13,14) but they still could not grasp His unique union with the Father. So Jesus explained, “The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me who is doing his work.” The words and works of Jesus were the words and works of the Father in Him. So even the words Jesus spoke were not His own words because, as He spoke, the Father living in Him was ‘doing his work.’

Western society is particularly “fatherless.” Even those of us who grew up with fathers often found them falling well short of the biblical picture of a father, let alone what we see in Scripture of the heavenly Father. Unfortunately the picture we have in our minds of God the Father is very largely shaped by how we see our earthly father. If your dad was distant, or for whatever reason just “not there,” that’s how you tend to picture your heavenly Father.

Jesus came to put wrong perceptions to rest. Because He was one with the Father, the Father’s character was perfectly reproduced in Him. The Father’s words came from His lips. The Father’s works flowed from His hands. To see Him was to see the Father. If this is strange and new territory for you, ask the Father to reveal to you what He’s really like, and as you read the gospels, recognise this is the Father living out who He really is through the Son.

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