The Father's Love

Yesterday Dennis had the privilege of ministering at our home church. It being Father's Day, it came as no surprise that he ministered about fathers. First, he touched on human fathers, then segued into comparing them to our heavenly Father. You can find his notes on our site in the Bible Notes section under the title, "Our Heavenly Father." To me, the most wonderful part of his sermon was his explanation of the indisputable proof that God the Father does indeed love us. So many times we, as humans, fall prey to the sinister whispers of the enemy, "God doesn't love you!" But what could show greater love than His sending His only begotten Son to earth to die in our place? There is no love greater than that. That is proof positive that God does love each one of us, come what may.

And, having enjoyed Dennis's reflections on the theme, and since Father's Day has come and gone, why go back to it? I have tried, tried, tried to go on to another subject for this blog but I just can't seem to move on. The theme of our Father's love for us keeps drawing me back like a lodestone, so here goes ...

As Dennis spoke, one thing reverberated in my spirit. Remember the passage in John where Philip comes to Jesus and says, "Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us"? Do you remember what Jesus answered? "Have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father ... I am in the Father and the Father in me ... the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works" (John 14:8-10). Jesus spoke the words of the Father. Jesus did the works of the Father. Jesus was a perfect reflection of the Father.

This was a reiteration of something Jesus had said earlier in His ministry. In John 5:19 Jesus had said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise". But the disciples hadn't "gotten" the fact that if Jesus does and says what the Father tells Him to, seeing Jesus is like seeing the Father.

One of the many books I love is Bruchko, by Bruce Olson. It sets forth the story of Olson's work as a missionary with the Bari people, a tribe indigenous to Colombia and Venezuela. Missionaries had been stymied in sharing the gospel with them because of the language barrier—until the advent of a very young Bruce Olson (only 19 when he went to live with them). He shares many fascinating stories, how he gained their trust, how he broke the language divide ... One of the concepts that teased Olson, remained beyond his ability to help them grasp, was the how and why Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth.

It turned out that a Bari legend helped him relate the advent of Jesus in terms understandable to their culture. This particular legend explains how the leafcutter ants in their part of the world began to make the distinctive mounds of excavated soil for which they are known on top of their tunnel holes. Before the leafcutter ants began making those distinctive mounds, the legend says, their tunnel openings were like those of any other ant species. The problem with that was that come rainy season, their tunnels got flooded with water. A Bari man tried to get them to start protecting those entrances by surrounding them with mounds of dirt. But the ants were so small and the Bari man so big that the ants were terrified of him and could not understand him. So the Bari man made himself small like the ants so that they could hear his words and understand them without fear. Does this remind you of anything? (Note: it's a great story but don't do what I did. I made a paper maché ant to act it out with puppets for children's church. I had little children crying they were so scared of the big ant!)

That legend is a perfect portrayal of what Jesus did. When God spoke to the children of Israel at Mount Sinai, He wanted to have a one-on-one relationship with each one. But they were so terrified of His greatness, they begged Him to talk to Moses only and let Moses be their intermediary (Exodus 20:18-19). They were afraid like the ants. But in His love and mercy, God gave it another go. He sent Jesus to be our intermediary, One Who could show us in an unthreatening, tangible way all the aspects—all the love—of our Father. One we could see, understand, and love. One we could relate to.

So when we look at Jesus' life, we are also seeing the Father. As we see the love of Jesus poured out for us in His life and ministry, we are seeing the very same love of the Father. There's the biggie, of course—His death on the cross in our place. But we also see many other acts leading up to that climax of love. We see Jesus healing the sick, ministering tirelessly to crowds, patiently explaining to his dense disciples the mysteries in the Scriptures, showing mercy to widows, touching the untouchable, reaching out to the ostracized, loving on snotty-nosed children. We see Jesus. We see the Father. We see love personified.

Maybe you're like me, never having known the love of your earthly father. Mine died when I was just three weeks old. But! I have Jesus. I have my Father in Heaven. I have the most perfect love ever. And no matter the circumstances of your backstory, no matter how terrible or devastating they might be, He extends that same love to you, too. Never, ever doubt: He loves you.

"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor an other creature, shall be able to separate us form the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38).