Show Us The Father...

I have been thinking a lot recently about the relationship between the Father and the Son. Here is what the Scriptures say:

Jesus said to [Thomas], “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Phillip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Phillip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves” (John 14:6-11).

I must admit that certain spiritual practices do not seem very Christian to me. Some of these practices supposedly help Christians “see” the Father have a relationship with the Father alone. However from John 14, it is clear that Christ is quite insulted by this because it fails to recognize the fact that the fullness of God has been manifested in the person of Jesus. Thus, those who want to do the Father’s will only have to look to the Son. It is not correct to try to unite our spirits with some divine, omnipresent energy. It is not correct to start with the Son and try to go beyond to the Father. The Son is not an intermediate being that we must go beyond to understand God more fully. If we want to understand the Father and do his Will, we follow the Son and his will. When we attempt to unite our spirit with some spirit in the sky, we create our own God, a God similar to a Hindu or Buddhist deity where each god is one aspect of the divine being. Christ is not one-third God, nor is he only an aspect of God. All that the Father wills, the Son has manifested. Those who want to go beyond Christ do not seem to understand that Christ is the fullness of God. 

So, when we ask like Phillip, “Show us the Father” we are telling Christ that we do not know him.

Ezekiel Part 1: God's Relationship With Israel

Alright, I promised you all a reflection on the book of Ezekiel. Here goes. This was a really challenging book for me, probably the toughest book I’ve ever read in the Bible (even harder than Revelation…and that’s saying something). It is hard to follow what God tells Ezekiel. One moment, He seems to condemn the Israelites and tell them that they will be destroyed forever, and the next moment, He says, “You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God” (Ezekiel 36:28). I am going to post two reflections on this book. Today I’ll attempt to explain God’s intentions for the Israelites.




Ezekiel - Sistine Chapel



God wants to punish the Israelites. However He has a reason for this. It can be summed up in one verse that appears slightly differently in numerous places in the book of Ezekiel. “You will suffer the penalty for your lewdness and bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD” (23:49). Thus, God, once again, wants to wake the Israelites up to the Truth. Unfortunately, it is not in the good times that people remember the Lord but in the bad ones. By punishing the Israelites through captivity by the Babylonians and Egyptians, God reminds the Jews that He cares about His people, that He desires a relationship with His people and is angered when He is forgotten and even insulted. Ezekiel’s message to Judah is shocking. Yes. But God has plans for the Jewish people and even the Gentiles. God’s anger does not last forever. “For I am God, and not man – the Holy One among you” (Hosea 11:9b). God wants to unite all people. “I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken” (Ezekiel 34:23-24). And we all know who this new David is. Jesus Christ. In Ezekiel, God compares himself to a shepherd who is in charge of a flock of sheep. “I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice” (34:15-16). Elsewhere God proclaims to the “wicked prince of Israel,” “Take off the turban, remove the crown. It will not be as it was: The lowly will be exalted and the exalted will be brought low (21:26). This proclamation is echoed in many places in the scriptures. Hannah sings, “[The LORD] raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor” (1 Samuel 2:8). Mary echoes Hannah in her Magnificat: “He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty” (Luke 1:52-53). God wants to show the Israelites the Truth. He wants them to see that life is a gift, a sacred gift. He is the Father, the One who gives the gifts, but He wants respect. Will we love God as He loves us? Or will we only recognize Him when it is too late?