Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? 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 say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. (John 14:8-11)
God Sent His Son
It is very easy to get the wrong impression of God. Indeed, it’s harder to understand who God is when surrounded by so many competing approaches. The Bible was full of episodes before Jesus arrived for His earthly ministry, of times when people misunderstood God. A great example of this was the book of Job, where his three friends offered insights into Job’s condition, as if they knew God. That particular episode ended with God telling those three that their lack of knowledge of Him was egregious enough to require them to get Job to pray on their behalf.
The mission of God, as revealed through the sending of His Son to fulfil His will, forgive, and redeem humanity, required demonstrating His love, which in turn necessitated setting the record straight for people to understand who God is. The Son was keen to do everything pleasing to the Father and only what the Father instructed so that people could see the Father for who He is.
One episode of this was recorded in Mark 2:1-12. Jesus is presented with a paralytic man whose friends had raised the roof to get the man in God’s presence. Jesus’ first port of call in addressing the man was to forgive His sins, enraging some of the onlookers who could quietly murmur their disapproval. The disapproval stemmed from the belief that Jesus wasn’t capable of such an act. The fact that He proved that He could, reinforced who Jesus was and gave insight into who the Father is – not one looking to deal with the presenting issues, but to address the matters of the heart. As Jesus reinforced this by healing the man, the people could praise God for what He did in revealing His mercy and compassion.
It was not always obvious that this was part of Jesus’ agenda. This is evident from what we read in John 14, where even those closest to Him did not fully grasp the purpose of the entire ministry. If they needed to see the Father, they could see what He was like all in the Son. That breakthrough and insight would have great implications for the understanding of who God is. It shines a light on all that we read Jesus doing to appreciate that it is to reflect the character and heart of the Father in such union.
So God sends us
We have a mission. That mission has a message at its heart. That message is delivered by us as we serve others as ministers of reconciliation. Yet all of this is not effective until we realise who we are as the children of God. As His children, before we do anything, we must appreciate that, as we belong to Him, so we are responsible to represent Him. And this degree of representation works similarly to how it was with Jesus. We clearly cannot be God as the Son was – but we can certainly display the qualities and characters of God in our behaviour as well as our beliefs.
Among the ten commandments was one that said we should not take the name of the Lord in vain. For us, in the light of the gospel, those who follow the Lord Jesus have a responsibility not to put the name of the Lord into disrepute. It’s more than the words we say; it’s about what our character and conduct reveal to the world who God is. That means our focus on who God is helps us tremendously to display that to others. That means that as we reflect light, we reflect what we witness in Christ – it’s not just an interpretation or our best guess, it’s what happens because we abide in Christ and His word lives in us. As He fills us with His Spirit, so we pour out reflections of the righteous, holy, merciful, peaceful, joyous, compassionate, wise and loving God.
Our challenge is to see what it means to be sent in this way today. What does it look like in our relationships, work activities, serving, and conversations? How can we better understand what it means to celebrate how Jesus shows us who the Father is? How do we express that on the individual and communal level?
As the Father sent the Son, He is sending us.
For His Name’s Sake
C. L. J. Dryden
Shalom
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