Jesus and His Father

March 30, Thursday, the Fifth week of Lent
Genesis 17: 3-9; John 8:51-59

My idea of God will determine my relationship. A father and son went to a supermarket. After their purchase, they went to the counter to pay the bill. As the father was waiting for the bill to be paid, the owner of the shop opened a little box of sweets and offered it to the boy. “Take as much as you want, little boy,” He said, “You can put your hand and take as many as you want” he repeated. “Dad, you take,” the boy whispered into the ears of his father.” The father tried persuading the boy to pick up the sweets, but the boy insisted that the father picked them up. So the father picked up a handful of sweets from the box, paid the bill, and walked out of the supermarket with his son. On the way back the father asked the boy why he insisted that his father picked up the sweets. The boy replied, “Because you have big hands.” His idea of his father was big, he believed that his father was a big man with big hands and could provide him with much more than what he needed.

In the gospel according to Saint John chapter 8 verses 51 to 59, Jesus speaks about his relationship with his father. For the Jews, God was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was the God of the covenant, the God who created them, made them a chosen people, redeemed them, and punished them. But for Jesus, God was his father. He said, “I do know him and keep his word.” His experience of God as his father helps him keep His word. They find it difficult to accept this notion of God because they had a fixed idea about God.

What is my idea about God? A child born to an abusive father will find it difficult to love because his idea of his father is distorted by his experience. In the same way, if we have a distorted image of God, it is difficult to enter into a deep relationship with him and his creatures. May we experience the power of God’s love that we can in turn become instruments of God’s love. Because God is our loving father and mother.