We Have Seen the Father

 ⁸ Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
 ⁹ 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. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? -John 14:8-9


If we want to know what God is like, Jesus said to look at him.  Lately in my poking around the internet looking for good thoughts to blog about, I have been reading a lot of comments about the wrath of God.  Things like, "Yes, God is love, but don't forget about God's wrath."


And so I look to Jesus to see what God's wrath is like.  Apparently God gets angry when the "religious" people make it difficult for others to find their way to him.  Jesus overturned the money changers' tables and told off the Pharisees for making the rules too hard to follow.  He had harsh words for those who didn't make room for the paraplegic to come to him and his friends had to bring him through the roof.  He even chastised his own disciples for trying to keep the children away from him.


Jesus' wrath could be harsh, but his discipline was always corrective.  He didn't see someone doing an injustice and strike the wrongdoer blind or lame or dead.  His "wrath" was focused on bringing people back to him, never on eliminating them from his love.  And if we have seen the Son, we have seen the Father.


If we look at some of the Old Testament books that talk about God's wrath, we might find a very different view of it.  But dig deeper.  Read it in context of how we can now see the Father in view of the Son.  It is a redemptive wrath.  And in every context I can think of, God's "wrath" is really nothing more than God saying, "Okay, then, THY will be done."


After warning us time and time again through prophets and his own law about what will happen to society when we turn our backs on Him and follow our own lusts, and we continue to ignore those warnings, of course our societies will crumble!  God does not need to shoot down lightning bolts of war and famine and banishment.  We do it to ourselves.  


I can think of nothing more terrifying than God leaving us to ourselves and saying, "Okay, then, THY will be done."


Father,
We have seen you in the face of your Son and know that you are loving, forgiving and only want the best for us.  Help us to follow your ways so that we can live according to your will instead of our own destructive will.  Amen.


Joys: Reunion group this morning; the joy of my young neighbor over the gift of some used books; Friday