Our Father?

Of the world's major faiths, Christianity alone has the audacity to
refer to the pre-existent, Creator-God of the universe as "Father." Yet
even that familiar term is misleading. The word, abba, as used in
the New Testament is best translated simply, "Daddy." How did Christians
arrive at such familiarity?

Perhaps the relationship actually began that way. The Genesis account
of creation in the Bible makes it clear that a personal, one-to-one
relationship existed between the first man and woman, and God, their
Creator-Father. And that relationship was obviously important to God --
else why would He have spent time walking and talking with them in the
Garden of Eden? And why would He have been so upset at their act of
disobedience that opened the canyon of separation between them and
himself? (Gen. 3)

For the first time, the man and the woman understood who they were,
who God was -- and each saw at once the unfathomable gap that had been
opened between them. They had lost the intimacy of the relationship with
their Father-God, the Daddy who had provided for all their needs -- and
because they had not yet known evil -- their desires, as well.

In the thousands of years that intervened, communication between God
and man became an oddity -- limited to necessity -- and carried out by a
smattering of priests, prophets, and holy men, who served as
intermediaries for the common man and woman. Even these approached God
with trepidation and fear. The distance, felt by both parties, would not
go away. Mankind had grown up; the Daddy relationship seemed forever
lost.

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But the Jews, who were the recipients of most of God's efforts to
communicate, never forgot that God had promised to restore man's
original relationship with Him at some point in the future. The Genesis
record tells us that in a supreme act of "tough love" God introduced
death into His paradise -- in response to man's disobedience. Why? To
prevent man from also eating of the Tree of Life, and entering eternity
with a hopelessly maimed spirit (Gen. 3:24).

The last the Jews heard from God was through the Old Testament
prophet Malachi. God expressed his complaint as: "A son honoureth his
father, and a servant his master: if then I am a father, where is my
honour?" (Mal. 1:6) God was pointing out that "church," as being
practiced by the Jews of that day, had become downright ritualized and
boring, and He was sick of it. Silence followed, 400 years of it.

The Jews were under the heel of the Roman Empire, when two frantic
parents searched Jerusalem for their 12-year-old son. They found him
holding court in the temple. "His mother said, 'Young man, why have you
done this to us? Your father and I have been half out of our minds
looking for you.' He said, 'Why were you looking for me? Didn't you know
that I had to be here, dealing with the things of my Father?' But they
had no idea what he was talking about" (Luke 2:46-50, from The Message,
by Eugene Peterson).

His parents weren't the only ones who had no idea what he was talking
about. Jesus was 30 years of age when John the Baptist, the first
prophet to appear in Israel in 400 years, identified Him as the Messiah
who would save Israel. Later, rotting in a Roman prison, John began to
have his doubts. He sent his disciples to ask Jesus plainly, if He was
the Messiah. Jesus replied:

"Go back and tell John what you have just seen and heard:

"The blind see,

"The lame walk,

"Lepers are cleansed,

"The deaf hear,

"The dead are raised,

"The wretched of the earth have God's salvation hospitality extended
to them" (Luke 7:22-23, The Message).

But unlike their experience with the precocious 12-year-old in
the temple, the religious establishment was no longer amused. Many were
deeply offended. Jesus was irreverent, impolitic, and very popular. "The
crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb,
raising him from the dead, was there giving eyewitness accounts. It was
because they had spread the word of this latest God-sign that the crowd
swelled to a welcoming parade. The Pharisees took one look and threw up
their hands: 'It's out of control. The world's in a stampede after him'"
(John 12:19, The Message).

To the average person it was clear that this man who referred to God
as his Father had some intimate connection that their religious leaders
lacked. "He spoke with authority," was the expression commonly used. And
as His message unfolded, we learned that God had made new arrangements:
Jesus truly was His Son, and through Him we could experience the same
Daddy relationship with God that had once existed.

Now as then, God has the final laugh. In the midst of Gaia worship,
goddess worship, inner spirit guides -- and the most popular gods of our
age, money and power -- the Creator-God knows that we have been made
with a longing that only He can fill. God knows that in the end, He
alone is the only source for our ultimate fulfillment; that we will be
driven to look until we find Him. The world "is in a stampede after
him," then as now, because they see and want the moment-by-moment
relationship that Jesus had then and has today with his Father. And the
Father's promise now is the same as it was in those days: "Don't be
afraid of missing out. You're my dearest friends! The Father wants to
give you the very kingdom itself" (Luke 12:32).