Our Father

Some years ago, a friend, infected by the feminist movement of the 70's, asked me, "Why do we call God 'Father'?"  At the time, I gave her a smart-alec answer:  Why don't you ask Him yourself?  I think I may have been thinking that she would not accept my answer anyway, and so I would refer her to the Source.  (The-rage-of-the-moment was to refer to God as "He/she; Mother/Father," etc.)

As we(I) grow in age, however, wisdom tends to creep in along with a little humility, and looking back on my answer, I now feel that her question deserves an answer, however feeble and inadequate it may be.  And so, Yvette, here is my answer to your question:

First of all, John gives us a clue in his prologue to the Gospel:  No one has ever seen God, but God the only Son, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.  How lovely, that the primary mission of Jesus is to make the Father known.

And reflecting on the implications of this statement now, I realize that, after reading and hearing many testimonies from Iranians or Muslims, the primary difference between Allah and the God of Jesus Christ is that they do not know God as "Father."  They know Him as Creator, as Ruler, as Law-Giver, as Supreme Watcher-of-Mankind, as Doler-Out-of-Reward-and-Punishment -----but they cannot approach Him as "Father."  That revelation comes exclusively through knowledge of Jesus Christ.  All of John's Gospel reflects Jesus' own relationship to His Father, the same relationship He wants us and invites us to enjoy.

The last words of Jesus at the last supper were, I have called you friends, for everything I learned from my Father, I have made known to you.....though the world does not know You, I know You, and I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.....I have revealed Your Name to those whom you gave me out of the world.

What is the "Name" Jesus has revealed to those given to Him by the Father?  What is the "Name" revealed solely by Jesus Christ to His disciples?  After rising from the dead, Jesus tells Mary Magdalene, "Go to my brothers and tell them, I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."

What has been accomplished by the mission of Jesus is the revelation of the family of God.  As He was/is in the bosom of the Father, so are we:  His Father is our Father.  We belong in the same place that He occupies in heaven.  We are one with and in Him.  We all have the same DNA now with the Holy Trinity -- the family of God.  No longer separated from Him and from one another by a whole host of reasons, opinions, differences, hostilities, rages-of-the-moment, but One with one another and with the Father.

No other religion the world has ever seen has made known the Father and invited us into His embrace as has Jesus Christ.  I wish I could explain it better, but anyone who wishes to enter into that relationship might start with a slow, meditative reading and re-reading of the Gospel of John.