Joel M Bradshaw

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My Father [1-minute read]

 17But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” 18This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.–John 5 (emphasis)

  1. Jesus’ contemporaries might have understood if He had said OUR Father.
  2. God called Himself Israel’s Father in Jeremiah 31:9.
  3. Israel called God their Father in Isaiah 64:8.
  4. But instead Jesus made it personal. From the Jewish standpoint, the firstborn son one day would be considered of status with the father, take over the family business, etc. That is why the birthright was so important and came with a double portion. That son would be expected to provide.
  5. Jesus wasn’t claiming to be a physical son, as if God had sired a child like the Greek gods were rumored to do.
  6. When Jesus said MY Father, they understood it spiritually and positionally. Jesus was claiming to be God. Jesus’ business was God’s business.
  7. The tension is that if Jesus was lying, then he was a blasphemer and worthy of death.
  8. If Jesus was telling the truth, then he is God and worthy of worship.
  9. To reject the Son of God is to reject the Father. Each of those men with sons intrinsically understood that reality, and that’s why Jesus claim landed deeply within them.
  10. How do you view Jesus?–JMB

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2 responses to “My Father [1-minute read]”

  1. mary36621e5419b Avatar
    mary36621e5419b

    The rulers, teachers, scribes, etc. all expected the Messiah to come like David, in glory, as a King with all the earthly, worthy trappings befitting a King. A carpenter from Nazareth was never on anyone’s radar. He presented them with the same moral dilemma he offers to us today. If we accept His claims then we must believe He is who He said He is and we must act accordingly. Our lives are no longer our own.  We can no longer go our own way; we must follow the pillar of Fire. We can no longer live in self sufficiency but rather God sufficiency. Everything we have belongs to Him so we must do as He would have us do, think as He would have us think, want what He would have us want, speak as He would have us speak. We must go His way.

    Often that means we lose our “place” in our social group. We may be laughed at and ostracized because we are different. We may be rejected, suffer persecution, and lose our jobs or professional opportunities. Jesus spoke up; He never kept His true identity hidden. We must also speak up and proclaim and defend His values in the world, to a world that mocks and despises everything He stands for. Today’s credentialed class, not unlike the rulers of Jesus day, believe themselves to be an all knowing elite. We need to remember what Jesus said about the self sufficient who these days tell us that they’re not interested in Him. “Do you not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked?” Rev 3:17

    Jesus is my King. I’m His subject. As George S. Patton said, “I am a soldier, I fight where I’m told, I win where I fight.”

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    1. bradshawjoel Avatar
      bradshawjoel

      thanks for journeying with us!

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