Jesus promises the Holy Spirit:
“And I will
ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.”
~John 14:16 (NRSV)
As Jesus prepared to go to the
Father he mentions to the disciples one of the roles of the Father—to give us
the Advocate: the Holy Spirit. As God breathed into the nostrils of Adam in
Genesis 2:7 to supply physical life, God breathes into us the power of the Holy
Spirit to supply spiritual life.
And as we think of the Father in
context of Jesus’ final night conversations with the disciples, we can also
begin to see the Father in context as our Father, just as Jesus modelled it for us in
his Lord’s Prayer.
The Breathing Of Spiritual Life Into Us
If God the Father is our Father
just as he was Jesus’ Father, by virtue of our possession of the Presence of
the Holy Spirit, we can expect a similar relationship—though Christ is our Mediator.
But in having been connected with the Father through Jesus, we have a Father.
And the Father is a father to the
fatherless.
He breathes both physical and
spiritual life into us, by the code of our genome and by our acceptance of
salvation. For all valencies of life it has been the Father that has breathed
these into us. He has impelled us to life.
These are especially beautiful
truths for that flesh of our flesh who have only tasted distasteful
father-figures. This heavenly portrait of paternity—the Father’s heart—to
breathe life into us—and to show us life, abundant—is what makes all life
worthwhile.
The Compensation Of Fatherhood
Some really do connect with this:
God the Father has become father, for human paternity has failed many a child.
All human fathers are intrinsically broken, and, whilst many have served their
children well, there are perhaps just as many, or more, who have not been there
or who have been neglectful or abusive.
All humanity connects with the
importance of fatherhood.
And where familial fatherhood has
failed, the Father Heart of God has endured. Where humanity fails, Divinity
shines eternally. For those who have had no father-figure, God is the figure
for pursuit.
***
The Father Heart of God breathes
life into us, and is every reason that we live. Where human fathers have failed
in our lives, God the Father succeeds, burning passionately for each of us. The
Father’s love is an eternal flame.
© 2012 S. J. Wickham.
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