The
Father Knows
by
Gilbert
Torres
Admittedly,
there was an alternate title for this article which crossed my mind;
who’s your daddy? The point being, if you can move past my low
grade humor, is on the superiority of father. Certainly, among
Christians when the discussion centers on the question of deity one
can almost hear the chant, Father! Father! Father! as the one who
knows and who knows all things. This is especially true in contrast
with the Son who unabashedly and unapologetically declared, in the
minds of some saints, that he did not know the hour of his coming.
Hence, Jesus dropped the deity card, or as others strongly imply in
this gotcha theology, it makes Jesus unreliable.
assertions
and claims
Typically,
most of the arguments and counter-arguments on the deity of Jesus are
both bland and either negative or positive assertions that Jesus is
not God or Jesus is God. The back and forth exchanges often seem like
and take on the tone of a shouting match between schoolyard kids, “is
not!” “is too!” Does anyone remember getting into a schoolyard
word fight over who's dad was bigger and stronger? So, too, are the
demands for just one verse as proof to support one’s theology.
After all, it is the isolated, single-verse mentality which often
reigns supreme in these so-called discussions. I cringe at the
thought of the reactionary response with which this article might be
seized as just another ping pong ball. Any understanding which
purports to exalt the Father but which denies or diminishes the Son
is, to understate it, seriously suspect. Of course, no one would
deliberately or outright claim or acknowledge that they deny or
diminish the Son. But, it would be just as bad to think that we can
exalt the Son if we deny or diminish the Father.
Why
didn’t Jesus, as is often heard from Muslims as well as Christians
who doubt or deny the deity of Jesus, just declare and say clearly
and aloud, “I am God.”
lessons
lost
Understandably,
this demand for such proof is the same and it is very much what might
be expected from atheists. However, it is a travesty, on the other
hand, that Christians would make this their ultimate standard. Once
again, the mere query purports to disprove, or at least seriously
question, the deity of Jesus by way of a negative question. It
speculates on what the scripture does not state rather than examine
what it does state. The even worse travesty of this negative question
tactic is that it is often assumed to be and is mistaken for
knowledge and understanding by the one posing the question.
The
lessons on what the scripture states about Cain are lost. Cain
interacted with God. Yet, although Cain had no doubt, at least it
would seem reasonable to infer given his interactions with God, as to
the existence of God it is hardly true to say that Cain believed God.
Then, there is the lesson of what the scripture states about the
testimony from God himself about Israel who heard his voice and saw
his works. Yet, Israel did not believe God. On the contrary the
testimony from God is that they were an obstinate, unbelieving and
stubborn people. Hence, seeing and hearing are not necessarily a
full-proof guarantee of belief.
One
of the much touted claims against the deity of Jesus stems from the
time when Jesus declared to the disciples concerning the hour of his
coming that, no one knows, not even the angels, nor the Son, but the
Father alone. (Matthew 24:36) Here is my blog article on that
discussion topic, Was
Jesus Ignorant? The reason why I mention this claim here is
only to highlight what the ignorance which is ascribed to Jesus and
which simultaneously purports to exalt the knowledge of God, the
Father.
the
Shema and Jesus
Shortly
after Jesus had twice strongly admonished the Sadducees saying to
them
Is
this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the
scriptures or the power of God?
And
.
. . you are greatly mistaken.
that
Jesus quotes the Shema from Deuteronomy 6. It was at this time that
the Pharisees saw that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees (Matthew
22:34) that they move in to take their turn at Jesus. It is this
quotation of the Shema by Jesus which is blithely claimed to be proof
for a negative assertion that Jesus was not a so-called trinitarian.
What escapes this blissful glee is the significance in the words of
the Shema as spoken by Jesus. The Shema reads:
Hear,
o Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one.
The
quotation by Jesus reads as follows:
Hear,
o Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord.
What
is significant about the way Jesus quotes the Shema is his emphasis
on Lord. Jesus reiterates what the Shema asserts, namely, that the
Lord is God. The sum of every word and work of Jesus was to give
glory to God, the Father. The unfortunate point about this and on
which some are mistaken and others greatly mistaken is that while the
Father is God, both the Shema and Jesus declare it is The
Lord is our God (the wording of the Shema) and The
Lord our God (the wording of Jesus) - is
one Lord. It may not be intentional, but the focus and
emphasis on who is or is not God seems misplaced and be suggestive of
an inability, perhaps reluctance, to grasp and accept the emphasis on
Lord.
The
emphasis in both by the Shema and by Jesus is not on God, but on the
Lord. This reflects the prevalent references in the Old Testament.
There is the example of the Lord God himself who declared that he
himself (Ezekiel 34) would seek for, search for and care for his
sheep like a shepherd. Then, when Jesus, the Begotten Son comes into
the world, he declares that he himself is the Good Shepherd. The
implication concerning the Lord God and the Good
Shepherd is there for all to read and the inference is for
all to draw.
conclusion
Do
not swing wildly and run to the other end of the spectrum with a
seriously mistaken negative claim that the Father is not God and
thereby you dishonor the Son, because to dishonor one is to dishonor
the other. The positive assertion from the Shema and Jesus is that
the Lord is God with the designation of Lord being as prevalent of
Jesus as the scriptures state in, both the Old and New Testaments
declare that, the Lord our God is one Lord. The Son acknowledges and
praises the Father as Lord of heaven
and earth, Jesus declared. (Matthew 11:25, 27)
"All
things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the
Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the
Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
Then,
yet again, Jesus followed up with one final point. He posited a query
to the scribes concerning the enigma of Psalm
110 about the Lord and my Lord. No one ventured to answer
Jesus. He did not offer any explanation. Once again, the implication
is there for all to read and the inference is for all to draw
concerning the Lord. It is not for you to wonder why Jesus did answer
his own question for the scribes. It is for you to understand the
scriptures and to teach what the scriptures state, not what they do
not state.
The
Father knew, just as those who profess to know him as their Father,
who is Lord. The Son knew who is Lord. Do you? If you say Jesus is
Lord, as Jesus said to Pilate when Pilate asked Jesus if he was the
king of the Jews,
Are
you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about
me?
