Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you…
Jesus knows the Father. Okay. A lot of people can make that claim. Moses knew God. Abraham knew God. Adam and Eve knew God. All these people interacted with God, but Jesus has been with God from the beginning. Furthermore, Jesus is one with the Father.
Imagine if you will a beautiful place filled with sunshine and light. Imagine this is a place of limitless horizons. There is no end to it as far as the eye can see. Imagine flowers of every color, grass as green as emeralds, trees of every shape and size laden with every fruit imaginable. In the midst of all this color and light is Jesus and his Father.
Now imagine that there is a small windowless cabin somewhere in this vast garden of life. Inside the cabin is the world we know, The earth and all its people exist inside the darkened cabin.
Jesus has stepped into the cabin from the place where he has always been with the Father. He squeezes into a tiny earth body and grows to be a man. Into the darkened world he brings the light and life that fills the bright world outside of the cabin.
Jesus is about to return to the bright and colorful place that he came from. He is about to return to being with the Father. He states what is obvious from the heavenly point of view, but what is very hard for those in the darkened cabin to understand. Jesus is light and life. He has come from the Father and is returning to the Father. He knows the Father and is one with the Father.
The world does not know the Father, but Jesus does.
Food for Thought: What is it like to really know somebody? How do you describe that knowledge to someone else?
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I think we know someone when we can be ourselves and be vulnerable with them. When God created marriage He said the two will become one flesh. They will be one. This is the same Hebrew word used in the Shema in Deuteronomy 6: 4. Thus, this is the same word for oneness that God uses to describe the relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the marriage passage the two were one, naked and felt no shame. They were completely vulnerable with each other. They were real with each other with no fear. That is a great goal for every marriage as it describes true intimacy. This vulnerability in being ourselves with others is also necessary for real unity in the body of Christ and in all human relationships. Otherwise, it can simply feel fake, filled with pretense and shallow.
Rich,
You are absolutely right! Vulnerability is key to intimacy and intimacy is required to know someone deeply.