Jesus' partnership with the Father here on earth was based on the commission he received from the Father. Since Jesus sends us as his disciples just ‘as the Father sent’ him, it is important that we pay close attention to what Jesus modeled for us—and to two more obstacles that can keep us from knowing the Father like he did.

When the Father commissioned Jesus, he affirmed him: first through John the Baptist, then with an audible ‘voice’ that was accompanied by the visible ‘form’ [Gr. eidos] of a dove (Med.#26). Because of this, Jesus did not need to promote himself. To do so would have undermined something of the ‘truth’ of his partnership with his Father. Similarly, when Jesus commissioned his disciples, the Father affirmed them by giving them the Holy Spirit too—an event that sometimes was accompanied by something visible (Act.2:2-4, Med.#49; 10:44-46) or by his affirmation through a fellow believer (Act.9:15-18). Also, their Father continued to affirm them directly in more private ways (Act.18:9-10), so that they too did not need to promote themselves (Med.#34).

The Father also affirmed Jesus through the works he gave him to carry out, as well as through the prophetic words he had ‘spoken’ about him in advance of his coming—through the Scriptures (Med.#D). Similarly, the Father affirms us too by the good fruit that we bear: both in the good works we do (Med.#11) and in our love for one another (Med.#22). He also affirms us through the impact our partnership with him has on others—as a living demonstration of God's word to them in Christ—again, so we don't need to promote ourselves (Med.#32).

Yet we can only be such a living demonstration of God's word if we approach the Bible out of a relationship with Jesus and the Father, one in which we fulfill certain responsibilities associated with our commission. We must not only ‘come’ to Jesus, but we must also believe in the Father, ‘the One who sent Jesus’, by taking to heart all Jesus' words about our direct relationship with the Father through him (Med.#51). Many ‘Bible-believing’ Christians today think it is enough to just believe in Jesus. And they keep the Father at a distance as if he is only a real Father to Jesus. According to one Christian leader from the Middle East,

‘In the West there is a “missing Father.” When I… am around Christians and listen to their talk, it is always about “Jesus”… Even when quoting the Scripture, there is no reference to the Father. So Jesus has become in a way like a product that is marketed—like McDonalds or Starbucks. ...And yet all of my worship and all I am seeing about God in Christ is that he takes me to the heart of the Father. ...I find Christians even praying to Jesus in the name of Jesus.’[ii]

At the same time, many ‘liberal’ Christians think it is enough to have a sentimental faith in God as the ‘Dear Father of mankind’, without coming to Jesus and obeying him as humanity's co-Creator, sole Savior and only Lord (Med.#69).

The Judeans to whom Jesus is speaking in the above text were the religious fundamentalists of his day (Med.#59). They counted on having eternal life because they studied the Scriptures and sought to obey God's commandments. Yet Jesus sees that their religion is more about confessing correct biblical ideas and observing biblical rules than it is about relating to God as a Father who wants to speak to them and give them a greater revelation of himself. There is 'no unconditional, self-giving love [Gr. agape] of God in’ them. Instead, they fear being accused before God for doing something wrong, in spite of their professed theology of eternal security. And this fear permeates Judean society, with its leaders being afraid of God’s punishment on their nation (11:47-48), and ordinary Judeans afraid of being ostracized from their religious community (9:22). Even one national leader and disciple of Jesus is affected by this fear (19:38), as are Jesus' Galilean disciples (20:19).

Linked to fear is a second obstacle that Jesus identifies in them. A strong yearning for recognition (‘glory’) from ‘one another’ is keeping both the fundamentalist ones and the more ‘liberal’ Sadducees from putting their faith in Jesus. This need for human recognition and a fear of being ostracized are also at work in many churches today. To really believe in the Father—as disciples of Jesus who have been commissioned ‘just as the Father sent’ Jesus—we have a responsibility to do more than merely recite the creed: ‘I believe in one God, the Father…’. We must also make room in our hearts for the Father's 'unconditional, self-giving love' [agape] for us—by fully hearing and believing Jesus' words: that our Father has the same unconditional self-giving love for us that he has for Jesus himself (Med.#37), so that our Father's words of affirmation through Jesus abide in us. For none of Jesus' words were his own; they all came straight from our Father's heart (Med.#63). We also need to stop fearing God's punishment, and be just as unconcerned about the disapproval of others as Jesus was. Only then will our Father's love bring us to maturity (Med.#52).

Finally, like Jesus, we must make doing our Father's will a priority over our own natural desires; and this includes learning to ‘judge’ justly the way Jesus did (Med.#16). In an earlier meditation on John 5 we saw how Jesus, at the Resurrection, will give a final verdict of ‘life’ to ‘those doing good’, and of ‘judgment’ to ‘those doing evil’ (Med.#43). Yet in the above text also, we see that while Jesus is already giving eternal life to people who put their faith in him, he uses his authority with those who don't believe in him in a different way. Since he did not come to condemn people (Jn.3:17), he judges them by only giving them a warning—about the obstacles in their lives that are keeping them from entering into the Life (5:37-44). Even though he was ‘tempted like us’ (Heb.4:15), he didn't yield to a ‘natural’ desire to give certain people a full blast of God's indignant anger; but limited his ‘judging’ to only what he ‘heard’ from his Father. He knew that the Father's will is to give such people time to repent (2 Pet.3:9). One of the ways we are called to impart life and demonstrate our Father's merciful character is by forgiving those who have sinned against us, even if they haven't yet repented (Med.#13 & Med.#43). And one way we are to warn others is to treat as still not okay the sins they are unwilling to turn away from.

If you have put your faith in Jesus and are listening to his words, have you also put your faith in the Father? Have you heard the Father's affirmation as well as his commission? Are you seeking his approval as you walk with him, by doing his will like Jesus did—by imparting life and forgiveness to others, and by exemplifying the kind of life the Father longs to give even those who haven’t yet believed? Or are you condemning others to make yourself feel good—or to please people in your own group?

Father, from whom all fatherhood on earth derives its name, give me power: to be strengthened by your Spirit in my inner person, for the Messiah to take up residence in my heart that I may know the knowledge-surpassing love of the Messiah—that I may be filled with all your fullness… confident that in this world I am like Jesus. (Eph.3:14-16,19; 1 Jn.4:17)

[i] The Scripture passage is taken from J.K. Mellis, The Good News of the Messiah by the Four Witnesses: pp.54-55, 298, 280-282.

[ii] In Paul-Gordon Chandler, Pilgrims of Christ on the Muslim Road: Exploring a New Path Between Two Faiths, Cowley Publications, 2007, p.183.