As we saw yesterday, Jesus fully reveals man to himself. He shows us who we ultimately have been created to be, the kinds of lives we are intended to (and can) live. He shows to us the meaning of our lives, which is to love as He does.
Not only does Christ reflect our true selves back to us; He also propels us forward to show us the true face of God the Father. "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father," he said.
I have sometimes thought of God the Father as more intimidating and distant than God the Son. What Jesus reveals is that the Father is not some kind of absentee landlord. He is intimately involved in our lives. He is like any good father. He pays attention. He cares about what happens to his children.
Sometimes He involves Himself in our lives too much for our tastes. C.S. Lewis made the point in his book The Problem of Pain that we would prefer not so much a Heavenly Father, but a Heavenly Grandfather, a "senile benevolence" who only wants his grandkids to have a good time. But no. The Father has a bad habit of not much respecting our "privacy."
And that's the part of God which is so offensive to the modern mind. We want our privacy, and we think God is an incessant intruder.
I don't know at what point it became popular for children to demand "privacy" from their parents, or to freely and loudly dispute them. When I was a child, I knew there was no area of my life for which I could not be held to account, and looking back I see how formative that was. Not that they were constantly interfering in my life, showing up at school to see how I performed in class and interacted with my friends and whatnot. But even when they were not present I knew I was expected to live according to what they had taught me. If I did well I was rewarded. If I screwed up I could expect forceful but loving correction. It is useful to live like that for 18 years. It prepares you for an adulthood where you are answerable to the Father in heaven.
But today, very young children, almost through no fault of their own, have the illusion of private affairs that are none of their parents' business. It is a little disconcerting to see eleven-year-olds at the mall ... texting. What possible need could an eleven-year-old have to text someone, especially someone her own age?
Not that such things are never useful for families. They can actually help parents to keep closer track of their kids. The problem is when parents give such technology away to their kids and then proceed to ignore them. Kids can develop a false sense of autonomy when their use of the device carries with it no accountability. If their parents try to confiscate the device, how will the children react? With indignance, as if their parents would take back something which they did not give in the first place.
Cell phones are like our lives. And God is the Father who sees every text we ever send. He generously gives us freedom to text as we please but expects us to use our cell phones according to the principals that He has taught us.
And we don't like it when God bothers us while we are texting. Can't He see we have more important things to do? But in the end, it isn't my cell phone. It was given to me, by Him.
For all the times we would rather not be bothered by God, Jesus embraces and accepts the Father's close involvement in His life. Jesus neither says nor does eanything that is not "given to" Him by His Father. He said, "the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me."
The Father gave us our lives because He loves us. What we consider to be intrusiveness is actually His desire to guide us gently toward happiness. But like Jesus, we have to embrace and accept the Father's involvement.
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