The one who existed before all things is revealed to us.
He is the one of whom I said,
'A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.'
Jesus is made known to us when he is baptized by John. The Spirit descends like a dove and the Father tells the world that Jesus is his only begotten Son. We see the man who was born of the virgin Mary, who became visible in a stable in Bethlehem, revealed to be the one who was with God in the beginning before all things. We see him revealed as the co-eternal Son of the Father. This Sonship is no mere metaphor. From eternity he receives all that he is from the Father. It isn't as though his relationship is similar to that of human fathers and sons. It is rather that those relationships are similar to the eternal love that unites the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named (see Ephesians 3:14-15)
It is for this reason that we need to hold the term father in such high esteem, whether we're referring to priests or biological fathers.
And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven (see Matthew 23:9).
Of course this doesn't mean literally no one. Paul says he has become the father of Onesimus, for example. But it means we need to recognize the intense meaning and sacredness which the role of father conveys. Whether we are children, in obedience, or fathers, in setting the best example, we must remember that this relationship has its origin in God.
It is amazing to think that Jesus invites us to share his own relationship to the Father. Especially when we experience the goodness of the earthly relationships with father figures it is amazing to think of how far above and beyond this Fatherhood of God truly is. If we have not experienced such good relationships on earth, that's OK. God wants to Father us and to heal those wounds.
See what love the Father has bestowed on us
that we may be called the children of God.
Yet so we are.
Our union with the Father and the Son is such that it cannot exist in the face of serious sin. Serious sin is choosing to not receive our life from the Father, but looking elsewhere to find it. There is no other place to find life, so this is doomed to failure.
No one who remains in him sins;
no one who sins has seen him or known him.
Sin was in fact the barrier preventing God from uniting himself to man as he always desired. Jesus was revealed to take away sins so that we could experience union with God. This is now possible. Yet transformation remains for us. There is more to be done. What we will eventually become is even better than we can imagine.
The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Beloved, we are God's children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed.
We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
For this great gift of the Fatherhood of God, for Jesus calling us brothers and sisters, let us rejoice.
Sing praise to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and melodious song.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
sing joyfully before the King, the LORD.
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