"Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’” —John 20:17
On the morning of the Resurrection, Jesus didn’t allow Mary to touch Him. He was essentially saying, “It’s not going to be the way it used to be. You can’t hold on to Me in the old way. It’s a new covenant.”
Then He made a radical statement: “Go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God’” (John 20:17). For Jesus to call God His Father was one thing. But He said, “I am ascending to My Father and your Father. . . .” In other words, “He is your Father now too.”
This past Father's Day marked the 61st without my dad who died in 1960, when I was 12 and my brother was 8 years old. On the day my dad died suddenly of a massive heart attack, I felt fatherless and I knew that God was going to have to be my Father from that point on, and so He has been. He became my Abba (daddy) overnight, and I needed a Father as faithful as He in the years that followed and I continue to need Him to be my Father.
God can be the Father we never had. Jesus opened up a new relationship for us through His death on the Cross and His Resurrection from the dead. No longer must we go through a high priest to seek atonement for our sins, because Jesus became the final sacrifice for our sins. And He has given us free access to God the Father, to whom we can come in times of need.
"Do you know God as your Father? Or does He seem like some distant force? If that is the case, I have good news for you: God is not some mere force or distant power somewhere in the Universe. He is personal, He is caring and He loves you. And, that is why He sent His Son to die on the Cross in our place." - Greg Laurie, Harvest Ministries
If you feel fatherless, all you have to do is speak His Name and He will come in your time of need. I know this to be true in my own life, and I pray it will be true for you, as well.
With Faith, Hope and Love,
Angie "a mom like you"
amotherlikeme@gmail.com
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