User Tools

Site Tools


jn_en_2014_07_15

2014_07_15_t1.jpg

2014_07_15_t2.jpg

2014_07_15_t3.jpg

Deutsche Version | Wiki Start | Topics Collection vi

Do we know the Father? ...

Tuesday, July 15, 2014. A lot of discussions which Jesus was involved in were around “knowing the father”. He wanted people to know God - but this seemed to be a major difficultiy at the same time.

2014_07_15.jpg

They have not known the father …

1 “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3 And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. (John 16, 1-3)

The real question here is: how do we know what is true? How do we know God? How do we know the father? Jesus warns his disciples, that they will be killed since others try to protect the right faith - what it is in their eyes. But they do not know the father, they do not know the truth!

What is reported here has happened then, after the death and resurrection of Jesus. His disciples, the early Christians, have been persecuted and killed.

2014_07_15_2.jpg

We have to realize that killing has been involved in religious debate about Christianity for many centuries. And we observe similar phenomena in the islamic world. It seems that many people try to fight for what they believe to be the truth with power and sword. But that is not the spirit of the father and the son, who told us to love our enemies!

But does it mean that those who are killed are necessarily right? Does it justify all different kind of claim “we know the father” by particular minorities? We need to clearly see: in general, it does not justify anything. You might know the father - or you might not know the father. That is the important part, to which Jesus points us here.

Do you know the father? How to? …

This leads us to the main question: do you know the father? Do I know the father? How do we get to a mature understanding of Christian faith? How do we get to a confidence, which is based on insight and understanding?

The only way I know is to listen to Jesus, as he talks through the New Testament, through the gospels, and through the letters of his disciples, the apostles. The only way I know is to pray to God, to help and to come with his holy spirit. Meet God by meeting Jesus, and then trust your life into his hands and follow him.

(Roland Potthast) ... more texts

jn_en_2014_07_15.txt · Last modified: 2017/06/18 16:48 by 127.0.0.1