#15 Bad Images of a Good God-1

#15 Bad Images of a Good God-1

The claim has been made by some that calling God “Father” sets up some bad images, bad pictures in people’s minds and therefore is a handicap toward believing in God. Evidently Jesus didn’t know that (He wasn’t “modern”, of course) and so he took whatever picture we had of a father to help us understand His Father until we could see Him in all His Glory.

· Matthew 7:9“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?”
· Luke 11:11“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
· Matthew 7:11“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him! 12So in everything, do to others what you would have them do for you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

Now let us look closely at these parables, taken from Matthew and Luke, dovetailed together for convenience (kind of like putting a jigsaw puzzle together).

1. Jesus doesn’t conjure up images of our own earthly father, but of what we want to be as our earthly fathers! He appeals to our better nature, to our Original Goodness. The only problem with our goodness is that we don’t actualize it too well. We know what we should do, want to do, but doing good consistently is the human problem.

2. But, the basest of men would not play tricks on their own flesh & blood. Here Jesus points out the fact that our Father has no intention of being a “cosmic killjoy” looking to play “hide & seek” or play tricks on us.


3. The key to these parables is the phrase “how much more” God is good than we are evil. Jesus starts with where we are, with a fuzzy picture of God as Father and then starts to build on it, fine tune the image. Now look at how the Father gives good things:

· John 6:32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is the bread come down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
35Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
John 6:51“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the world.”

And so we see that the Father does not give just regular bread, but living bread, which sustains not only our flesh, but our spirit. The Father gives not only water to drink, but living water.

· John 4:14“but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

So the Good Father, God, gives to us far and above what we could ask or believe; He doesn’t play any tricks (nor does the bad father) but goes farther than the normal human father.