What is that?

by jeromeobrien

 

I find this video deeply moving. Apart from reminding me that there is love to be celebrated between a Father and Son, it also reminds me vividly of the Gospel, the revealed love of God through Jesus.

You see, even though the father and his child are sitting close together in time and space on that bench, they are far apart. They do not communicate; there is a great distance between them. Paul writes to the Ephesians to remind them that, at one time,

you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of God, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. (Eph 2:12)

The father tries to communicate, tries to find a way to connect with the one he loves, but he cannot be understood and the result is that they find themselves even further apart, bound only by guilt, regret and anger.

And so the father in this parable story locates his diary, finds the entry and presents it to his son to read. Here are the words that will make the difference in both their lives. So too, it is the Word of God that makes the difference to the world. The Gospel of John’s opening words are revelatory and revolutionary:

In the beginning the Word already existed.     The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. … And the Word became human and made his home amongst us. (John 1: 1, 2 & 14)

Jesus is the Word of God. He is the perfect communication and very representation of God. If we have studied the words, character and nature of Jesus, then we have studied the words, character and nature of God. The Word reveals the Father’s infinite love and compassion for His children, just as the father’s diary reveals the passion he has for his son.

Then …, there is that pause; that time to reflect – the weighing of options and the coming to a decision. Yes, that son on the bench has seen the extent to which his father cares for him, but it remains that son’s choice as to how he will respond. He could redouble his anger and fling the words back in his father’s face; he could declare his independence – “That was then. This is now. I know better than you!”

But the beauty of the moment, the soul stirring excellence of that choice, is that the son chooses to respond in kind to his father. He embraces him, connects with him, renews his love for him and for that time and in that space, there is the deepest peace and the intimacy of closeness.

THAT is what it means to respond to the love of God, through the Word that is Christ Jesus. It makes you whole.