Source Principle

John 5:^17-18 “But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I.” So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him. For he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his Father, thereby making himself equal with God.”

Why would Jesus saying that God is His father make them conclude that He was, “making Himself equal with God”? For people who are educated in the Semitic or Middle Eastern region, they would not struggle with understanding this concept. But for those of us that are educated largely by the Western world, understanding this would not come naturally. In fact, father in the African culture means someone that you are subjugated to. Someone that when he calls you, you have to prostrate. Someone that can give you a knock, someone that you must carry his briefcase, and wash his car. You want to go to school without washing your father’s car, who is going to give you your school fees? Some of us had that kind of training. When we read today’s anchor scripture with our experience of and understanding of a father, we probably do not understand why these people were so upset.

The concept of fatherhood from the Semitic mindset is the progenitor, that is, he is the source of life. The father is the one through whom I get life, meaning everything that flows in the father flows in me. When you call someone your father, you are identifying him as your source. The stream cannot be separated from its spring. In fact, the stream is an expression of the spring, of its source. It is as the source gushes that determines the flow, the current, the existence of the stream. The source of the stream determines its taste. The stream and the source are one. The Father and the Son are one; and that is where we get the word offspring from. This is my offspring means this one springs off me; this one has the same material essence with me.

When Jesus said that God was His Father, He was saying that He is made up of the same material essence as God. The Pharisees were like, ‘What is wrong with this boy? How can He say He is equal with God?’ But isn’t that love? That God will choose to call us friends and choose to be equal with us? It is truly beautiful. John 10:^34-36 “Jesus replied, “It is written in your own Scriptures that God said to certain leaders of the people, ‘I say, you are gods!’ And you know that the Scriptures cannot be altered. So if those people who received God’s message were called ‘gods,’ why do you call it blasphemy when I say, ‘I am the Son of God’? After all, the Father set me apart and sent me into the world.” This is another instance where Jesus was saying to them, why is it difficult for you to get that concept when you know the scriptures?

John 14:^9-11 “Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me…”

Prayer: God, You are my Father and my Source, my life flows from You, in Jesus Name. Amen!