December 7, 2023

Reflections – The True Face of God

No one knows the face of God but the Son, Jesus.  He knew the Father and was highly energized.  People saw that and followed him.  It took only three words, “Come, follow me,” for them to leave their prior lives and follow him.  It was an overpowering experience to realize that God loves the world and its people unconditionally (John 3:16). This was a revolutionary message!  It was not just a concept or an idea.  It came from Jesus’ direct relationship with God.  He had figuratively “looked God in the face.”

How do you experience the presence of God?  When people see “us” Christians today, do they see someone with a fire-like drive burning within, a level of energy that was passed on from Jesus and that radiates a personal experience confirming that God loves human beings?  Do they see someone who has figuratively “looked God in the face?”  How might it affect them if they did?  Would people react today like they did to Jesus?  Would they hang onto our every word?

Two passages came to mind.  “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD” (Exod. 34:29 NIV).   And “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished, and they took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13 NIV).

Let’s go deeper into this wonderful message.  Jesus became a human being, i.e. was incarnated.  He showed up as the only begotten Son, the Word through whom the whole universe was made.  He was from the beginning with God (Father). The only begotten Son, who is God, became human, and humanity identified with His experience and knowledge of who God is as Father.  Ultimately, it was this image of God whom he saw as compassionate and loving in contrast to other images of God also found in Scripture. With Jesus, the unconditionally loving God finally and irrevocably rose like the sun above humanity. He put an end to fear and anxiety concerning God and pushed open the door to a new age that stands under the sign of hope and love.

The parable of the prodigal son captures this image of God.  People who were listening must have been shocked when they heard that the elderly father ran to meet this scoundrel of a son!  Perhaps our God does, too.  We do not have to spend our lives “making it up with God.”  After all, no one can.  If we stand before the presence of an absolutely good God, we can only experience the goodness in Him.

Jesus told us that God is more like a close and nurturing parent – not a distant, authoritarian, judgmental sovereign. Our God cares when a child needs food and clothing, understands when a son’s or daughter’s feelings are hurt, and is ready to forgive – even the adult child who stumbles and falls. God is like that.  This is what Jesus teaches.  If Jesus heals, it is His Father who heals.  If Jesus comforts it is the Father comforting. If Jesus raises someone from the dead, it is the Father who raises them from the dead.  He told his disciples once that He and the Father are one, and He only does what the Father is doing.  Philip once asked Jesus:  Master, just show us the Father, and all will be well.  Jesus replied: Philip have we not been together long enough and still you do not understand?  If you see me, you see the Father!  When people see us do they see in our eyes and manner that same loving Father and the compassion that Jesus brought?

Why is it that “we” Christians, when we meet someone who is looking for God or who wants to know if God is really a loving father, why do we shift into high gear with our arguments proving that God exists and is good from our doctrines and philosophy and our so-called knowledge of God?  Why can’t we simply say to the searcher, “If you are looking for a loving God then look at me!”  Is our faith merely argumentative?  Let’s be honest.  Has anyone among us converted anyone to a loving God by sheer argument?  My experience is that they must first believe that we love them.  Then, they will be receptive to the “argument.”

Everything will eventually fall into perspective. Here is how John wrapped up the matter.

God is love…This is love: not that we loved God, but that he
loved us and sent his Son…Dear friends, since God so loved
us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen
God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love
is made complete in us.”  (I John 4:8-12)

Blessings and peace,

Chaplain Allen
chaplain@nationsu.edu
chaplainscorner.org

Read more Reflections: Chaplain’s Corner.

Source: Adapted by Chaplain Allen Thyssen with input from Richard Youngblood from a lecture by Carlos Rodriguez, OCSO given to Lay Cistercian retreatants at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky in October 2023.