And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” Luke 2:49

I recently raised the question which Philip asked of Jesus. “Show us the Father,” Philip said to the Lord . How can we know the Father whom we can’t see? Philip wanted something tangible. Jesus replied that the only way to know the Father was through Himself. If we know Jesus, we also know the Father. Jesus’ answer and claim is a contentious point for worldlings who refuse to accept that a loving God could be so exclusive as to insist there’s only One Way through One Person, Jesus. A supposedly loving God wouldn’t condemn someone for not believing in Jesus. There are many ways to God, they shout. Wrong. Very, very wrong. Jesus’ claim is non negotiable and attested by the rest of Scripture. He did not have a universalist Father who called Him to the cross.

Jesus’ intimacy with His heavenly Father was unique, mysterious and incomprehensible to the disciples. The Father of Jesus was a spiritual paradigm shift in their history. For the Jews, God was YHWH whose Name couldn’t be uttered, God who could only be approached through temple sacrifice. He was the invisible Creator of all the heavens and earth, the God of the Exodus, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But Abba, as Jesus called Him, why that was unheard of! Philip (and the others) may have looked at their own fathers wondering, “Is Yahweh like that?” Surely, not. Many of us have responded the same. Our human parent often did not or could not “father” us as he should have and so our concept of Father God is very warped.

One of the earliest indications of Jesus’ extraordinary relationship with the Father is in Luke Chapter 2. Jesus and His parents went to Jerusalem for Passover but on the way home, Mary discovered He was not with their relatives. They returned to Jerusalem and found the boy Jesus, age 12, teaching in the temple. When Mary expressed her concern and worry, Jesus makes two statements: Why did you look for me? Don’t you know l’m doing my Father’s business?

At the age of 12 when Jewish boys traditionally became adults, Jesus already knew the Father, what the Father’s business was and His calling to that business. God’s purpose for Jesus was already clear so obviously Jesus had spent much of his 12 years discovering the character of His heavenly Father so as to learn “the business:” to bring the good news to a fallen world.

As followers of Christ we know the Father not only by faith, but particularly through Jesus’ life and testimony. His Abba – and ours- calls us to His business: to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Amazingly, our Father chooses to include us in the work. That fact alone is a healing epiphany. Many of us yearned for our human fathers to call us into the workshop or office or practice to learn their business but were excluded or rejected. Now here is Jesus’ God and mine actually saying, “Come inside , Dear.” I want to show you what I’m doing. Shall we spend lots of time together? I’ll teach you by my Spirit. Stay and learn. Jesus did. Not only that, but let me show you what the glorious outcome of my business will be. I trust you and will empower you.

Will you be about My business? As Jesus did.