Saturday, August 17: “Like Father, Like Son”

John 5: 17, 18: “Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.’ For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.”

Even though the beloved prophets Isaiah (9: 6; 63: 16; 64: 8), Jeremiah (31: 9), and Malachi (1: 6; 2: 10) all proclaimed God as the Father of Israel, the chief priests and Pharisees did not accept it as truth. Jesus knew this, but because He came to show us the Father, He never shrunk back in revealing Abba to us. Every time He did, they hated Him a little more; strengthened a little more their resolve to kill Him. Jesus knew this, too, just as He knew a cross loomed in His future. But that’s courage–knowing the price (in Jesus’ case, He WAS the price) and not backing off.