Jesus Abiding In The Father

Jesus Abiding In The Father

[Part of a larger study]

Abiding Defined

I did some teaching for a small group in late 2019 about ‘being led by the Spirit,’ after I had studied through 2 Peter 1, and therefore took a closer look at Jesus’ life as it related to schedules, plans, interruptions, and the Father’s guidance.

In 2020 I studied through Torah and ended up defining what it means to ‘abide’ as I put some of these puzzle pieces together. One thing I found was that Jesus and John weren’t teaching anything new when they equated love with obedience (John 14:15, 14:21, 1 John). Any good Jewish boy would have recited the Shema (Deut 6) regularly (even today it is recited twice daily), in which the Hebrew word ‘love’ implies obedience. The whole of Deuteronomy 6 is about loving God and loving (and thus following) His good rules — the two things are not separate. To love God is to obey Him. Love compels us to obedience. So then the first (of three) elements of my definition of ‘abiding’ is WHOLEHEARTED LOVE. This is that Phil 3 kind of passion for Jesus and being like Him, that pure (James 3) and undivided (1 Cor 7) passion. The second element was CONSTANT DEPENDENCE. This is that John 15 vine illustration. We see where Jesus does only what He sees the Father doing (John 5, 8, 14, 16 (more specific references later on)). It’s the idea of walking in the path that God has drawn out beforehand (Eph 2:10) and making prayerful plans, but having them seemingly ‘interrupted’ by the Father and embracing these with peace, joy, and patience understanding that God will sovereignly bring us new and unplanned things (Mark 5 / Luke 8 and so many other places in the gospels and Acts). Overlapping a bit with that is CONSTANT AWARENESS. We are constantly in prayer (and rejoicing) (and attentive to the Spirit) because we’re looking diligently for those ‘interruptions’ previously mentioned, in every moment (1 Thess 5:16–19, 20–21). “Father, what are you doing here, show me what you’re doing, and let me play my role in it.” Going back to John 14:21, we know that when we’re walking in obedience, we will see this question answered; we’ll see Jesus, we’ll see what He’s doing on the path so that we can join Him in it. Matthew 5:8 also says as much: “Blessed are the pure in heart (wholehearted love which causes one to seek God and look for what He’s doing), for they shall see God (awareness).”

Abiding then, as defined through my own study, is wholehearted love, constant dependence, and constant awareness. In a word, obsession.

Abiding Exemplified In Jesus’ Teaching

John 5 (v.19–23, 30, 36)

• Matthew Henry:
• He is one with the Father in all He does as Mediator; there is perfect understanding between them
• So entirely obedient that He can do nothing of Himself; this is the perfection of the truth that God cannot deny Himself, not any imperfection in His strength.
• Observant of His Father’s counsel; He can, He will, do nothing but what He sees the Father do, and is intimately acquainted with His purposes; He walked perfectly in what they designed [together].
• Equal in working; same things, same manner, same authority, liberty, wisdom, energy, efficacy (produces desired result)
• The type of work is unique to God; no one else can do such things
• Their wills are not separate and opposed, but Jesus was man and such had to deal against fleshly desires such as the inclination to life and aversion to death, a sense of pain and pleasure, and other such natural and innocent things that He set entirely aside to be in the Father’s will
• Both appointed and empowered for the work, deriving both commission and strength from Him, as a son, not as a servant on an errand, but to take possession for the Father, for the family

John 8 (v.16, 19, 28–29, 42, 55)

• Matthew Henry:
• He had his Father’s concurring counsels to direct Him; as He was with the Father before the world in forming the counsels, so the Father was with Him in executing those counsels, not acting separately but by His own name and His Father’s.
• The express image; NOT like man:angel or creature:Creator
• One with God, not to derogate from His own inherent power but to distinguish Him from false prophets who prophesied out of their own hearts and followed their own spirits
• Intimately acquainted with the doctrines of God, as so taught by God Himself; not speaking things which God taught Him, but things as God taught them to Him.
• The Father’s presence with Him both enabled and encouraged; the King accompanied His Ambassador, never leaving Him alone. And He did nothing to vary from the pleasure and commission of the Father, but fulfilled all righteousness, not offending God in any one thing.
• He depended on the Father for the honor He longed for, not that applause of the age, but having His eye and heart on the glory promised by the Father before the world was. He aimed at His Father’s exaltation only.

John 12 (v.49–50)

• Matthew Henry:
• Every word Divine, for God gave Him not what He might say but what He must say exactly, a peace treaty on foot, written beforehand.
• Intimately acquainted with the counsels of God, keeping back nothing that was profitable, and speaking the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

John 14 (v.7, 9–11, (20, 23), 28, 31)

• Matthew Henry:
• The holiness of God shone in the spotless purity of Jesus’ life, and His grace in all the acts of grace Jesus did.
• He and the Father were two persons, yet more one than any two persons ever were, or ever could be. Begotten, not made (that is, to bring into being, to inevitably lead to, to result in), being of one substance.
• Never did God have so holy an earthly temple to dwell in as the Lord Jesus. Here was the true shecinah of which the tabernacle was but a type. The fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Him bodily (Col 2:9). As a man dwells in the place where he desires to be found, so God dwelt in Jesus that He would be found by those seeking after Jesus.
• Many words of power and works of mercy, Jesus did, and the Father did them in Him; and the work of redemption in general was God’s own work.
• These glorious mysteries will be fully known in heaven
• The relation between God & Jesus (and Jesus & us), are equally on both sides, which speaks of an intimate and inseparable union
• (v.23) Not only “I will,” but, “we will, I and the Father, who, in this, are one.” Not only will I show myself at a distance, but we will come to be near to him, to be with him.
• ((v.28) M.H. suggests that 1. Jesus would return to His greater glorified eternal state, or that 2. that kingdom will be greater than this mediatorial kingdom, the end better than the means. But he doesn’t suggest anything of Jesus’ humble submission to the Father in His greater role as Father, though still equal.)

I picture a middle-eastern father and his son, unrolling a scroll where they planned their journey into town together. They walk through the market, both always smiling, understanding. The kid never questioning his desire to do what daddy and him had planned. Constantly watching daddy to see which beggars he looked upon, which fruits caught his eye, so that the kid might take daddy’s money and go to give generously to beggars or purchase fruit on behalf of the family, pointing to his daddy that his daddy might get credit.

Abiding Exemplified In Jesus’ Life

One passage primarily sums up what I found — Matthew 14:13–14+

• Jesus is mourning the loss of a family member and a friend, the man He thought most highly of in all the world. Jesus is specifically trying to get some alone time on the boat, and yet the people follow. When He sees them on the other shoreline, He has splagchnizomai, and immediately began to heal their sick until the point in the evening that was illogical due to the necessary provisions. When Jesus desired to be alone the most — he was still be bombarded by people’s needs. When he himself needed consoling and loved and cared for — he was still put in a position to give and not be entitled to his emotions even. Being uninterruptible towards the needs of others misses the heart of God. Everything about Jesus was interruptible.
• (At this point a disclaimer is needed. Many zealous Jesus followers involved in the work of His ministry often over-emphasize self-sacrifice such that we neglect the limits of our own God-given limited capacities, thus neglecting sabbath rest which emphasizes trust and dependency on God, and thus ironically neglecting our need to abide in the Vine. There is an element of Rest in all of our Work, and there is an element of caring for Self as we care for Others (Phil 2:4). As is the point of this particular sub-article, Jesus was utterly dependent upon the Father, sought time with Him (Mk 1:35), and spent a lot more time reclining and relaxing with His talmidim/disciples, albeit purposefully, than we often realize in our fast-paced 21st century Western culture. In saying that Jesus was interruptible and sacrificial, it is not to the neglect of human capacity or dependency upon the Father for everything needed. Each person should discern their own disposition toward one or the other ‘ditch’ and consider the right balance of Rest and Work in every element of the Way.)

I found it fascinating to consider how many ‘seeming interruptions’ made their way into the gospels. In the context of being a rabbi, there was obviously a plan — a strategy — to where Jesus lived and traveled with his talmidim/disciples. Yet, this purpose is scarcely recorded. They would be going to this-or-that place, but for what reason? The bulk of what ends up being recorded (consider sheer word count) is the ‘interruptions’ along the way. They might have been going to Galilee for a specific purpose with seeming urgency, and yet Jesus ‘had to’ travel a roundabout way, and after seeing what the Father was doing there, opted to stay two whole days to continue the work (John 4). It is these ‘interruptions’ that the gospel writers seem to most elaborate on. Consider other seeming interruptions in Matthew (only up until ch. 18):

• 8:1–4 — heals a leper when coming down the mountain [tired] from teaching for a long time
• 8:5–7 — gets to the city and the centurion comes and He offers to Stop going wherever He’s going to go and heal him; and it’s a huge opportunity for the Jews to see great faith — from a Gentile!
• 8:14–15 — not an interruption but Jesus was actively looking for opportunities to serve, even when He finally reached home at the end of this long day
• 8:16–17 — and thus, He invited interruptions all night
• 8:28–34 — as soon as they hit the shore, the demon possessed man/men interrupts whatever plans they might have and it seems they spend some time there before they are then forced to return without doing whatever they’d set out to do
• 9:1–8 — as soon as He gets to His own city, they bring more people to Him (and this might be where there are huge crowds and they break through the roof); it seems He can’t catch a break
• 9:9–17 — He ‘sees’ Matthew and calls him, and then proceeds to ‘recline’ for dinner at Matthew’s home and have tons of conversations. He was going somewhere surely, but was interruptible enough to stay and recline for a while.
• 9:18–19 — while reclining at Matthew’s, the ruler comes in with his need for his daughter’s healing and Jesus rose and followed him [immediately]
• 9:20–22 — And while Jesus was going to this^ urgent need, He still was interruptible to the bleeding woman and stopped to talk with her
• 9:27–31 — As Jesus is going on His way (strategy), these two blind men are crying aloud (and in the other place of this same story or a similar one, the disciples are frustrated and stifle the blind man/men), but they come into whatever house Jesus went into and He healed them and THAT’s what Matthew records as opposed to whatever they went to that house for.
• 9:32–34 — They bring to Him another person in need of healing and He heals him, yet we still don’t know why He went to that house in the first place; only these ‘interruptions’ are recorded because that’s what God was doing.
• 12:15 — He was going somewhere and “many followed Him” and He didn’t ignore them or stop ‘walking’ so to speak, but ‘as He went’ He “healed them all.”
• 12:22 — another demon possessed man was brought to Him and He healed him. It was ‘by the Spirit of God’ that He did that (v.28) (seemingly referring to the power by which He did it, not necessarily the decision to do it or not do it)
• 13:1–2 — the crowd was big enough that He had to change His plan from sitting by the sea to going out in a boat.
• 14:13–15 — Jesus is mourning the loss of a friend, specifically trying to get some alone time on the boat, and yet the people follow and when He sees them on the other shore, He has splagchnizomai, and healed their sick until the point in the evening that was illogical due to the necessary provisions.
• 14–34–36 — they reach the other shore and crowds gather from the whole region. It would have taken some time for them to gather, and Jesus didn’t leave and keep moving on his journey, but stayed and healed.
• 17:14–21 — despite a seeming rise in clarity of plan (go to Jerusalem and die) and recent intentional teaching opportunities, Jesus is interruptible to heal and teach immediately upon coming down the mountain.
• 17:24–27 — the tax collectors come asking for the tax (perhaps annoying, perhaps interrupting whatever they were doing in the house) and Jesus uses it (note Jesus is the one initiating) as a teaching opportunity for Peter and any onlookers.

Consider a few more in Matthew as we ponder how Jesus was constantly aware, dependent, and wholehearted regarding the work of His Father:

• 4:18–22 — calls some of the men. He prayed all night (Luke 6:12–13), was led by the Spirit, but ultimately He just ‘saw’ these guys as He was walking. It could have said ‘He went to the docks to find these men’ but it says ‘while walking by the sea.’ See also 9:9 — same thing when He calls Matthew.
• 9:35 — He going throughout all the cities and villages — in strategy to the Jews (‘synagogues’) and proclaiming a specific message — and yet goes ALL places in that region and heals ALL diseases and ALL afflictions that arise. He doesn’t say ‘no’ to any needs.
• 13:10–23 — In the midst of His very public and very interruptible ministry, Jesus was constantly with the twelve, which allowed Him to always be building them up more intentionally as He went. This was obviously the ‘Master Plan’ and highly strategic, yet it was in the context of a highly interruptible and hectic ministry meeting needs as they went. And even in moments where one might have felt entitled to rest and relaxation (like when He finally gets back to the house — 13:36), the disciples want Him to keep teaching, keep clarifying the things He taught in public (13:36), and He not only explained the parable they wanted but told several more (13:36–52).
• 15:21–28 — Jesus is resistant to the Canaanite woman at first, until He sees what the Father is doing
• 15:29–32 — If this is ‘strategy’ the strategy seems to be to simply plant Himself and let the inevitable crowds come and give His life away to them freely for days (3 days).

More Examples Through Mark