Even He Called Him Lord
This morning as I was reading my devotions I was directed to a passage in Matthew. It was a familiar read, but as I started looking at it I was floored by a few words that I hadn't really noticed before. Let me show you the verses.
“At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
’Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.’”
I'm sure most of you who read your Bible regularly are familiar with this passage. I don't know about you, but I am often reciting the last three sentences back to Jesus reminding Him that He is responsible to give me rest and help me bear the load of this life. I try to do that with humility, mind you, because He does say that I should learn from Him and we can't be teachable if our hearts are made of the granite of pride and self.
The words that struck me this morning were these:
“...Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth...”
Let me set the back drop for you. This is Jesus, the One who is part of the triune God-head. He, as far as we are concerned, is on the same level with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. He was there at creation. He was the only person capable of taking on the sin of the world, walking into hell and coming out unscathed. Why then is He addressing His Father in this way? Couldn't He have simply said, "Father?"
As with so many things that Jesus did, He was once again giving us an example to follow.
1. Praise. There is something elevating about praising God. When we lift Him up we are placing Him exactly where He is supposed to be. Not only that, but praise ushers us into His presence. If we do a simple word search in the New American Standard version of the Bible we find the word praise used 256 times. Out of those 127 are used in connection with the Lord and 86 are used in connection with God. It would seem that praising God is a priority.
When Jesus was riding into Jerusalem on a donkey the crowds were shouting,
“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!””
The Pharisees scolded Jesus, telling him to rebuke his followers.
“But Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!’”
Why then, would Jesus need to praise the Father, when in reality they are one person? Jesus is showing us that praise is an important component in a relationship with our Father.
2. Relationship. There is no doubt that Jesus has a relationship with the Father and the Spirit. Relationships are facts of life. We have relationships with our significant others, our children, our coworkers and the people in our lives we call friends. Out of the many interactions we have with people on a daily basis the ones that are closest to us will be the ones that we invest the most time and effort in...or at least they should be. When I get together with my girlfriends we talk about what? Our families. These are the relationships that are important to us.
Jesus made a point throughout his years on this earth to talk about His Father. Look at a few of these verses.
“And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?””
““Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.”
““Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.”
“For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.””
“And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.’”
“And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ Having said this, He breathed His last.”
These are just a few of the many verses throughout the Gospels where Jesus makes reference to the Father. Jesus knew how important this relationship was to Him and His purpose was to make the way clear so that we could enjoy this same relationship with God.
3. Humility. By calling God the Father, Lord, Jesus is acknowledging a hierarchy of authority that we all need to be aware of. Jesus understood humility.
“who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,”
If God's own Son chose to place Himself, humbly under the authority of His Father, then aren't we, even more so, obligated to fall at His feet? Jesus made a choice to honor His Father's perfect plan to bring salvation to His creation. Was it easy? Refer back to Jesus' time in the Garden of Gethsemane. He prayed earnestly that the cup could pass from Him, but in the end said, "Your will be done." How often are we at odds with God because we do not want to do what He has laid out plainly in scripture? Yet our Savior honored His Father completely, even to the point of death on a tree.
If you are feeling, not quite right in your walk with the Father, why not revisit these three things that Jesus did? Praise God, renew your relationship with Him and humble yourself. I know for me, when I place God first in my life and in my day, He takes care of the rest.