From The Father

Rick: Before our discussion of a couple weeks ago, I thought concentrating on the log in my eye rather than the speck in someone else’s (Matthew 7:3) meant that I should look at my own sins rather than the sins of others. But now, I hear you saying that my log is much more than my sins, and includes all that is involved in living a spiritual life. I have enough of my own journey to worry about instead of trying to straighten out everyone else.

Jesus: Yes, the log is what each one of us has to wrestle with as we seek eternal life . . . our Father’s life in grace.

Rick: Then, you told me that you had your own log . . . even greater than anyone else’s . . . but I still find that hard to imagine!

Jesus: Yes, I had my own journey to undertake, which is also the only way I am able to help others. No one can teach what they have not experienced firsthand. Spiritual wisdom is not hearsay, or speculative, but always grounded in knowing God and oneself through time spent in the desert. One does not have to sin to gain spiritual wisdom, but one must have wrestled with darkness to know light.

Rick: So, only when others ask for my help should I say anything, and then only about what I’ve learned from dealing with my own temptations on the way to our Father’s life?

Jesus: That’s right. Then you will not be judgmental or arrogant. My example is to humbly help fellow travelers on the way, doing so from a deep and personal awareness of the contours of the spiritual journey.

Rick: That brings me back to the question I asked you last week . . . if knowing my “log” is necessary for my own spiritual progress, in order to be able to help others, and so I speak humbly and truthfully about what is wrong in the world, how do I learn about my own log?

Jesus: I can tell you how I learned about mine. I know many Christians do not think of me as having had to learn anything, as if I was born knowing everything about a spiritual life! Many hardly think of me as a real human being!

Rick: Well . . . you are God, and doesn’t that mean you have always known everything?

Jesus: It is more accurate to say that God knows whatever can be known. Even so, when I came to earth I emptied myself (Philippians 2:6-7) and fully took on the state of a human, just like you. I did not know what it meant to be righteous, faithful, obedient, or to be like our Father. I did not know good from evil. I had to learn just like everyone else (Luke 2:52, Hebrews 5:8). We all need others to teach us, as they, in turn, needed someone to teach them.

Rick: Who taught you?

Jesus: In truth, there is only One Teacher. Isaiah referred to this when he said that in the end everyone will be taught by God (John 6:45, Isaiah 54:13). For this same reason, I told my disciples that they really only had one Teacher (Matthew 23:8-10). Everything I said was what our Father taught me (John 8:28), but our Father usually teaches us through others, choosing that we learn in this manner.

Rick: Through whom did your Father teach you?

Jesus: I listened carefully to what was taught by the scribes and Rabbis of my day. I observed carefully what the birds, flowers, and all creation teaches. Our Father speaks through everything, which is what many of the psalms encouraged me to recognize. There were some great Pharisee teachers who instructed me in righteousness and the writings of the prophets.

Rick: Pharisees? . . . weren’t they your en- . . . oh wait, people aren’t the enemy.

Jesus: Of all the teachers in my day, I was closest to the Pharisees in so many ways. They understood numerous things well, which is why I told my disciples to listen carefully to them, though not to copy some of their practices (Matthew 23:2-3). I was listening to Moses and the prophets through them, and when they allowed themselves to be taught by the great traditions of the past, they did very well. I owe much of what I learned to them.

Rick: But how did you know to distinguish their poor practices, their lack of compassion and tenderness, from their good teaching?

Jesus: My greatest teacher, the one who told me the most about our Father, about faithfulness, righteousness, and humility, was my blessed mother, Mary. More than anyone else, I am who I am because of her.