By [wbt_preacher_link preacher=”Sean Finnegan”]

The main focus of the Gospels is the life of Jesus of Nazareth. However, they also reveal much about Jesus’ God. In fact, since Jesus always did his Father’s will, we can even say that Jesus’ words and deeds reflect God’s heart as well.

Calling God “Father” or “Heavenly Father” is so common in Christianity that it’s easy for us to miss how radical and attention-grabbing this habit was when Jesus introduced it. Although God had been known as Father in a smattering of texts in the OT, Jesus regularly used the term for God in a much more personal and intimate way.

Jesus healed people constantly. After they brought him a paralyzed man, he left walking. The blind left seeing; the lepers, cleansed; and the dead, raised. What’s more, Jesus’ miracles were not only authorized and empowered by God but were also God’s express will. Thus, looking at Jesus healing people reveals to us that the God at work within him is our healer.

Joseph and Mary were not high status or wealthy. Nazareth was an unremarkable Podunk town out in the countryside of Galilee. And yet, it was to Joseph and Mary that God entrusted His only begotten Son! God delights to work with the lowly, the humble, the peasants. Throughout Christ’s sayings and deeds, we see God’s heart for the last to be first, for the outsiders to become insiders, and for the losers to be made leaders.