Abba or Allah

Understanding who God is and who we are

04/30/2021

John 14:1-6 Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way.” Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

One of the most radical things about the Christian religion is the revelation (and revolution) of Jesus as the Son of God. And if Jesus is the Son of God, then we are by adoption “sons in the Son” or, more famously formulated in Latin, “filii in Filio.” In other words, Christianity – indeed, every religion – not only tells us who God is, but also who we are. Have you ever considered that: religion not only reveals who God is, but also reveals who man and woman are?

Bishop Robert Barron put it this way in a very unassuming sentence in his book Catholicism, saying simply: “Once we know whom to worship, we then know what to do” (p. 22). In other words, once we recognize who God is (our Father), we realize who we are (his sons and daughters), and then we run along knowing he loves us. That is what it means to be “filii in Filio,” sons and daughters in the Son of God.

Recently, I tried to explain this to a friend about how radical and revolutionary the notion of Christian sonship was by contrasting it with Isalm. In Islam, Muslims do not worship God as Father – it would be blasphemous to suggest such a thing – but rather as Master, even if he is a merciful Master. But he is Master nonetheless. As a result he does not have children, but servants and slaves. In other words, Muslims worship God as Lord, Creator, and Master, but never as Father. He is Allah as Mohammed maintained, not “Abba” as Jesus cried in Mk. 14:36 in the Garden of Gethsemane.

And “once we know whom we worship, we then know what to do.” To be sure many, even most, Muslims are God-fearing people who promote peace, seek justice, help the poor, and pray devoutly (maybe more devoutly than many Christians do!). But they do all these things because their Maker is their Master, the divinity is not their Dad. We Christians do many of these same loving, giving, and sacrificing activities, but we do it moved by a Father who sent his firstborn Son to teach us how to be “sons in the Son,” “filii in Filio.” Every religion teaches not only who God is but also who men and women are.

In the gospel today from Jn 14, which is often read at funerals for very good reasons, Jesus asserts the radical results of the revelation and revolution of Christianity. Listen carefully to our Lord’s words: “Do not let your hearts be troubled…In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places…And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.” Can you hear the revolutionary and radical results of our faith in this profound passage? Jesus draws out the full implications of being filii in Filio, sons in the Son. If we are the adopted children of God, then our true home is heaven, where our Father – not merely a Master – has prepared a home for us.

What is the practical application of this? Well, “once we know whom to worship, we then know what to do.” Knowing our Maker meanings knowing our marching orders. The reason Christians love the poor is because they are our siblings, not our fellow slaves. The reason we love our spouse and save our marriages is because we see a reflection of the Family of the Trinity in every father, mother and child, not merely as a commandment from a Master. The reason we pray to God is not from fear of Allah, but from faith in Abba, Daddy.

And the reason we pray and sacrifice for Catholics who have stopped practicing their faith is because they are like children who have run away from home. Or, maybe they are children we have driven away from home because of our sinful and scandalous behavior. How many Catholics cannot step foot in a church today because of the past twenty years of the priest-pedophilia scandal? So, there is plenty of blame to spread around everywhere; let us not be too smug as we say these truths.

If you want a one-sentence summary of the Second Vatican Council, and indeed of the whole New Testament, and even of the entire Christian faith, here it is: “Jesus Christ, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals many to himself and makes his supreme calling clear” (Gaudium et spes, 22). What is that supreme calling? It is to be “sons in the Son,” filii in Filio, where in heaven we have Abba not Allah. And “once we know whom to worship, we then know what to do.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!