Father And God

Jesus said to her,  ‘Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’

John 20:17

Christ consistently laid emphasis upon His relationship with God, His Father.  As He approached the cross, He wove together references to this relationship throughout His discourse to the disciples in the upper room.  He also emphasized the relationship between the disciples and God the Father.  After His resurrection, He continued in the same line of thought.  When He encountered Mary Magdalene, who was very thoroughly His disciple, and who was the first person to whom He appeared after the resurrection, she was so ecstatic to see Him that she clung to Him.  Christ responded to this embrace kindly, gently, but also firmly and then pointed her to her next great mission, to tell the other disciples that He had risen from the dead.  To this He added, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’  Again, Christ lays emphasis upon the fact that He has a familial relationship with God the Father which means that all who have a relationship with Christ have one with the Father as well.  Our relationship with God the Father, as our Father, proceeds upon the foundation of our relationship with Christ.  He is the begotten Son, and we are children by adoption. Our relationship with God the Father is as vital as our relationship with Christ can make it.

Our Gracious Master and our God.
we rejoice that You have brought us unto God our Father.
We praise You that You are the one Mediator,
between God and man.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning