The Fatherly Heart of Jesus

Let’s go together to the book of Mark, chapter 2. You know… today I began thinking about the fatherly heart, not only of God the Father, but also of God the Son—the fatherly heart of Jesus. But wait, He never married during His earthly life, right?

Jesus was a single man, right? We know that one day He will marry, and who is the bride? We are—even the men. The bride of Christ—the Church is the bride of Christ.

But in His earthly life, He was a single man without biological children. But how many of us know that fatherly love is about much more than biology! It is a special kind of love that is demonstrated.

And I began thinking about moments in the Bible when Jesus called people “My son” or “My daughter.” It wasn’t very common, was it? It wasn’t something that happened frequently in His life. I know I don’t hear it as much here, but in California, among the Latinos I know there when I’m visiting my wife’s family, I don’t know—the Mexicans call everyone “My son, my daughter,” right?

I don’t know whether there are others who do that.

Notice that Jesus didn’t do it much, someone might think. I could find only two times when Jesus calls someone “My son” or “My daughter.” I simply invite you to think. Can you think of the moments, of the people? No? Well, this is a large group, so I’m not going to ask you to shout out the answer. I know we’re not in a discipleship class.

But I could find only two moments when Jesus did it, and in all the Synoptic Gospels it is repeated that Jesus said, “My son, My daughter.” And we know that the Bible does not contain words just for the sake of having them.

Jesus used His words purposefully. There was something He wanted to communicate; it was not an accident. The Bible includes that. Jesus said this to these people for a special purpose. So let’s begin with case number one. If someone finds more cases, forgive me; those are the only two I found. And I sensed something very similar in both of them.

Let’s begin in the book of Mark, chapter 2, starting with verse 1.

The Word of God says: “And Jesus entered Capernaum again after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He preached the word to them. Then some came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And since they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was; and after making an opening, they lowered the bed on which the paralytic lay. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven you.’”

You know, the first time I read it, I said, “Brother, your children are forgiven you,” but no—it is, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

“Some of the scribes were sitting there, reasoning in their hearts: ‘Why does this Man speak this way? He is speaking blasphemies! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ And immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they were reasoning this way within themselves, He said to them, ‘Why are you reasoning this way in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven you,” or to say to him, “Arise, take up your bed, and walk”?’”

“‘But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—He said to the paralytic—‘I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.’”

“Then he immediately arose, took up his bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this.’”

Case number one: the paralytic: “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

The next case. Does anyone know? Okay. I’ll give you the chance. Go ahead, you can say it. Who is it? Who? Go ahead. There! Mark 5. You win the prize!

Mark 5. It is the story of a man, a desperate father named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. He approached Jesus and said, “My daughter is dying. Jesus, come and help her.” If your daughter, your little girl, is dying, you are going to ask on your knees, crying out, “God, help us! She is dying.” Jesus says, “Let’s go.” And they set out to heal the little girl.

And look at what happens. Verse 24. And I want you to think about what the two stories have in common: the story of the paralytic and the story of the woman with the flow of blood that we are going to read now. Okay?

Verse 24: “So He went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and pressed in around Him. But a woman who had suffered from a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse, when she heard about Jesus, came from behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, ‘If I merely touch His garment, I will be made well.’ And immediately the source of her bleeding dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of that affliction.”

“Then Jesus, immediately knowing within Himself that power had gone out from Him, turned around in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched My garments?’ And His disciples said to Him, ‘You see the multitude pressing in around You, and You say, “Who touched Me?”’ But He looked around to see who had done this. Then the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.’”

While He was still speaking, some came from the house of the ruler of the synagogue, saying, “Your daughter has died. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” But as soon as Jesus heard what was said, He told the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid; only believe.” And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. And He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue and saw the commotion and those who were weeping and wailing greatly. And when He entered, He said to them, “Why are you making such a commotion and weeping? The little girl is not dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him. But after putting them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the little girl, and those who were with Him, and entered the place where the little girl was. And taking the little girl by the hand, He said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” And immediately the little girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years old. And they were greatly astonished. But He strictly commanded them that no one should know it, and said that she should be given something to eat.

Jesus was Latino, right? “That the little girl should be given something to eat”—that is the first thing He thinks of, right? Father, in the name of Jesus, thank You that You are a perfect Father. Lord, I ask You—and, Lord, I feel… Father, that I am unable to find words to communicate the truths that You want to express to Your people today. So I ask that it be Your Holy Spirit touching each person, Lord, letting us know, Lord, what is in Your heart. Father, guide us, I pray; speak to us, I pray. Holy Spirit, You are the Teacher, and we open our hearts to You. In the name of Jesus. Amen and amen.

So Jesus had a fatherly heart; Jesus was also a father to the people around Him. I mean, I begin thinking about the testimonies we just heard, right? The special-needs children—who among us is not special in some way, right? Are you special? Do you have any special need? I do. I have several, and you know it. My Spanish is already a special need, but there are others you don’t know about—private things that we all have. Our imperfections, right?

Paul spoke about his thorn in the flesh. Every one of us is imperfect in some way. Here is a question: when you look at a child with special needs, who has some need—the need, I don’t know whether this has affected you in some way—does it make you love and cherish the child even more? Not in spite of the child’s special need, but because of it. And you know that we, too, are people with special needs.

The Father’s heart looks at us with all the bumps, all the problems we have, all the flaws, and says, “My child, I love you—not in spite of all these things about you, but even more because you have these things.”

The Father’s heart toward us, right? I would like to think for a moment about what the paralytic has in common with the woman who has the flow of blood. There are two things I see in common in these stories—there are many things that perhaps you can see—but the first thing I see is that they both have special needs. In one case, it is a person who needs to be carried by four others; in the other, it is a woman who carries her need inside, secret and hidden, right? Very private things, but she has them. Both are people who have that need.

And the second thing I notice is that both miracles take place in the midst of a crowd. In the case of the paralytic, what is happening in the house, right? Everyone is there, all pressed together. Sometimes three or four people trickle into some cell-group leaders’ homes here, right? But sometimes the house fills up and there is no more room; there are people everywhere, everyone pressed together, and they are over there in the corner, with the children making noise, thank God. That was how it was in Jesus’ day, in this house—a house full of people. In a children’s book we have, there is a picture of this miracle, and outside there is a mother with a child—a toddler looking on—and my son looks at it and says, “Mommy, I want to see Jesus. Mommy, I want to see Jesus.” Yes, keep saying it, right? Because he is like that child trying to see. Everyone is pressed together.

And in the second case, we have Jesus walking along to perform an important miracle: to heal the daughter of a community leader, a precious twelve-year-old girl. And Jesus is there, pressed on every side by the crowd. How many of you have gone to see the fireworks there at Boston Common on the Fourth of July? You know what it is like when you leave there, packed into a crowd, right? It is not always very pleasant, is it? You are there pressed up against everyone.

Jesus is like that, with the multitude pressing in around Him, and He performs the miracle in the midst of the crowd. And I feel that God wants to tell us something. There He is in the context of many people. How many of us know that it is possible to feel very lost in a crowd, right? Sometimes you walk through the city and feel alone; you feel as though no one knows you. It is called “being anonymous in the crowd”; in the crowd, you feel separate from everyone. Jesus knows that humanity feels this way. Sometimes we feel lost, and in these settings Jesus chooses two people and calls them “son” and “daughter.”

And I feel that God wants to tell us something through that.

Having children has truly surprised me. It isn’t that it wasn’t planned, although—well—but many things about the new experience surprise you, right? And something that surprised me greatly was that it is as though something has permanently changed in my head. The radar in my mind is always aware of them. Now, I imagine it is different at different seasons of life. Many of you could tell me better than I could. But no matter where I am or what I am doing, there they are. I can be here preaching, but if I close my eyes, there they are; I see them. Something is different.

I remember last Sunday—my wife sometimes hides in the back with the little boy so that he can play in a corner without bothering anyone—and I looked for them but did not see them. At one point I didn’t know whether they were there or not, and then my son came running over, and I saw him in the crowd, and I was like, “No way, there he is. I can’t believe it. It’s you! I didn’t know you were here.” What a surprise!

I feel that God wants to tell us something. That very special love you have for that kid, for that baby—I have that love for every person in the crowd. You are walking down the street and pass an elderly man who is wearing his hat and walking along; you simply pass him by, but God looks and says, “He is My little boy; I love him.” You are driving, and someone is parked beside you—a young man, perhaps of a different race, with his music going “boom, boom”—and he is sitting there, and God looks and says, “He is My little boy.” You are at the store buying food, and there is a young woman struggling with it, and God looks and says, “She is My precious little girl.”

God wants us to know that the Father’s heart is for every one of us and every person around us. Sometimes we cannot do everything we would like to do for His children. But He truly is their excellent Father, and He is always with them and loves them. They are precious to Him, no matter how many flaws they have—and how many of us know that every child has flaws! Sometimes you love them, and sometimes you want to give them a good whack on the head. God loves them in the midst of that.

In the story of the paralytic, Jesus says, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” Which sins? Jesus knew. Jesus knew. He knew his heart. God is a Father who knows us and watches us even when we do not know it.

I mean, a beautiful story that, to me, expresses the heart of God the Father is the story of Jacob when he is traveling, running away from his brother Esau. How many of us know the story? Jacob was Isaac’s son, and he was a deceitful person, someone who cheated, who was very crafty, who had many flaws. He lied, but he also loved the Lord. Is that possible? Well, we hope he changes over time, that he undergoes discipleship, that the anointing works in him, and that he changes, right?

But we know that God chooses earthen vessels, imperfect people. And Jacob had gotten into trouble with his brother—sin. But he stole the blessing, he lied; his brother consoled himself with the thought of killing his brother Jacob, right? And Jacob is running away and sleeping in the wilderness, somewhere along the road. He has nowhere to stay, so he finds a stone and uses the stone as a pillow. It’s pretty bad! He has nothing, right? He’s broke—nothing at all. I’m sure I didn’t say that quite right, but he is sleeping there, he has nothing, and he got himself into trouble. He brought his own problems on himself, right? And there he is, and he has a dream. We know the dream. He dreams of a stairway—a ladder—and angels of glory ascending and descending on the stairway. And morning comes, and in the dream he hears, “I am God, Jehovah, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God who is calling you. I will give you...” And God tells him all the promises He has for Jacob, promises for his life. And Jacob gets up and says, “This place is awe-inspiring.” Surely God was here, and I did not know it. God, Father God, was here watching over me, and I did not know it.

This is the heart of God the Father, who knows that even in our sins, even in our messes, He is there, watching, guarding us, protecting us. How many moms and dads are praying, “Lord, protect my child from all the outrageous things he is doing”? And God sees to it that warrior angels are sent to watch over them and care for them. God does it. God is here, and I did not know it, because God is my Daddy, and even though I did not realize it, God was watching over me!

God is there. Psalm 139, a beautiful psalm. Let’s read it together:

“O Jehovah, You have searched me and known me.

You know when I sit down and when I rise;

You understand my thoughts from afar.

You have searched out my path and my rest,

And all my ways are known to You.

For there is not yet a word on my tongue,

And behold, O Jehovah, You know it altogether.

You have surrounded me behind and before,

And laid Your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too

wonderful for me;

It is lofty; I cannot comprehend it.

Where shall I go from Your Spirit?

And where shall I flee from Your presence?

If I ascend into heaven, You are there;

If I make my bed in Sheol,

Behold, You are there.

If I take the wings of the morning

And dwell at the farthest end of the sea,

Even there Your hand shall guide me,

And Your right hand shall hold me.

If I say, ‘Surely the darkness

shall cover me’;

Even the night shall shine around me.

Even the darkness does not hide from You,

The night shines like the day;

The darkness and

the light are alike to You.

For You formed my inward parts;

You made me in my

mother’s womb...”

And the psalm goes on and on. God, You know me. When I was born, You were there... watching. When I grew and took my first little step... You were there, walking beside me, holding my little hand. When I went to school, You were there with me; when I graduated and received my diploma, You were there rejoicing with me.

God says, “There was My child. And even when things did not go well for you, when they left you alone, when you suffered loss and pain... I was there, watching you like a daddy caring for his child. I never leave you. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you.”

God is an omnipresent Father, a Father who cares for His children, who cares for us, and that is why He could look at the paralytic and say, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

He knew that this man had needs deeper than his need for healing. He was in pain, perhaps deep inside—the devastation of sin in life, which we all have.

He said, “I see you. I know your heart in all its complexity, and I tell you: Son, your sins are forgiven.”

You know what? There is something beautiful, something freeing, about knowing that God knows you, right? I don’t know whether you have ever had the experience of confessing your sins or struggles to a trusted brother or sister. Well, those from a Catholic background do that with priests, right? So it is not wrong. But the idea is not to ask that person to forgive you, but for that person to pray for you, for that person to stand beside you. I don’t know whether you have ever had this experience of seeking out a man of God if you are a man, or a woman of God if you are a woman, and telling them the ugly things you need to confess. And when you do, you experience God’s love in a way you could never have imagined. Because you know: I am in the light before this person, and God sees me just as I am and loves me in spite of everything. And He loves me because of all of it. My God is with me, even in this—wow! You are a heavenly Daddy. Thank You, God.

God looks at you and knows you, and He knows all the potential within you. How many of us have had someone in our lives—it may be a mom or dad, or perhaps a coach, a teacher, or a youth pastor—who looks at you and sees the potential within you; and when they look at you, you think, “Wow, this person believes in me!” And you think, “Wow, this feels good, doesn’t it?” It feels good. Because that person can see your potential.

In the book of Jeremiah, chapter 1, God says the following. He says a very well-known verse: the word of Jehovah came—or, well, the word of Jehovah came—to me, saying, verse 5, Jeremiah 1:

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; and before you were born, I sanctified you; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” That is it: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I sanctified you; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” God sees the potential within you, sees the beauty within you, and also sees the beauty in the person beside you. And He even sees the beauty within that boss who annoys you, whom you hate and whose head you want to rip off. And God looks at that person and says, “Do you know that he is My little child too?”

You know, if anything has changed me during my journey over these years, it is that I can think, “Wow, God loves this person in a way I never understood before!” This person is precious to God, and God knows them in all their complexity, and God seeks them. In the context of the woman with the issue of blood, do you know that the woman comes up from behind and touches Him? We know the story, right? I hope you have heard many sermons about it, because it is a beautiful text.

The woman had an issue of blood. In the Hebrew culture of that time, if you were a woman with an issue of blood, that had consequences under the law of Moses: you remained unclean, impure. There were certain places you could not go; if you touched someone, that person became unclean. What does it feel like to live that way? Being sick is bad enough, but on top of that, anyone you touch becomes unclean under the law. This is hard. Jesus wanted to say something: “I have come to change that. I have come to bring healing and emotional, spiritual, and moral cleansing to people.”

So her touching Jesus was an extremely daring act, because if she touched a person—much more a rabbi, and much more Jesus—her ceremonial uncleanness could be transmitted to that person. It was something one simply did not do, and that is why she did it secretly among the crowd, so that no one would notice.

But we know that our God notices. How many have wanted to do that? You want healing from God, a miracle from God, and then you just want to hide among the crowd again. But Jesus does not let you hide. Jesus wants more than merely to heal the body—although we are going to pray for physical healing—He wants to heal your heart, to heal your soul; and He is not satisfied with that alone. And He stops in the crowd—and we remember that Jesus is in a hurry, the girl is dying, and He is—and Jesus stands there amid the crowd and begins searching: “Someone touched Me. Who touched Me?” And He is searching through the crowd.

And the disciples say to Him, “Jesus, who touched You? Something like ten thousand people just touched You, and we are in a hurry. Look, we have a schedule; there is a little girl. Come on, come on.”

You know, this happens, this happens. When you submit to discipleship under someone, there are almost always scandals, and Jesus scandalized His disciples. They say, “What are You doing, searching? What do You mean, someone touched You?”

In other words, I see another aspect of Jesus’ fatherly heart in this: Jesus seeks His children; He seeks His children. Think of the Garden of Eden. His first two little children messed up through sin, right? They ate the forbidden fruit, and God comes in the breeze of the day, and what do they do? They hide from Him. They hide and stand there trembling among the trees, and God speaks the saddest and most beautiful words you will ever hear. God says—what does He say?—“Adam, where are you? My son, where are you?” And God is seeking His lost child because He loves him. I mean, God, you know, is Almighty. Nothing takes Him by surprise, but we know that God has feelings, human feelings that we received from Him, and in that voice I hear a certain—I’m going to use a word, but I need to qualify it—I hear a certain urgency in it: “My son, Adam, where are you?”

And Jesus in the crowd: “Someone touched Me,” something like, “No, no, no... I am not going to...” And they say, “Look, Jesus, relax. Many people have touched You...” “No, no, I am not going to relax. Someone touched Me. There is a lost girl in this crowd who is a daughter of God, who is My daughter, and I will not calm down until I find her.”

There is a certain urgency. It is not anxious urgency, because God—Jesus—is also Almighty God; He knows what He is going to do. But there is that solicitous heart of a father seeking his son, seeking his daughter.

You know, seeing this made me think of a movie. Have you seen that movie “Finding Nemo”? When that little fish goes after that boat—I even wanted to show that clip, but I found out that it costs a lot of money to show something to a group of people, and my wife said, “I found a cheaper way for you to make your point,” so she got...

It said, “Nemo, come back!”—sounds of speeding—Do you remember that? He swims after him... he is swimming, and the boat—sounds of a boat speeding away—and then he is swimming, and then the diver is there with the big gear, and, “No, my son, my son!” And he is swimming and swimming, out there in the sea urgently looking for him: “My son, where is he?” And we know the story, right?

So he searches. He has to fight the sharks, fight those little “jelly” creatures—whatever in the world, how do you say jellyfish in Spanish? “Living water”? You know how it is: The Lord is the Living Water, but anyway... he is searching, fighting those things and swimming, and he searches and searches and searches, and then there is the whale—like Jonah—and then all these things happen, and at last, thank God, he finds his son.

You know what? The message I believe Jesus wanted to give the crowd, to these people, is this: “I am looking for you, My child; I am looking for you. Do not hide from Me.”

When my wife was a little girl, she had her closet, her large wardrobe with all her clothes and shoes and all those things, but she also kept all her books and stuffed animals there. And as a little girl, she liked to hide in her closet and be there with her books, but she also loved it when her daddy or mommy opened the door and said, “There you are.” It is the joy of being found, the joy of being discovered.

In other words, we have all drifted away from God. Some are like the prodigal son, walking in sin, and we have separated ourselves from God because of it, and that breaks God’s heart because He wants the intimacy with you that He had before. But others of us may be far from God even while remaining inside the house.

We know the parable of the prodigal son. There was another son, the older son, who stayed in the house working, but his heart was far from God. He became angry when the other son returned, and the father goes out to him, and the son says, “Why have you never given me a celebration, when I have served you all these years?” And the father tells him, “Son, my little son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we have to rejoice because this son was lost.” The thing is that this son too, even inside the house, even inside the church, was lost. But the Father’s heart seeks him, urgently and earnestly, saying, “I will not give up until I find you, because I am your heavenly Daddy, and I am always with you, and you will not hide from Me. My son, My daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace, but you must know that I am always with you.”

Brothers and sisters, what we wanted to talk about today is that God is looking for you, and I do not know where you are—whether you are running from God or perhaps drifting away from God without realizing it. God wants you to know that He is your Daddy, He loves you, He sees you. I love this story of Hagar in the wilderness. I invite the musicians to come forward.

Hagar in the wilderness—a slave, Abraham’s slave who bore his son Ishmael—was later mistreated, and she runs away and feels completely alone in the wilderness. And the angel of Jehovah appears and says, “Hagar, where have you come from, and where are you going?” And she says, “I am running away from my mistress’s house.” She did not know where she was going, and God says, “Look, go back. I am going to bless you and your son.” And there she gave a name to a well. Its name was—the well of the God who sees me. The well of the Almighty who sees me. God sees you, even when you feel far away, when you feel alone, when you do not know what to do... God sees you. He is with you, He is with your loved ones, and He seeks you, cares for you, knows you, and longs for intimacy with you. He wants you to climb onto His lap, and He says, “Here I am with you.” He wants you to be a child close to Him once again.

So I invite you to consecrate yourself once again to your Heavenly Father, to draw near to Him, and to give Him the best Father’s Day gift you can give: your own life, your own heart. He seeks you and loves you. So let us stand and pray.

Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank You because You were not content to remain in heaven, Jesus. You came into this world and suffered to seek and find what was lost—which is us. And Father, I ask You in the name of Jesus that Your Holy Spirit reveal to every heart at this moment the Father’s love for us.

Father, I ask You in the name of Jesus—Lord, Father—that You open our hearts so that we may draw near to You once again.

Lord, so that we may let You look us in the eyes. Many of us are hidden among the crowd, Lord, or we are living far away in a distant land, in sin. Lord, we do not want to be far from You anymore; we only want to be near You. We want to be near You; we return to You this day. We say to You, “We give You our hearts.”

Father, I ask You—oh, my God!—that Your Holy Spirit move through this place, Lord, revealing that special love You have for each of Your children.

Lord, I ask You especially for those who are separated from their families, Lord, whether by distance or by distances. Lord, may they know that there is one Heavenly Father over all, who unites us all. And the space of geography, and even, Lord, our differences—those who have gone to be with You—everything is present with You, Lord.

Thank You, Father. Thank You that You are the faithful God, the Almighty God. Thank You, Jesus, for Your fatherly heart. We receive it today, Lord. We will no longer hide.