The story is told of a soldier who was fighting for the North during the United States Civil War. All his brothers had died in battle. And he feared that if he died too, his mother would not be able to take care of their family farm all by herself. So, he marched up to the White House and asked to speak with President Lincoln. Unfortunately, he was denied access to enter.
Feeling dejected, he sat down by a nearby bench. A young boy noticed this soldier and asked why he looked so sad. He told the boy his concern. The boy responded, “follow me.” The young boy led the soldier up to the White House doors, where they passed right through. Together they walked down the hallway and strolled right into the room where President Lincoln was meeting with his staff.
The young boy spoke up, “Father, this man has a problem, and I would like you to listen to him.”
Now, I don’t know how accurate this story really is, but it makes an important point: Children have access to their parents, even if nobody else does.
This is the same point that St. Paul made when he wrote to the Christians in Galatia. He told them that no matter what family they grew up in, Jesus had made them children of God. And God’s children get access to their heavenly Father. He goes so far as to say that we can call the almighty God our “Abba, Father.” (“Abba” is the way of saying father in Aramaic.)
St. Paul wrote: “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son to be born of a woman, so that he would be born under the law, in order to redeem those under the law, so that we would be adopted as sons. And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts to shout, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if you are a son, then you are also an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:4-7).
We need familial access to our heavenly Father because the access we have to our earthly families can often become broken. Sometimes its broken by us. Other times its broken by other family members.
This Christmas holiday season probably meant family time for you. Extended family traveled to your house for a visit. You traveled to visit your family. Meals were prepared. Gifts were given. Memories were made. But maybe the memories weren’t all that good. Maybe the Christmas dinner ended in a fight. Maybe feelings were hurt when you came together for the holidays. Maybe feelings had already been hurt and coming together didn’t solve the situation.
The painful reality is that we sinners fail our families, and our families fail us.
Not only do we often deal with a broken relationship somewhere in our earthly family, but we certainly have had a broken relationship with our heavenly family. Sometimes the parents or the children may break our earthly familial relationships. But the break with our heavenly family is one-sided. We are at fault. We are the ones who have broken our relationship with our divine Father, Jesus our Brother, and the Holy Spirit.
God knows about our broken relationships. He wanted and created children to be perfect. … But he was sorely disappointed. That’s why he made a plan. It was a plan created even before time began. St. Paul explains to Pastor Timothy: “[God] saved us and called us with a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, and it has now been revealed through the appearance of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:9, 10).
When the time had fully come – when the time was right and God used Caesar Augustus to move the holy family into the right place at the right time – God sent his Son born of the Virgin Mary. God the Father sent Jesus to be the perfect Son he always wanted. He returned God’s love, was perfect in obedience, and unwavering in devotion. Jesus came to be everything that God wanted from us.
By coming to be the true Son of the Father, Jesus gives us rights to be redeemed sons and daughters. We are the redeemed – blood-bought children of the heavenly Father. Jesus came to be everything that God wanted from us … by giving everything that he was and earned over to us. Jesus gave us his perfection and righteousness so that when Abba looks at us, he sees little Jesuses. He sees us wearing Jesus’ perfection and righteousness. Jesus earned our adoption into the heavenly family with his bloody suffering and innocent death. He paid the price for our redemption. Now when Abba looks at us, he sees little Jesuses. He sees that our sins have been removed and placed upon his perfect Son.
Now, as the Father’s redeemed sons and daughters, we enjoy all the rights, the privileges, and the relationship of heirs. Just like Jesus.
Now you don’t need to remain outside the presence of the Father. You can walk right into God’s presence through your prayers, empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak whatever is in your heart. You can call the Lord God of heaven and earth “Abba.” You have access to the Father … through the Son … by faith given to you by the Holy Spirit … because you are now God’s adopted sons and daughters. Amen.