God has children. The devil has his too. The facts that define these two “families” will shake us to the core. God’s fatherhood is utterly distinct from all others, so it is unrealistic for Abraham’s descendants to assume that they are automatically God’s children. Hence this rebuke from Yeshua of Nazareth. God’s children can have conflicts with neighbours but they always seem peaceful solutions, as did Abraham when the flocks he and Lot, his nephew, owned were too much for the small area they were occupying. If God were anyone’s dad they would love people.

The illusion of loving God and despising people

“Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.” (John 8:42, NASB)

Despising just one person for any reason will threaten your boat. Imagine what the effect of writing off entire people groups with our biases can do to a “boat”!

A historic turning point

The people who decided, in the first century, against continuing to follow patriarchs, prophets, priests, and kings became the targets of virulent hate, even in courts of law. “God is my dad” is inconsistent with evil discrimination. It is also incongruent with the Law of Moses because the law of Moses allows discrimination on the basis of food and drink consumed, and on the basis of days, times and years observed. You can also imagine how much water a sieve will carry when its purpose is to strain out the water of God’s fatherhood and tender love for humanity. It makes one wonder what human family and fatherhood might be about , if it does not come from the highest source and patterns.