Our Father

When Christ was teaching in the temple as a twelve year old boy and scolded by his parents for causing them worry, he responded by saying, “How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49).  Later, during his earthly ministry, he referred often to his divine parentage:

• “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32)
• “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (John 5:17)
• “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again” (John 10:17)
• “For all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you” (John 15:15)
• O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done (Matthew 26:42)

Joseph was not the father of Jesus’ body.  There can be no question that God was the father of Jesus Christ.  There has only been one person on earth to whom God was the physical father.  Why then, when teaching the disciples to pray, does he teach them to pray to “Our Father which art in heaven” (Matthew 6:9)?  We know that God is not our physical father–most of us have proof right in front of our eyes.  He isn’t just being sentimental.  He is the only person who has ever lived to have the right to refer to God as exclusively his Father, and yet Christ includes all mankind under the umbrella of God’s progeny.  There are many other recorded instances of Jesus’ reference to our divine heritage, including:

• “Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him” (Matthew 6:8)
• “For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you” (Matthew 10:20)
• “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father” (Matthew 10:29)
• “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:36)
• “For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.” (Luke 12:30)
• “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17)

Boyd K Packer wrote:

“We are the children of God. That doctrine is not hidden away in an obscure verse. It is taught over and over again in scripture. These clear examples are from the Bible: ‘All of you are children of the most High’ (Psalms 82:6) and: ‘We are the offspring of God’ (Acts 17:29).  Doctrinal truths are interrelated. There is an old saying that if you pick up one end of a stick, you pick up the other end as well.  If you concede that we are His children, you must allow that God is our Father (“The Pattern of Our Parentage,” Ensign, Nov 1984, 66).

How is it, then, that Christ is the only begotten Son of the Father, and yet we are His children?  While our bodies were not physically begotten of God, our spirits were.  We were spirits before we came to this earth–spirits who were children of God.  We saw that God was different from us and wanted to be more like Him.  Heavenly Father presented a plan that we could participate in to progress to become like Him.  Some of us rejected that plan.  Those who accepted it came down to earth to gain a body and be tested (the two things we were lacking to become like God).  Let me say this again:  If you are here, that means you have already chosen to participate in God’s plan for you.  This Father’s Day, in addition to honoring and celebrating the mortal fathers that you know, join with Isaiah in shouts of praise: “But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand” (Isaiah 64:8).