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Book: Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging by Brennan Manning
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Authors: Brennan Manning
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We huff and puff to impress God, scramble for brownie points, thrash about trying to fix ourselves, and live the gospel in such a joylessfashion that it has little appeal to nominal Christians and unbelievers searching for truth.
From hound-dog disciples and sour-faced saints, spare us, oh Lord! Frederick Buechner wrote, “Repent and believe in the gospel, Jesus says. Turn around and believe that the good news that we are loved is better than we ever dared hope, and that to believe in that good news, to live out of it and toward it, to be in love with that good news, is of all glad things in this world the gladdest thing of all. Amen, and come, Lord Jesus.” [13]
The chorus of voices quoted in this chapter call out to us to claim the grace given to John Eagan: Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion.
•4 •
Abba’s Child
YEARS AGO, I directed a parish renewal in Clearwater, Florida. The morning after it ended, the pastor invited me to his home for breakfast. Sitting on my plate was an envelope containing a brief note from a member of the church. It brought tears to my eyes: “Dear Brennan: In all my eighty-three years, I have never had an experience like this. During your week of renewal here at Saint Cecelia’s, you promised that if we attended each night, our lives would be changed. Mine has. Last week I was terrified at the prospect of dying; tonight I am homesick for the house of my Abba.”
A central theme in the personal life of Jesus Christ, which lies at the very heart of the revelation that He is, is His growing intimacy with, trust in, and love of His Abba.
After His birth in Bethlehem, Jesus was raised in Nazareth by Mary and Joseph according to the strict monotheistic tradition of the Jewish community. Like every devout Jew, Jesus prayed the Shema Israel —“Listen, Israel: Yahweh our God is the one Yahweh” (Deuteronomy 6:4) —three times a day. Jesus was surrounded with the Absolute, dominated by the One, the Eternal, the “I Am Who I Am.”
In His human journey, Jesus experienced God in a way that no prophet of Israel had ever dreamed or dared. Jesus was indwelt by the Spirit of the Father and spoke to God using a name that would scandalizeboth the theology and public opinion of Israel. The name that escaped the mouth of the Nazarene carpenter? Abba.
Jewish children used this intimate colloquial form of speech in addressing their fathers, and Jesus Himself employed it with His foster father, Joseph. As a term for divinity, however, its use was unprecedented not only in Judaism but also in any of the great world religions. Joachim Jeremias wrote, “Abba, as a way of addressing God, is ipsissima vox , an authentic original utterance of Jesus. We are confronted with something new and astounding. Herein lies the great novelty of the gospel.” [1] Jesus, the beloved Son, does not hoard this experience for Himself. He invites and calls us to share the same intimate and liberating relationship.
Paul wrote that “those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry ‘ Abba , Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:14-16, NIV ).
John, “the disciple Jesus loved,” views intimacy with Abba as the primary effect of the Incarnation: “To all who did accept him he gave power to become children of God” (John 1:12). Hadn’t John heard Jesus begin His farewell discourse in the Upper Room with these words — “My little children” (13:33)? Thus John exclaims, “Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us, by letting us be called God’s children; and that is what we are” (1 John 3:1).
The greatest gift I have ever received from Jesus Christ has been the Abba experience.
From hound-dog disciples and sour-faced saints, spare us, oh Lord! Frederick Buechner wrote, “Repent and believe in the gospel, Jesus says. Turn around and believe that the good news that we are loved is better than we ever dared hope, and that to believe in that good news, to live out of it and toward it, to be in love with that good news, is of all glad things in this world the gladdest thing of all. Amen, and come, Lord Jesus.” [13]
The chorus of voices quoted in this chapter call out to us to claim the grace given to John Eagan: Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion.
•4 •
Abba’s Child
YEARS AGO, I directed a parish renewal in Clearwater, Florida. The morning after it ended, the pastor invited me to his home for breakfast. Sitting on my plate was an envelope containing a brief note from a member of the church. It brought tears to my eyes: “Dear Brennan: In all my eighty-three years, I have never had an experience like this. During your week of renewal here at Saint Cecelia’s, you promised that if we attended each night, our lives would be changed. Mine has. Last week I was terrified at the prospect of dying; tonight I am homesick for the house of my Abba.”
A central theme in the personal life of Jesus Christ, which lies at the very heart of the revelation that He is, is His growing intimacy with, trust in, and love of His Abba.
After His birth in Bethlehem, Jesus was raised in Nazareth by Mary and Joseph according to the strict monotheistic tradition of the Jewish community. Like every devout Jew, Jesus prayed the Shema Israel —“Listen, Israel: Yahweh our God is the one Yahweh” (Deuteronomy 6:4) —three times a day. Jesus was surrounded with the Absolute, dominated by the One, the Eternal, the “I Am Who I Am.”
In His human journey, Jesus experienced God in a way that no prophet of Israel had ever dreamed or dared. Jesus was indwelt by the Spirit of the Father and spoke to God using a name that would scandalizeboth the theology and public opinion of Israel. The name that escaped the mouth of the Nazarene carpenter? Abba.
Jewish children used this intimate colloquial form of speech in addressing their fathers, and Jesus Himself employed it with His foster father, Joseph. As a term for divinity, however, its use was unprecedented not only in Judaism but also in any of the great world religions. Joachim Jeremias wrote, “Abba, as a way of addressing God, is ipsissima vox , an authentic original utterance of Jesus. We are confronted with something new and astounding. Herein lies the great novelty of the gospel.” [1] Jesus, the beloved Son, does not hoard this experience for Himself. He invites and calls us to share the same intimate and liberating relationship.
Paul wrote that “those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry ‘ Abba , Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:14-16, NIV ).
John, “the disciple Jesus loved,” views intimacy with Abba as the primary effect of the Incarnation: “To all who did accept him he gave power to become children of God” (John 1:12). Hadn’t John heard Jesus begin His farewell discourse in the Upper Room with these words — “My little children” (13:33)? Thus John exclaims, “Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us, by letting us be called God’s children; and that is what we are” (1 John 3:1).
The greatest gift I have ever received from Jesus Christ has been the Abba experience.
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