This Is How It Is
Feast of Saints Philip and James, Apostles
My dear encountered couple:
We’ve all seen movies where the police interrogate a suspect in a crime. When they have a hard time making him talk they put on the “good cop/bad cop” act. One of the policemen acts as nice as he can be to the suspect, offering him a cup of coffee, cigarette, a sandwich. The other threatens him with hell on earth if he doesn’t confess. Is it possible that sometimes we think of Jesus and his Father in those roles?
Throughout the Old Testament we find God, whom we tend to identify with God the Father, commanding, threatening, and punishing; so we make him the “bad cop.” Throughout the gospels we find Jesus forgiving, loving, and curing people; so we make him the “good cop.” God the Father gets the reputation of being the bad cop, Jesus the good cop. If we have that impression, says Jesus, we are most emphatically wrong. Our idea is totally off the mark.
“Show us the Father,” said Philip, “and that will be enough for us.” “Philip,” sighed Jesus, “after I have been with you all this time, you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not spoken of myself; it is the Father who lives in me accomplishing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”
God the Father is not the bad cop, Jesus is not the only nice guy. They both are as loving and caring and forgiving as anyone can be. Want to know about God your heavenly Father, then look to Jesus and you’ll discover his true nature.
There is no bad cop in God. Only two lovers, or is it three, that want nothing but the best for you always.
