Gospel Reading: Jn 14:7-14
Jesus said to his disciples: “If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.
And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.”
SHOW US THE FATHER
It is scriptural belief that to look at God is to invite death. The vision of God was granted only to very few individuals – Jacob, Moses, the prophets – and only in some symbolic form. John puts it clearly: “No one has ever seen God” (Jn 1:18). Seeing God is reserved at the end time (cf Mt 5:8). For the moment, we see God dimly, as in a mirror – but later, face to face (cf 1 Cor 13:12).
When Philip asks Jesus to show them the Father, he probably means to experience the like of the great epiphany at Sinai or the vision of the heavenly court given to the prophets. But Jesus tells him that theophanies and visions are no longer necessary now that the Word of God – who is God – has become flesh and can be seen and touched. In seeing Jesus, one sees God. Jesus is one with the Father, and his mission is to reveal what he has seen of the Father. But more than any agent of God, he is also the Son of God. “No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him” (Jn 1:18).
“We are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 Jn 3:2).
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SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord,” ST PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
