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.”
REFLECTIONS
Show us the father
God is often described as mysterium tremendum et fascinosum (a mystery that is tremendous yet fascinating). God’s glory is such that the human being cannot contain it; thus the scriptural belief that to look at God is to invite death. Yet, there is such fascination that makes people long for God. Moses makes his plea to God, “Please let me see your glory!” (Ex 33:18), articulating the longing of humankind for a genuine experience of God. Such is also the case of Philip who asks Jesus, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Unable to grasp what Jesus says that to know him is also to know God, Philip asks that he may have a vision of God.
Indeed, seeing God “face to face” is reserved for the beatific vision in the other life. Meanwhile, we have to be content with seeing him dimly, as in a mirror (cf 1 Cor 13:12). Still, the Word who in the beginning was with God and is God (cf Jn 1:1) has become flesh, a human person. Jesus is the face of the Father’s mercy. Jesus is the face of God. But we need the insight of faith to see the face of God in Jesus.
In the Christmas carol Mary, Did You know?, Mary contemplates the Baby Jesus in the manger. She is then asked: “Did you know/ that your Baby Boy has walked where angels trod?/ When you kiss your little Baby you kissed the face of God?/… Did you know/ that your Baby Boy is heaven’s perfect Lamb?/ The sleeping Child you’re holding is the Great ‘I Am.’”
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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.
