Key Verse: "Anyone
who has seen Me has seen the Father."
John 14:9B
Philip said,
"Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
Jesus
answered: Don't you know Me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a
long time?" (John 14:8-9A)
It was one
thing for the Jewish leadership not to recognize Jesus, but to still not be
recognized fully by His closest friends must have been very frustrating for
Him.
The leaders
were simply refusing to accept who Jesus was from sheer stubbornness. They
didn't like the Messiah figure that Jesus was claiming to be. Why, He wasn't
one of them! He wasn't a power player. He hung out with the wrong people and
mingled with the socially unacceptable! He would ruin their reputation and
really mess things up with Rome, the leadership had reasoned, if they did
things His way.
The disciples
were a different matter altogether. They weren't being stubborn or rebellious.
They were simple minded folk who loved Jesus with the simplicity of a child.
Yet, not even the miracles had been enough to convincingly prove to them that
He is God.
So, again,
Jesus attempts to explain to them how He and the Father are One and the same.
"I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. The words I say to you are
not just My own. Rather, it's the Father living in Me, who is doing His
work." (John 14:10B) Jesus and the Father have been One all along; all
through the Old Testament up to now. Every time you see the word God in the Old
Testament, put the face of Jesus there. They
are not two separate beings. They are One and have been all along.
Then, Jesus
offers a parallel to those listening and to us. "I tell you the truth,
anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even
greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." (John 14:12)
It is here that Jesus presents the idea that if they, we, have faith in Him,
then He is in us, Just as the Father is in Him and the Father, and Jesus, and
the believer, are One, because of Christ. He is the link between us and the
Father.
Do the
disciples understand yet? Maybe not, but now, Jesus will move on to talk about
the glue that will hold us all together and bring us all understanding.
Take time to
consider how, because of Jesus, you are one with the Father. It is too vast a
concept to comprehend without help, but it is true. When you ask Jesus to come
in to your life and heart, you are asking Him to make you one with Him and His
Father. That is why what the world sees us doing becomes so important. If you
are truly one with the Father, then you are either giving God glory when the
world sees your obedience to Him, or you are dragging Him through the mud, tarnishing
His reputation, if the world still sees you behaving like them. What you say
and do reflects on His character.
A good
question to ask yourself when you are thinking of saying something or doing
something questionable may be, "would God do or say that?" If you
knew that God was really like what you were about to do or say, would you still
love Him, respect Him, want to be a part of Him?
Sometimes,
it's hard to know just what the right thing to do or say is. Jeremiah says
that, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can
understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9) God knows this. He knows our struggle. He
knows how our emotions, wants and desires can play a part in encouraging us to
justify our sinful nature. That is why He also offers us help which we will
learn about tomorrow.
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