6Jesus says to him, “I myself am the way, the truth and the life. Nobody can come to the father except through me. 7If you have known me, you have known the father also. And from now on you know him, and you have seen him. 8Philip says to him, “Lord, show us the father, and that will be enough for us.” 9Jesus says to him, “I’ve been with you this long, and you don’t know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak, I don’t speak from myself, but the Father who remains in me does His works. 11Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. But if not, believe because of the works themselves. 12Absolutely truly I tell you, The one who believes in me will do the same works that I do, and greater works than these he will do because I am going to the Father. 13And whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. — John 14:6-14
It’s interesting how we can look at something, but not actually see it. Until we know what we are looking for, we often don’t see something which is plainly there. Of course, someone has to describe what is really there in the first place, and help us find out what to look for.
I remember my first look through the microscope. My father, a physician, allowed me to look at a slide with blood on it. I looked, but nothing made any sense. Then he started to explain what I was seeing and bit by bit I really saw the things that were there. They had been there all the time, I saw all the colors and the movement, and even some shapes, but it had meant nothing to me. Nothing, that is, until my father explained it.
As Jesus and his disciples were talking on the night of the last supper, they encountered just such a problem. They’d been listening to Jesus for over three years. They had seen him perform signs. They had declared their faith in him and their understanding of who he was.
But as our scriptures shows, they still weren’t quite getting the whole picture. There were things there that they just couldn’t quite see. Now they want to know how to follow Jesus. And Jesus starts to tell them. This is how you can know the way to go where I’m going. I am the way. Without me, no one can go to the father.
Wow! Watch the faces of these disciples as Jesus explains to them what is right there before their own eyes.
I’m going to the Father, he says. And you can know the way, because I am the way.
But Phillip expresses the question of all when he says, “Show us the father! That’s all we need!†Yes Jesus, we echo with him, show us the destination, let us see the light. Let us know that our heavenly father is there for us, waiting for us, loving us, reaching out to us.
But you’ve seen me, Jesus is saying. Look! This is the father. The father is the one who put on human flesh so He could reach you. He is the one who cared enough so he’d bring the destination and the path right down to you so you could see it and grasp it.
And Jesus has more faith in the disciples than they have in him. Now you do know the father he says.
And what’s more, Jesus tells them, I do the things I do through the father’s power, and you will do what I do, and you will do even greater things than I do!
What a promise! What faith!
And what a challenge to the church!
As you go through the next week, celebrate the saving, life giving, resurrection power of God. Think: “What could God do through me if I just had faith?â€
Take the challenge. Do greater things for God!
