Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the father.” vss. 8-9
John 14:8-11
The end was approaching, and Philip was beginning to panic. He’d been following Jesus for some time, at least a year, and he’d evidently been thinking that soon Jesus was going to reveal God to them. So, he got up his nerve and asked for the big reveal, “Show us the father, and we will be satisfied.” And Jesus, showing some exasperation, looked him in the eye and said, “Come on, Philip. Open your eyes. Whoever has seen me has seen the father.” John doesn’t bother to tell us how Philip felt about this rebuke, but we can presume that he was disappointed. Imagine yourself in that situation! When we’re looking for a glimpse of God, it might be a letdown to discover that God looks just like us. Yet that is exactly what we live with as followers of Jesus.
It’s true, the Divine Presence is among us, but when we look closely, we discover that the Divine Presence is exactly what we see in the mirror every morning, wrinkles, warts, and all. To put it another way, God is hiding in plain sight among us. In fact, there is nowhere where God is not. But wherever we see sacrificial love, abundant joy, and peace beyond understanding, we can be certain we have seen the face of God.
Thought for the Day: How is Jesus different from me?
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