“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? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.“— John 14:8-9, NIV
“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father,” might be the most staggering thing Jesus ever said.
To the Greeks of that period, God was “the Invisible.” The Jews counted it an article of faith that no man had seen God at any time. In the midst of a culture where religious views and spiritual truths were of the utmost importance, this was not only a shocking declaration, but one that risked the accusation of blasphemy.
Philip, like Moses centuries earlier, had asked to see God. A bold request.
God responded to Moses, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you…but,” He said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live” (Exodus 33:20).
In the time of Jesus when people were fascinated by the “transcendence of God” and by the difference and distance between God and man, they would never have dared to think they could see God.
But Philip asked, and to him, everyone around him, and to all of us, Jesus simply said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” He also said, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.”
We can KNOW God, through Jesus. We can know our Father. We can know God as our Father. We can call on Him like we would a dad.
When we look at Jesus—Healer, Savior, Shepherd, Friend—we can also see almighty God, our Father who is in Heaven.
Now that’s a staggering concept. And a reality that can make Father’s Day even more meaningful.
