Show Me The Father

"  'Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house, there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.'  Thomas said to Him, ' Lord, we do not know where You are going. How can we know the way?'  Jesus said to him,  'I am the Way, The Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.'  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.  . . . Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. . . . I am going to the Father.' "  [ John 14:1-14].


Who IS this man Jesus, whom God, the Father, sent to us?  He was a prophet, even the Jews acknowledged that.

We Christians call Him the Messiah, Savior, our Redeemer, the Christ (the Anointed).

In this Scripture, Jesus explains to His disciples that He is not only "like" the Father, but that the Father is IN Jesus.

In last week's Scripture, in Acts 2: 22- 24, Peter stood and addressed a crowd of Israelites:  "You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say:  Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds, power, wonders, and signs that God did, through Him among you, as you yourselves know -- this man, handed over to you according to the set plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised Him up, having freed Him from death, because it was impossible for Him to be held in its power."

If we re-read this Scripture in Acts 2 closely, what we hear is that Jesus, with "deeds, power, wonders and signs that God did through Him", was clearly validated as God's Son; only to be crucified "according to the set plan and foreknowledge of God."

Does this not sound like some awful, cosmic set-up on the part of God-- to have established His Son's miraculous role in human history, with wonders and signs; yet, knowing full well, in advance, that Jesus would be sacrificed so violently in the end?

And so what IS the point for God to have sent His Son to save us, only to watch His Son be carried off to a bloody end?

I know a pastor who said that, as a boy of about six, he used to fantasize that the "real ending" of the Crucifixion would have been that Jesus did not suffer and die at all; but instead, He simply stepped down from the cross and walked away.

But as much as we all wish for that perfect ending, it did not happen. And, without Jesus' death and Resurrection, our central Christian story would never have been the same.

Recently, I attended a lecture by Celia Sirois, of the Archdiocese of Boston. She said that Jesus had to die, because essentially, God had run out of other options. What else could He have done?

Too understand this analysis, you have to consider the trajectory of the Old Testament, as a significant and critical prelude to our Christian history in the New Testament.

In the beginning, God made the earth, and He made the perfect dwelling place for His people, in the Garden of Eden. But the First Man and the First Woman disobeyed God's command to abstain from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam and Eve became as gods, knowing the difference between good and evil.

Evil overtook the land, beginning with Cain's murder of Abel.

God tried flooding the land, sparing only Noah and his family, and the animals that boarded the ark two by two. But humankind's sin continued.

God chose Abraham as a patriarch. Abraham bargained with God to save Sodom and Gomorrah. But humankind continued to sin. And so, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

Then, God made Himself known to Moses at the burning bush. God called Moses up to Mt. Sinai and gave Moses the Ten Commandments. But humankind still sinned, despite the stone tablets setting forth God's Law in the Commandments.

God spoke to His people through Moses, saying, "See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, [vs.] death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, by loving the Lord your God and walking in His ways, and observing his commandments, then you shall live , and the Lord your God will bless you. But if your heart turns away, and you are lead astray to bow down to other gods, you shall perish [receive curses]." -- Deuteronomy 30: 15-20.

Then, God gave His People the great leadership of Judges--  anointed ones, such as Deborah,  Gideon, Jephthah and Samson. But, humankind still sinned.

Then, God called Samuel, the last of the Judges, and a prophet. But humankind still sinned. Despite Samuel's objections, God's people insisted that they wanted a King. [1 Samuel 8: 19-20].

Then, came the era of the Kings. But humankind still sinned.

Then, God sent prophets, such as Elijah, Elisha, and Isaiah. The prophets tried to warn against disobeying God's commands. Their warnings even extended to the Kings, who were not above the law. But, even the Kings sinned.

Then, because of all of the Chosen People's sins, they were exiled to Babylon. Their temple in  Jerusalem was destroyed. They lost control over their Promised Land.

Finally, God sent his only Son, as a human embodiment of God. God was IN Jesus. Jesus walked the earth, healing people and teaching about God. Jesus said, " Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father."

I have to believe that God knew the huge risk that He was taking, to send His only Son into such a corrupt world. But God had tried everything else--- isolating His First Man and Woman in Utopia, floods, destruction of cities, burning bushes, the Ten Commandments written on stone tablets, Judges, Kings, Prophets, Exile. None of this had worked.

God, the Omniscient, must have foreseen that Jesus would be considered a direct threat to the Roman Kings. God must have known that Jesus would be called a heretic, and worse -- a criminal.

But God was willing to put His Son in danger for US. God must have known that His Son could never survive in our sinful world. Inevitably, His Son would face death.

How Infinite is God's Love for us!

 God must also have known that His own Son would ultimately be the One to finally gain our attention.  Where floods and destruction, and Abraham and Moses and Judges and Kings and Prophets had been ignored, His own Son could not be ignored!

It is a shame that our sin came to that point, that nothing which God had previously sent could stop us from worshipping false gods and breaking His Commandments.

 Jesus was God's last, great Hope. Jesus died so that we might recognize finally, God's powerful significance in our lives.

Jesus, You came so that we can know God.

Jesus, You are the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, but through You.

[Related Postings, " Healed by His Wounds", May 15, 2014.]

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