Saturday in the Fourth Week of Easter, May 6, 2023

John 14, 7-14

Jesus said to his disciples: “If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to Jesus, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.”

“If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”  Today’s Gospel Reading continues to draw from the Lord’s discourse to the Apostles at the Last Supper, as recorded in St. John’s Gospel.  In saying that “You have seen him”, that is, the Father, we should keep in mind the Ancient Middle East notion of a man’s son as the father, so that the father lives on in him.  This is behind the custom, for instance, of a man sending his son to represent him on some business transaction.  Philip’s request that Jesus show them the Father shows a lack of appreciation for this reality.  It is also something of a wild request, for as was well-known to the Jews, God had said to Moses, “You cannot see my face: for man shall not see me, and live” (Exodus 33, 20).  At least we can say that Philip had accepted the fact that Jesus could show them the Father.

“Show us the Father.”  The Lord had already shown the Father to them through his teachings and through his works of mercy.  He would further show the Father to the world through his Death on the Cross whereby he revealed him as one worthy of all love, honor, and obedience.  But the union of the Father and Son is so complete as to put to make it known that all human customs and understandings regarding fathers and sons were mere, distant, deprivations.  The Father is in the Son in a way no human father could ever be in his son, and the Son likewise in the Father.  Jesus means this when he says, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father . . . I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”  The Lord further indicates that he means this as something more than the human understanding when he adds, “The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”  The Father “dwells” in him.  The Greek word literally means “to remain”, “to abide”, which is stronger than to dwell, for a person may dwell one day here and another day there.  The Father dwells permanently in the Son, then, in such a way that when the Son speaks, the Father speaks — not merely in the way humans might think but in way unique to the Father and Son.  

“Believe because of the works themselves.”  The Lord Jesus appeals to Philip in the way he appealed to the Pharisees: if you do not believe my words and attribute them merely to me as speaking of myself, then believe the miracles that I do that could only be done by divine power and are signs of the divine approbation. We, as followers of Jesus Christ, May speak of him and claim to belong to him, but it is our works that will seal our words.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.”  What work could be greater than raising the dead or giving sight to the blind?  But the Lord gives the power to perform greater works than he, for if people failed to believe that he was the Son of God despite these works, then we who are not divine would need to perform greater works to teach people that Jesus is divine.  These greater works are conversions.  It is a greater thing to convert an unbeliever than to raise the dead, for a dead man raised will sue again, but one who receives faith will live forever.

“And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.”  We poor mortals are bound to interpret “whatever” in our own way, but the Lord means it, as is clear through context, in regards to the graces necessary for us to convert the world, for this truly glorifies the Father in the Son.  

Like Philip, we long to see the Father face to face, and we shall if we persevere in our faith.  But for now we have the privilege to show the Father through our words and deeds which are not ours alone, but which are God’s, and through which he reveals himself.