Beholding the Father in the Son

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way.” Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 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 him, “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. 

John 14:1-12

---

Master, Show Us the Father

“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

John 14:9

At the Last Supper, Jesus consoled his disciples before his passion, directing their faith in God toward himself. Their understanding of his oneness with the Father had not yet matured. Upon hearing Jesus reveal his intention to prepare places for them in his Father’s house, Thomas confessed his ignorance. 

“I am the way and the truth and the life,” Jesus declared, equating his person with the consummation of creation. Prior to his coming, God remained wholly transcendent and invisible. In the fullness of time, the Father revealed himself through his Son made man. 

Baffled, Philip implored, “Master, show us the Father.” Jesus’ divinity eluded him; the God of Moses could not be seen or touched. In the final hours before his arrest, Jesus lamented, “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.”

Stretching human language as far as possible, Jesus insisted, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” Eternally begotten of the Father, the Son is truly “God from God, Light from Light.” One who beholds the Son beholds the Father.

In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?

John 14:2