Jesus Said: If You Want To Know God, Look at Me

BIBLE STUDY #807- CHURCH IN THE HOUSES TUESDAY, MARCH 25-31, 2014

Topic: “Jesus Said: If You Want To Know God, Look at Me” John 14:7-14 Here when Jesus speaks to His disciples it is as if He had said: “If you want to see who God is, if you want to see God’s mind, God’s heart, God’s character, and if you want to see God’s whole attitude towards humanity, look at me.” John 14:7-14 Jesus can provide that knowledge of who and how God is to all those who are humble enough and who trust Him. What Jesus said about seeing God in His person perhaps seemed hallucinatory and strange for the ancient world. Hallucinatory and strange for the Greeks because for them God was essentially “The Invisible” and just the same for the Jewish because they were sure no one had ever seen God. But, in spite of their thoughts, Jesus said to them: “IF YOU WOULD HAVE RECOGNIZED ME YOU WOULD HAD ALSO KNOWN MY FATHER.” “If you really knew me you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” John 14: 7 Philip asked Jesus what would seem impossible to Him. “Philip said: “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” John 14:8 What was in their mind was: when God allowed Moses to see His glory, which is what has also been in our minds nowadays. But, today we will acknowledge God in Christ and we will be fascinated with Him. Within the limits of reality in the times of Jesus the believers were oppressed by the idea of who God was and how was He; for them God was something so strong and great that they could not understand it. Then, Jesus arrived to bring the closeness of God on earth. It would have never occurred to them to think they could see God! With supreme simplicity Jesus said to them: “Those who have seen me have seen the Father.” To see Jesus here on earth is to see how God is. God in the person of Jesus took part in the most intimate and homelike things, like when He fed the multitude giving them bread and fish, and here in this biblical passage, while in supper, speaking with the disciples. When we see Jesus living and moving among men we can say: “this is God living our life.” God had no shame in carrying out the earthly work just as a human does. He came to the world as a worker: Jesus was the carpenter for Nazareth. He knows the difficulty of your work, about the wages, the people, etc. He also came to know by his own experiences the difficulties of coexisting in the bosom of a numerous family. It was man’s first sin that brought the product of work. (Genesis 3:19 “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”) It is spoken of ordinary work in the Old Testament and in the New Testament and that work is coated of glory because it was assumed by God in Jesus. God also knows what it is to suffer temptation. The life of Jesus presents to us, not serenity, but rather the struggle of God Himself. It was easy to imagine God living in serenity and peace that could not alter the tensions of this world; but Jesus shows us God going through all our anguishes. God is not like a general that guides his army from a comfortable and secure position but rather He is in the front line, with us! In Jesus we see God LOVING US. When there is love the pain is felt. If we could organize our life in such a way that we didn’t care about anything or anyone, we wouldn’t have such things as sadness, pain or anxiety. But in Jesus we see God intensely worrying, longing to relate with humanity, feeling closely for and with the people. In Jesus we see God loving the men and women of this world to the point of carrying in His heart the wounds that this love involves. In Jesus we see God ON THE CROSS! THERE IS NOTHING MORE INCREDIBLE IN THE WORLD! NO ONE WOULD HAVE DREAMED WITH A GOD WHO CHOSE THE CROSS TO SAVE HUMANITY! “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” Jesus was God’s revelation. Jesus is the one who reveals, uncovers God on earth. HE CAME TO TRANSMIT TO HUMANITY THE GLORY, THE LOVE, THE PRESENCE AND THE VISION OF GOD JUST AS HE WAS, THAT’S HOW GOD WAS, THE SAME! Jesus brought to humanity the accent, the message, the mind and the heart of God. God was behind Jesus and in Him. If Phillip couldn’t believe that Jesus was God because he walked with Him, well then let him believe for His deeds. THE DEFINITE PROOF THAT JESUS IS WHO HE IS, IS THAT NO ONE ELSE HAS EVER MANAGED TO MAKE GOOD THOSE WHO WERE BAD.

In short, what Jesus said to Phillip was: “Listen to me, look at me and believe in me.” And still like yesterday, the way to become a Christian and see and acknowledge God is not to dispute about Jesus, but to listen to Him and look at Him! Do you? Amen.