Tuesday, November 7, 2017

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?”         
                                                                                                                              John 14:8-9

            How frustrating for Jesus!  Philip and the other disciples had witnessed Jesus’s miracles.  They had heard his teachings, seen his love in action, and been taught about God the Father.  And yet, Philip had not understood.  He had not yet realized that, in Jesus, the wisdom, the love, and the persona of God the Father was embodied.  Perhaps Philip simply didn’t allow himself to believe that the very teacher with whom he walked and talked was, indeed, God himself.  
             God is not hiding himself in an unapproachable heavenly lair.  He is – in Christ and in the ever-present Spirit – here, with us, now and every day.  He is in the love we feel, the prayers we offer, the answers we get, the blessings we see, the very air we breathe.  “Lord, like Philip, I can be blind and ignorant.  Help me to see you --- to recognize and rejoice in you – in every moment and place in my life.  In all of life.  Most of all, to see you in Jesus.”
©Carol Dean Henn, 2017