Can you see Jesus

Jesus tells us in John 14 verse 6 that I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me.  (7) If you had known Me (had learned to recognize Me), you would also have known My Father.  From now on, you know Him and have seen Him.   

These two verses are pretty popular and well known, but do we really know the reason why Jesus is saying these things to the disciples?  

Do we realize that Jesus is saying these things to convince the disciples that they have indeed seen God, and have seen Him through Jesus?  Jesus is preparing them for his departure from them.  He is preparing them for His death on the Cross.  Thomas, doubting Thomas, says to Jesus, where are you going, and how are we supposed to find you, if we don’t know where you are?  

This is when Jesus tells them in John 14:6-7 that He is the Way the Truth and the Light.  That you must come through Him to get to God.  He also says, had you been paying attention, you would be able to see clearly that you are seeing the face of God.  I also think he is giving them a mini check when he says, from now on, you know Him and have seen Him.  Basically, don’t ask me these foolish questions again, because you should be able to clearly see what is in front of your face.  

I also believe Jesus is foreshadowing the future and the need for a savior.   He is preparing them for their separation, and with the limited understanding and perspective the disciples have, they don’t quite understand, that Jesus is not speaking of a distance of separation, but of a physical separation.  Jesus is telling them, I am going to go away and prepare your dwelling places in my Father’s house.   And it’s very important that you understand that though I am not physically with you, you still see me in memory and spirit.   

He’s telling them that he must leave them to prepare a future for them.  But I think that Jesus was a little taken back when Thomas asked him how will we find you, if we don’t know where you are going?   I think Jesus was relying on the relationship they had cultivated over the last couple years, and the wonders and miracles they have seen him perform, that they would understand that his Father’s house was indeed God, and Heaven.  

When Philip says to him Lord, in verse 8, show us the Father (cause us to see the Father that is all we ask); then we shall be satisfied.  Jesus response, I would imagine, was one of frustration.  He tells Phillip, Have I been with all of you for so long a time, and do you not recognize and know Me yet, Philip?  Anyone who has seen Me, has seen the Father.  How can you say then, Show us the Father?   

I can understand where Thomas and Philip were coming from.  I can apply this to my life and how I ask God for signs to show me that I am on the right track.  I will ask for signs, for words from God or for God to show me if the door is open or closed.  I will ask God all the time to help me, and I suppose this, like Philip and Thomas’s questions to God, probably frustrate him.    

I would think, though a little different, Jesus is thinking; now we have been together for almost three years.  I have healed blind men, lame men, paralyzed men, a woman with the issue of blood, I have known what you are thinking before you have said the words, I have answered you before you spoke your question, I have fed over 5,000 men on two fish and five loaves of bread, and raised a dead man to life, after four days in his tomb.  How can you possibly be asking me to see the Father?  I am the Father.  I am the face of the Father; fore I am the Father’s Words.  I am the Father’s thoughts made flesh.   I am not acting on my own accord.  I am sent here to save all of you from yourselves.   

Have you not been watching and studying me?  

I wonder if this worried the Human side of Jesus at all.  If this caused Jesus to wonder about how they will be after he was physically gone away from them?  Would they be capable with the amount of faith they had to continue doing his work after he was gone?  

I understand the questions and need for reassurance.  It becomes very difficult to have faith in something you don’t see.   I walk by faith not by sight is one of the hardest but most beautiful verses, I think, in the Bible.   We are not to see the whole picture come together, but we are to trust that it will come together, and for our good.  

It’s hard to trust something that you don’t always understand.  It’s difficult to believe for something or someone that looks so impossible, it’s hard for your yourself to imagine.   Faith and Trust are very difficult things to cultivate, and then to lean on and rely in.  It’s difficult to trust without understanding, since we have been raised to understand.   

I think that is what Philip and Thomas were struggling with.  They were struggling with seeing what their lives were going to look like in the absence of Jesus.  They were worried, would they be able to actually complete the assignment that Jesus has called them into.    I think Philip and Thomas represent many of us today.  Many of us are worried about whether we are good enough, smart enough, and bold enough or have enough resources to complete the assignment that God has given to us.   

It’s very hard to look at the impossible with eyes that only see the physical.  I wear glasses and when I have my glasses on I can see clear across the room.  I can read signs, see people’s expressions, I can see colors brightly and I am able to see shapes and lines.  Now, when I take off my glasses it is very difficult for me to see across the room.  I can see shapes but there is no definition to the shapes, the faces, the words and colors can tend to bleed together.  I say this because it’s like Philip and Thomas were looking at their lives without Jesus, from impaired vision, and that made them nervous.  When they had Jesus, and knew he was always accessible to them they were comfortable, because they could see clearly, like I can when I have on my glasses. 

I would never take off my glasses to drive because I am a risk to myself and other people on the road.  We also should be like that with Jesus.  When we allow ourselves to see through our impaired vision of fear, worry, anxiety, jealousy, lack, or want, we are not seeing things clearly.  We are looking with our fleshly eyes and not the eyes of our spirit.  We believe sight over faith, instead of believing our God over our emotions.  Be led by your knowledge of God instead of what your flesh is telling you.  Be obedient to the leading of God and make your flesh succumb to Him as well.