God Our Loving Father

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.” (John 14:7-14)

This Gospel reading from John is quite similar to what is said by John in his first letter (4:11-16) that reads: "Moreover, we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world. Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him." (1 John 4:11-16)

This letter-writing John was neither the John who was one of Jesus’12 disciples nor the same person who wrote the gospel of John.  There is a consensus that this letter was written later than John’s gospel, perhaps around the year 100.  It has been assumed that the letters and the gospel came from a “Johannine community” experiencing conflict and division, according to Marcus Borg in his 2012 book Evolution of the Word: The New Testament in the Order the Books Were Written.

In today’s gospel we read: “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves.” In the first letter of John we read: “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him." Essentially the same point is being made, but letter-writing John takes it a step farther by linking this relationship to love.  He also said: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit.” 

To truly know the Father, to truly know God, we simply must love one another.  At the very least, we must respect one another.  The Holy Spirit resides in us.  We must use the Spirit’s gifts and then reveal the fruits that include peace, patience, kindness, and goodness.  These fruits promote love and the presence of God the Father.

Deacon David Pierce