Hey, everybody.
Thanks for being with us again, continuing here through the Gospel of John
in the 14th chapter, kind of a little bit of a section we've been taking slowly.
We are, just here in the, what are we, the ninth verse, Michael?
No, eight, the eighth verse, Jesus has been talking to the disciples,
made this wonderful statement, I am the way, the truth and the life,
you know the way, etc.
and as we continue that conversation, we now hear
from a disciple that we generally don't hear a lot from.
But of very interesting conversation.
So we jump in here at verse eight, Philip said to Jesus,
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.
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 in me?
The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own.
But the father who dwells in me does his works.
Believe me that I am in the father, and the father is in me.
But if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.
I tell you the truth.
The one who believes in me will also do the work I do, and in fact will do
greater works than these, because I'm going to the father.
I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the father may
be glorified in the son.
If in my name you ask for anything, I will do it.
This this is, I think, two things about this passage.
Go on.
On one hand, I think this is a wonderful
passage with some discipleship
overtones and some devotional flavors.
On the other hand, I think this is John
being John and all the I'm in him and he's in me, and don't
you know me because I know him and
those are John always,
has a way of adding those layers
which are not unimportant and not unnecessary.
But there are times I think they.
I will only speak for myself.
I think sometimes in those moments when I read those things,
when they get repetitive,
and we're about to come into a section of that in the next few chapters,
I will confess that sometimes my eyes can gloss over.
Yeah, well, I do think that this is a really
example par excellence of a text
where John does really go very deep
into the spiritualist tradition and, you know, it's one of the reasons
why John does get accused of, you know, even sort of,
playing over on the highly Spiritualized side.
And, and I think we need to anchor ourselves here
and, we need to really find the center of the text.
I think a place to do that is with verse eight.
Sorry that the iPad's not working here today.
We'll get the text back up next.
Study.
But, you know, Philip says, Lord, show us the father and we will be satisfied.
Well, here's the interesting thing with that.
In this case, we have presented the idea.
Well,
if this is
all about you leading us,
Jesus to the father, then then just let's let's get it done,
have the revelation, get it all out there, which is by definition.
And this hooks up with the conversation that we had yesterday
that that ultimately the disciples continue to miss it.
Right? Because the revelation is there.
The revelation is with them.
They have it in full.
And I think the thing that's really interesting is that is unsatisfying
to them, that ultimately,
Jesus, we were ready for you to show us the father now, right?
As if they've been following Jesus this whole time
thinking, oh, it's eventually going to get good.
Oh, we're eventually going to push through this layer
and into see the next one and what Jesus launches into.
Then all these red letters, I think, is fundamentally
Jesus blowing open the mind to say no.
Ultimately, if you can't see that the father has been revealed to you in me
this entire time, then you've missed it from the start.
And I think that that is an unbelievable,
important lesson, though I think one that does hit kind of hard,
and I think it does feel like we sort of get dragged down with the tide
a little bit in it, but Jesus's response to Philip,
which is a question have I been with you all this time, Philip,
and you still do not know me, is an unbelievably challenging question.
And I think ultimately that question lands hard on all of us.
How long have you followed Jesus and still not known him?
How long have we heard the good news?
And that good news has still been contained and limited in our lives?
I think this is a very powerful way of
sort of blowing open the the revelation of who Jesus is,
and making it clear that the disciples, despite all of their willingness
to want to follow Jesus on the path, they're still not there.
They don't understand yet what we just talked about yesterday.
Jesus is enough.
He is the path.
Be with him and that's all you need.
I do think you have to connect
this passage to what we saw yesterday, what we looked at yesterday.
Jesus is speaking about I'm the way.
I'm the only way to get to the father.
I know the path.
You know the path. Follow me.
And and here is Philip saying, okay, that sounds good.
Show us the father.
And we've said this at multiple times during this study.
John loves misdirection.
He loves misunderstanding.
And so here Philip has,
a justifiable misunderstanding.
Okay, okay.
That sounds great.
You're the way to the father.
Then let's see him.
And then we get this response.
Do you not know me and Jesus,
you know, then unpacks that saying,
I am the father and the father's in me, and we work together.
And if you've seen me, you've seen him, I, I, I think that's the point, Michael,
at which this text gets a very devotional.
I suspect anybody who is seriously tried
to follow Jesus and call themselves Christian have found themselves
in a moment where they said, I just need to see.
I just need something of clarity.
I just need a moment of affirmation.
I just, I I'm ready, I'm willing.
I'll do it.
Could you just give me a sign?
Could you just infill upwards, show me the father and
I think
from a preaching or from a just a reading
devotional kind of standard, that that's where this text shines,
as Jesus says, you know, don't you know me?
If you see me, you see him.
If you follow me, you follow him.
If you're about my work, you're about his work.
And I, I think there's something deeply human in Philip's question.
Certainly it comes across as Jesus being critical.
Do you still not know me?
I think that's a softer.
At least I'd like to think that's a softer statement
than it might read in, in our language.
And as we read it,
you have seen him because you've seen me.
And then Jesus even goes on to say, believe that I'm the father.
And if you're not there yet, then just look at the works.
And again, it's interesting that Jesus is now saying something to the disciples
that is very similar to what we heard him say to the Pharisees, look at what I do.
Look at the work that I do.
And if you can't get all the way to belief at this moment,
at least consider the evidence of my work,
because they combined in total point to Jesus.
And I just think this is, it's it can be a challenging text to study
or to read, but I think from a devotional standpoint,
there's some really good if we want to hear this as kind of
a sermon ish or a meditation, I think there's some really good stuff here.
So I actually think that one of the really challenging aspects
of this text to interpret comes at the end where Jesus says, agree.
Anyone who believes in me will also do the works that I do, and
in fact will do greater works than these because I'm going to the father.
I, I think your point about
the accommodation that Jesus preaches here is really important, right?
That Jesus knows that we're not always living in the pillar of faith,
that we're not always at the mountaintop.
And so his point, hey, if you don't believe that I'm the father, though
I've made that clear. If you don't believe it, look at the works.
If the works are enough for you, believe in the works, right?
Like get on the road.
I think what's really challenging is John, the gospel is written
with full view of the fact that the church exists, right?
That Jesus has called into existence this group of disciples
who will go on beyond Jesus's own death, resurrection
and ascension, the glory of Jesus Christ that we see at the end of the story
is the beginning of a new chapter of Jesus's work.
But it's not in Jesus, the incarnate one who is eating with the disciples
is Jesus, who is incarnating through the work of the disciples.
And that's a very sophisticated theological point being made here.
Jesus, the all knowing one in John, is in red
letters, speaking forward to the church that will exist.
And Jesus is literally saying here that I will do greater works than these.
That is an astonishing claim made by God
incarnate, the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.
I think how we interpret that.
Then Clint becomes really important,
and the church has a long history of taking words like this.
Sometimes at our worst, reading it either can't text and making claims about,
well, then we should have supernatural powers,
or we should be able to do whatever we want.
And we miss the fact that Jesus is connecting, that the the,
the journey of discipleship is following in his way is is being with him.
And then when we do that, we might see him through us doing these works.
I think it's important how we orient ourselves to a text
like this, so that we can hear how it all fits together.
I yeah, 100% agreement, like we said early in this study,
and I've said it a couple times, John is typically thought to be a later book.
One of the later gospels,
and so John represents,
we think, a time in which the church
was formed and in trying to function.
And if you keep that in mind, then what ultimately is the message here
that the people of Christ are going to continue the work of Christ,
that they're going to move forward doing what
Jesus does, and in fact, will be able to do that at scale, because Jesus
is going to be working through them rather than just Jesus doing those things.
There will now be a body, his body,
a group, a growing,
a growing body of people who will be devoting themselves
to the work of Christ with Christ's
help, I will be with you.
I will do what you ask.
Now. Yes.
That's not some promise that we're going to get everything we want.
It's a promise that Jesus is going to be working through his people.
And I think it helps to remember that
John, of all the Gospels comes at a time
in which the gospel is not only trying to tell the story of Jesus,
but he's trying to speak that to a gathered, assembled,
growing church, a body of Christ.
And I think, I think through that lens,
it helps us
minimize the chance that we misunderstand and misdirect the words.
It all matters where you put the emphasis.
And I think that this last verse that we have for today
is, is really the perfect example of that.
If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
So what's the emphasis in that text?
Is it if you ask me for anything.
Right. Like for, for anything?
Or is it if in my name you ask me,
I write and I think that the key of reading a text
like this is to put it together with all of the things that surround it.
And Jesus has been making a compelling case in this section
that he is ultimately the one who reveals God the Father.
Right?
In answer to the question, well, Jesus, why don't you just pull back the veil
and show us the Father and Jesus screaming almost.
You could see in the red letters, I can't do any more than what I've done right.
I am the father.
And if you don't see that yet, Philip, I don't know what I can do for you.
Believe the works, right?
If you if you can't see the father, then believe the works.
And by the way.
Right. It's not just my works.
When you go out and you are serving in my name,
my name is enough for you to actually get to experience
miraculous works in your own time and discipleship.
That's the amazing kind of gift to future church that John is recalling here.
Is that Jesus is saying, if you miss the the works of Jesus
as he walked the earth, you're not without the ability
to see works in action in the world in which we live.
And the Christian with eyes to see can see
even in thin places, God's provision.
The the way that God works through Christian community
to make things that are broken. Right.
And to support people who are in the midst of being unable to support themselves.
There are real miraculous turns in life that if we have the eyes to see them,
we have the invitation to see the power of Christ at work.
And I'm just saddened by those texts
that people get fixated on.
And they they make them into a kind of blanket
sort of hope or dream, as opposed to the reality of what is being presented
that this isn't about.
If you say, in Jesus name,
I want to have this thing, that Jesus is going to Fedex it to you.
This is about if you are connected to the creator,
Redeemer, sustainer of the world, then you two
will get to experience in your life the works of that Redeemer
in the real world, that you will get to see Christ, that work and transformation.
And it's not just an idea, but it's a practical, lived experience.
You don't have to be 2000 years old to get to experience the works of Christ.
His name is big enough, his power is strong enough.
And, you know, now, maybe I'm more preaching than Bible study,
but I just think, Clint, we need to hear in text like this.
It's the supremacy of Christ.
It's the power of who Christ is and what he he does
and wants for the church to be able to see in our own lives.
That's what this story is about, and not about some of that tangential stuff.
And I actually think there's an anchor right there in the text.
If you could get to verse 13, I, I will do whatever you ask in my name
so that the father may be glorified in the son.
So if if we're to ask things that aren't glorifying
for the Father and Son, those are not the things Jesus will give, right?
This work has an end, and the end isn't to lift up the workers.
The end is to glorify the father and the son.
And so,
it's easy to forget that it's easy
to miss that little, but crucial detail of the text.
Yeah, this isn't a this isn't some sort of spiritual lottery ticket.
This is I'm going to help you do that which glorifies me
and through me glorifies God.
And that's the task.
That's Jesus tasked and by extension, that's the churches
and Christian's task as well. And,
when we forget that, it is very much at our peril.
I think, to bring this to conclusion today.
Just a note here.
I think Jesus's emphasis in this particular section of John,
the the way that he, the son, reveals the father
in John, we should not be surprised that
Jesus tomorrow is going to move to talking about the spirit.
And we're going to begin to see how that spirit is an essential part
of the work of the son, revealing the father.
And and this is really it is deep theology.
And I think the church is indebted to John for giving us
this very robust site of teachings from Jesus.
That being said, for those of us who are seeking to study it,
it's a little bit like that.
Just jumping into the deep end of the pool.
It feels a little bit like you're jumping into the ocean half way in the Atlantic.
I mean, there's there's so much context here.
There's so much theological meat that Jesus is talking about.
Yeah, we could feel lost and drowning.
If that's the way you feel when you're reading John,
I would say hold on to the center.
And that center is always Christ.
And I think that we can summarize today's conversation was simply
that no matter whether it's the works or the reality, the revelation of who
Jesus is or whether or not it is the way that Jesus lived at work
in our own world, and the works that God is doing through and in us.
However you get there,
see who Jesus is, because he is the one who reveals the father.
And then that's what John is trying to to relate to us, I think.
Yeah, I would agree.
And John is allowing us in the next few chapters
to listen in to private conversations with Jesus and the disciples
and even with Jesus and the father, and ask what we learn from that.
So there'll be lots of opportunities to have those kind of conversations
in the next week or two.
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