John 14:8-21

⁸ Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

⁹ Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.¹¹ Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. ¹² I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. ¹⁴ You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

¹⁵ “If you love me, you will obey what I command. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. ¹⁸ I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. ²¹ Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”

Don’t you know me, even after I have been among you such a long time?

It is quite an reaction of Jesus with a sadness in His answer: Don’t you know me? even after… 

Being among does not always means “knowing”! It seems a normal question from the disciple as we all have this longing to “see the Father”, longing for His presence and the simple answer of Jesus helped me to reflect my own “longing”!

I remember this moment, someone reacted on a letter my daughter wrote in a very difficult circumstance. She needed to express her point of view and used the words she normally would use. Wise, strong words, reflecting a mature spirit (although young of age at that time) and the only reaction the person could give was: I don’t hear you speaking, I hear your fathers words! Of course she meant to say that she was negatively influenced by me, but we took it as a compliment, since we knew it were her own words! For us, an example of knowing us by walking with us and with it reflecting the heart we developed on the journey God took us!

Even in the time of Jesus, the “good old days”, the root of the question was birth from an individualistic mindset, not understanding “being one”, being connected. Not understanding what it is to live from the unity, the covenant and not knowing that the oneness as God meant it, is the only perspective from where you can see the Father!

It is not, being part of the same family, sitting in the same building, having the same surname and even being called brother or sister. It has to do with knowing Him, watching His deep walking, observing His inner attitude, that reveals the heart of the Father! The greatest thing Jesus did, besides dying on the cross, was not leaving us as orphans. By sending the other part of the Oneness, He made us directly connected to the Father, not as members, but as sons and daughters.

What seemed to be a legal question, Show us the Father, revealed the fact that even after being such a long time He has been with you, you still don’t know Him! No judgement in His voice, only sadness and with it the urging to correct, by expressing the results of getting closer!

Because we lost contact with our roots and believed that being independent is a great blessing, it really meant loosing our ability to be part of the generational blessing God has in store for all of us. It has been the biggest effort of the evil one to disconnect, to separate, to cut loose, with whatever beautiful words has been used. By doing so, we only have the here and now and thats what is ruining our life. By reconnecting, by returning the hearts, we reconnect with the Purpose and build hope in Life!

My statement in life according to my children: In order to give them a future, I had to connect them with their (spiritual)past!