John 14:9 Jesus said to him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? he that has seen me has seen the Father… I. PHILIP'S ACQUAINTANCE WITH JESUS. Philip would have spoken with the utmost sincerity and not without justification if he had said that certainly he knew Jesus. In Bethabara beyond Jordan he had heard the voice, "Follow me," and he had followed wherever he was allowed to follow. In a certain sense it was perfectly true that Philip knew Jesus. In the darkness he would have recognized the Master's voice and even his footsteps. In that which is the mere surface of humanity the knowledge was ample enough, but the moment Jesus seeks the depths, Philip's knowledge fails him. Philip says, "Show us the Father," in the simplicity of most utter and guileless ignorance. He is looking on the very thing he wants to see, and yet knows it not. II. HOW FAR ARE WE INCLINED TO MAKE PHILIP'S REQUEST? If it were possible for Philip to do so, we may be sure he would press on us the need of making this request. So far as we can judge, he was a man who delighted in bringing others to Jesus. Philip himself came to make the request because so very often he had heard Jesus speak concerning the Father. According to Jesus, so much depended upon the Father, and the Father had a right to ask so much. How, for instance, could the disciple pray, "Our Father which art in heaven," as a real prayer unless first of all the Father had been shown to him? Philip must often have used the words of the Lord's Prayer. And yet here is proof of how little he had entered into the meaning. After the Father had been shown to Philip, only then would he begin to feel how great a thing true prayer is. There would be in it a power and a gladness it never had before. Thus it is clear we all need to have the Father shown to us. Not all our regularity in prayer and not all our importunity can bring down on us the highest blessings, if we know not to whom we are praying. Successful asking, successful seeking, successful knocking, implies that we ask from the right person, seek in the right place, and knock at the right door. III. HOW FAR ARE WE EXPOSED TO THE ANSWER OF JESUS? The word of Jesus, be it observed, is not a word of blame. The natural man is riot to be blamed that he cannot see what is only to be seen by the spiritual man. The answer is rather meant to make plain to us very important truth. 1. How easy it is to think we know Jesus! Know about him, at least. And it is easy to know a great deal, in a certain way. 2. But to know Jesus, as he wants to be known, is not easy. Philip's experience proves that. If length of acquaintance and closeness of intimacy count for anything, Philip had enjoyed these. But time is only an element in real knowledge, when some part of the knowledge, at all events the alphabet and rudiments, is known from the beginning. Mere lapse of time by itself will not bring knowledge. Through what years of need and struggle some of us may have been ignorant of him, who came that he might help us in our need and struggle! - Y. Parallel Verses KJV: Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? |
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