Have I Been With You So Long?

Antioch Christian Fellowship

May 20, 2007

John 14:8-17

Jesus knows that the time has come for him to “depart out of this world.” (John 13:1).  He and his disciples are in Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover.  Jesus has just washed his disciples’ feet and shared the meal with them.  We read at the end of chapter 13 of John that Judas, the son of Iscariot went out, he has left the fellowship of Jesus and his followers.  Jesus tells his disciples he will only be with them a “little while” longer (John 13:33).

The time has come for Jesus’ most important work.  He has done many things.  He has said remarkable things.  And Philip was there.

The book of John speaks about Philip the apostle more than any other book.  His calling by Jesus follows immediately after that of Andrew and Peter in chapter 1 of the book.  In John chapter 6 when the multitudes of people are following Jesus, it is Philip that Jesus asks, “Philip, where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”  Philip responds in astonishment at such a ridiculous question, “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”  Philip appears again in John chapter 12 just after Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem.  There are some Greeks who have come to Jerusalem for the feast and they come to Philip and say, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”  Then we read about Philip again in the text for today.

Jesus knows what is ahead.   The disciples do not.  So Jesus is preparing his disciples for what he knows is coming.  He tells them he is leaving, going to the Father, but leaving so that they can join him where he goes.  He says in verse 3 of chapter 14, “I’m going to leave you, but don’t be troubled by it, because I’m leaving to prepare a place for you with the Father.  (John 14:2)  You cannot follow me there (John 13:36), but I will come back for you so that we can be together again.” 

The disciples are troubled at Jesus’ words.  They hear that he is leaving; they hear they cannot follow.  They hear those things because leaving and following are in their world view.  They understand leaving and following.  Jesus is telling them they can no longer do what they desire.  They must trust him and lay aside what they want so that he can give to them what they need.

Philip has been with Jesus a long time.  We read in chapter 1 of John that he was the one who went to tell Nathaniel, “We have found the one of whom Moses and the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”  Philip has known from the beginning that Jesus is no ordinary man.  Philip has convinced others of this.  Philip has watched Jesus heal the sick, free the tormented, feed the hungry, raise the dead.  But now, Jesus is telling Philip that season is over and his greatest work begins.  All those works that Philip marveled at; those things that made Jesus worth following; those works that confirmed for him who Jesus was on earth were going away.  In this final dialogue with his disciples, Jesus wants to give them faith to continue to believe in him over those three short days when it will seem that it was all a fairy tale.

Just before our text for today, Jesus tells his disciples, you have the way to the Father in me, do not be troubled.  Then Philip says to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, then, we’ll be satisfied, then we’ll believe.”  At this crucial time in his ministry, when Jesus has poured himself out on these men, Philip wants just one more miracle, then he can believe.

Jesus answers not with anger, but with sadness, “Philip, have I been with you so long and you still do not know me?  How can you say to me, “Show us the Father?” Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me?  Do you think that I speak and act on my own authority?”

Philip has been with Jesus for a long time, longer than most.  But he saddens Jesus with his unwillingness to see who he is, because Philip’s unwillingness to see inhibits his ability to receive who Jesus is.  Jesus has so much to give Philip and Philip knows this, he has seen the works of Jesus, but he hasn’t seen Jesus.  Philip has seen the works of Jesus and he wants to see another one.  Jesus wants Philip to see him.

It has always been the purpose of God to establish a whole relationship with us.  That is why he came to earth in the person of Jesus because we can more easily relate to someone who looks like us.  The down side of God’s incarnation as Jesus is that it is really hard to believe that someone who looks like us is God.  Philip had been with Jesus a long time, and he didn’t recognize him.

 I bet Philip had an idea of what the Father looked like and I bet it didn’t look anything like Jesus.  If Philip is like me, his image of the Father would look more like Philip than Jesus.  When Jesus asked Philip where to find food for the thousands of people who were following them, his mind could only think of the lack of money to purchase the bread.  If it were up to Philip, the people would not be fed.  Jesus provided an abundance of food so that the thousands would have a glimpse of the abundance that he has to offer, a glimpse of the place he prepares for us.  To not see that Jesus and the Father are one misses the whole point of Jesus’ work on earth.  To not see his works as pointers to something greater is to not see that the Father and Jesus are one.  It is to spend your life looking for just more thing so that you can be content.  It is to see Jesus as just another gifted rabbi, another good man, another prophetic voice in the wilderness of the world, just another healer.    

Philip says, “Lord, just one more thing.  Show us the Father, then we’ll really believe.”  We are not so much different from Philip.  We really do believe that if Jesus will just show us one more thing, we will really have faith; we can really believe he is who he says he is.  It is part of the human condition, to want just one more thing from Jesus, so that we can be satisfied. 

Jesus is sad because Philip is looking the Father in the face and he doesn’t recognize him.  He doesn’t recognize that he has a place with the Father forever because the Son, Jesus gives it to him.  Jesus has given Philip many gifts but he is about to give him the greatest gift of all.  He is about to give Philip not a temporary miracle, but a gift that will carry him through the worst three days of his life.  Jesus is going to give Philip faith. 

We don’t hear anything about Philip during Jesus’ trial or death.  We don’t know if he was lurking in the crowd or had run for cover.  Philip was most likely present when Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection (Luke 24:36).  He was most likely there to see Jesus ascend into heaven.  The next time we hear of Philip by name is in Acts chapter 1.  Philip is listed as one of the disciples present with the others in Jerusalem who were devoting themselves to prayer, waiting for the Holy Spirit as Jesus has told them.

Today we celebrate Pentecost, the showering of the Holy Spirit on those gathered in Jerusalem.  That showering of the Holy Spirit caused two reactions:  one was skepticism and the other belief.  When we become believers, the Holy Spirit becomes intertwined with our souls, so that in a mysterious way, we are in Christ, who is in the Father.  This is not something we do, it is not something we work for, it is something we have.

We don’t hear anything else about Philip from Scripture.  There are traditions in the church that he went to Greece, Syria and Phrygia telling people about Jesus.  It is said that while he was preaching and performing miracles in Hieropolis, the wife of the proconsul became a follower of Jesus.  As a result of that, Philip was tortured, crucified upside down along with Bartholomew and his sister Marianne.  It is said that from the cross, Philip continued to preach about Jesus.  Jesus knew Philip would need the greatest gift of all.

Have I been with you so long and you do not recognize me?  Jesus tells us that his greatest gift to us, is living with him forever, but while we are this earth, his greatest gift is his Spirit who permeates our souls with faith so that we can worship him now as we will then, just because of who he is and not because of what he does for us. Through the power of his Spirit today we are looking Jesus in the face.  Are we asking for more because we don’t like what we see?  I know that I have, it’s really not that hard to do. 

Through the power of his Spirit, we have been enabled to trust him.  To trust him even when he doesn’t look like the Father, even when he doesn’t look like what we thought at all, even when he doesn’t look like we want him to.

Trusting Jesus, it our charge, but Jesus knows us and knows the questions in our hearts and he is not angry, but sad; sad, because by not seeing him as he is, we miss so much.  While we are looking for the Father, he is with us, promising to reveal to us what we cannot see, promising to teach us what we cannot know, promising to comfort us in the midst of suffering.

We have all given ourselves to Jesus, but perhaps there is that one thing we hold back.  Jesus wants all of us, not because he needs us, but because he knows our needs and only by giving him all of us can his Spirit permeate all of us so that we can see him at work in everything.  While we are burdened by the spectacles of our own perceptions of what the Father, what life, what we as individuals should look like, we cannot fully see, hear or experience what he has to offer. 

Today as a celebration of that great day of Pentecost so long ago, today as we confess to our Lord, let’s ask him to reveal that one thing that we keep just for ourselves, that one thing that prevents us from seeing him.  We will be amazed at how willing he is to show us, how willing he is to take it from us and shower on us again all that he is, all that he has.  We will discover it is an offer we can’t refuse.