Unity

Unity

⁷ “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” ⁸ Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”

John 14:7-8

What Jesus says here is a powerful testimony of the relationship he had with his father. As people got to know Jesus they were also getting to God the Father. Jesus was a perfect representation of his father.

Can you say the same about your parents or your family? Do you represent them in all things or are there big differences between the people in your home?

People might think that Jesus’ words mean that he wasn’t unique or had his own mind but that is not true. You can be a unique individual and still be a representation of your family. Paul was very different from Peter or John and yet all three were representatives of Jesus.

As church members we are all different and unique. We all have different skills and characteristics but that doesn’t mean we can’t be united in our representation of Christ. Think of it this way. Jesus is the Son of God and therefore infinitely more complex than any one of us. Jesus is actually more actually represented by the joining and unity of our differences than any single person by themselves.

What’s interesting is that Philip was with Jesus for so long and still hadn’t seen the connection between Jesus and the Father. We too, even after many years in church, can be blinded to the representation of other members to Christ. We believe Jesus is just like us and not like other members who are different from us. To this, Jesus has a response.

⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. ¹¹ Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

John 14:9-11

We cannot judge people who are different as lower than us. Just as there are four gospel stories, each unique and yet all representing Jesus, so to in the church. Each of us should be a living gospel to who God is. Let us not see differences between us but simply different faces of Christ.

God bless,

Pr. Steven Couto