What do the following three phrases all have in common:

·        the spitting image

·        a chip off the old block

·        the apple does not fall far from the tree

I would wager you have heard all three of these phrases and may have used them as well. They all have interesting histories, by the way.

“The spitting image” appears to have originated with the idea of somebody being so similar to somebody else that it is as if the one was spit out of the mouth of the other. George Farquhar used it in this way in 1689 when he wrote in his play Love and a bottle, “Poor child! he’s as like his own dadda as if he were spit out of his mouth.” In the 1820’s, Andrew Knapp and W. Baldwin’s referred to a girl as, “A daughter…the very spit of the old captain.” The French have their own version of this and refer to somebody as “the spitting portrait” of somebody else. Norwegian literature refers to somebody who is very similar to somebody else as having been “blown out of the nose of” that person! The first usage of the phrase as we know it comes from a 1901 novel by A.H. Price: “He’s jes’ like his pa – the very spittin’ image of him!”

As for “a chip off the old block,” the earliest usage of the phrase seems to have come from the Bishop of Lincoln, Robert Sandson, who said in a sermon in 1621: “Am not I a child of the same Adam … a chip of the same block, with him?” The great poet John Milton wrote, “How well dost thou now appeare to be a Chip of the old block.” Both of those, of course, say, “chip of the same [or old] block.” The earliest known reference to “a chip off the old block” appeared in June 1870 in the Ohio newspaper The Athens Messenger, in this sentence:  “The children see their parents’ double-dealings, see their want of integrity, and learn them to cheat … The child is too often a chip off the old block.”

Then there’s “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that the apple never falls far from “the stem.” The first usage of the phrase as we know it is found in H.W. Thompson’s 1939 book Body, Boots and Britches: Folktales, Ballads and Speech from Country New York.  The meaning is pretty obvious: people, like apples, never fall far from their points of origin, their parents. Just as a fallen apple necessarily falls near the tree from whence it falls, so too children usually end up being very much like their parents. [1]

“The spitting image,” “a chip off the old block,” “an apple that doesn’t fall far from the tree”: all three of these phrases recognize the reality of the very close connection between parent and child. All three recognize that while parents and their children are not interchangeable, there is a bond between, say, a father and son that is predictable and very difficult to alter. It is only with great effort that we overcome aspects of our parents’ personalities that we might want to overcome. Conversely, it is a great blessing that we naturally inherit aspects of our parents’ personas that we truly wish to retain.

It is a universally recognized principle: children tend to be like their parents. We have other ways of putting this too: “he is walking in his father’s footsteps,” “he is his father’s son” (or “she is her father’s daughter”). Sometimes we shorten it even more: “she is her daddy,” “he is his father.”

That’s telling, is it not? He is his father! That can be used positively or negatively: he is his father.

Jesus, the Son, has been speaking to His disciples about His Father. It was how Jesus referred to God: Father. Not only that, it is how Jesus taught us to refer to God: “Our Father, who art in Heaven…”

Last week we saw that Jesus was going to the Father to prepare a room for us in the Father’s house. We also saw that Jesus is the way and the means to and by which we enter the Father’s house. This morning we will see that the disciples struggle to understand what Jesus’ relationship with the Father really is. He will be asked directly about this, and His answer will astound the original hearers and all of us to this very day.

William Barclay said of Jesus’ words here, “It may well be that to the ancient world this was the most staggering thing that Jesus ever said.”[2] A.T. Robertson, the great Greek scholar of yesteryear, commented on Jesus’ words in our text and called them “a bold and daring claim.”[3]

Staggering. Bold. Daring.

What Jesus said about His relationship with the Father was indeed all of this and more. That is because Jesus went well beyond the normal recognition of the closeness and connection of fathers and sons. All of that is true of Jesus and His Father, of course, yet there is so much more as Jesus reveals in our text.

Let us first look to verses 8-9 and see that Jesus the Son reveals God the Father. We begin with a question.

⁸ Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”

You may recall from some weeks back my mentioning that Philip was one of the disciples who had a Greek name (the other was Andrew). I noted this when preaching through John 12 and the scene when the curious Greeks asked Philip for an audience. It may, perhaps, be simply ironic, but this Jewish disciple with the Greek name asks for evidence, for further knowledge, for definitive proof, we might say, which was a very Greek thing to do. He presumes to speak for all of the disciples: “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”

“It is enough for us”? Enough what? Enough proof? Enough evidence? Enough to get them to stop whispering curious questions behind Jesus’ back about the nature of Jesus’ Father?

It is a very natural thing to ask. Jesus, after all, has spoken at length about His Father. The Father had sent Jesus. The Father had empowered Jesus. Jesus could only do what He saw the Father doing. Jesus was going to prepare a room for His followers in His Father’s house.

Jesus raised the issue and did so consistently. Philip asks for evidence. “Lord, show us the Father.” The question occasioned a truly provocative response from Jesus.

^9a Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?

Fascinatingly, Philip asks to see the Father…and Jesus begins speaking of Himself. Even here we begin to see the germ of a shocking possibility, an almost unspeakable thought about the connection between Jesus the Son and God the Father.

The disciples were by now accustomed to strange answers to what they thought were simple questions, but this was truly mind-boggling. Philip asks to see the Father, and Jesus responds, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me?”

Did Philip think that Jesus had misunderstood, that Jesus had misheard him? Did he open his mouth to say, “No Jesus, you misunderstood. I did not ask us to show us You! We know You! We see You! No, we are asking you to show us the Father.”

If Philip was going to say this, he did not get His chance, for Jesus goes on in the next breath to flabbergast His disciples completely:

^9b Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

“Jesus, show us the Father!”

“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

There is irony here. Philip’s question reveals that the disciples do not believe they have seen the Father. If they thought they had they would not have asked the question. But Jesus’ answer reveals that they have seen the Father all along. They had been seeing the Father without realizing that they had been seeing the Father!

How is this possible? How could they have seen Him whom they claimed not to have seen? Is it not because they were seeing with their physical eyes but not with spiritual eyes of faith? Is it not because they were contented with the surface instead of realizing the depths and truths that lay before their very eyes?

St. Augustine put this beautifully when he pointed out that the eyes of faith were still being formed in the disciples and they were at this point unable really to see at all:

“Why wasn’t he seen? Because the eye he could be seen with was not yet whole. As for the Lord’s body, which could be seen with these eyes, it was not only the one who revered him who saw him but also the Jews who crucified him. So if he wanted to be seen in another way, it means he was requiring other eyes.” [4]

In other words, the physical eyes of man could look upon Jesus and either love and worship Him or hate and crucify Him. We see this today. Some people look at and love Jesus. Some people look at and hate Jesus. It is possible to look at Jesus but not really see who He is.

To eyes of faith, however, Jesus reveals more than what the physical eyes see. To eyes of faith, Jesus reveals nothing less than God the Father. “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” Eyes who look with faith upon Jesus can do nothing but love Him and revere Him and honor Him and worship Him and celebrate Him and exalt His name, for eyes of faith see that Jesus reveals His Father.

To see Jesus is to see the Father! Jesus explains and reveals the Father.

I mentioned St. Augustine earlier. Well, St. Augustine’s teacher, the great church father Ambrose of Milan, a wonderful pastor and theologian, said that Jesus was the “portrait” of the Father, and not just any portrait:

“Yes, he who looks on the Son sees, in portrait, the Father. Notice what kind of portrait is spoken of. It is truth, righteousness, the power of God. It is not silent, for it is the Word. It is not insensible, for it is Wisdom. It is not vain and foolish, for it is power. It is not soulless, for it is the life. It is not dead, for it is the resurrection.”[5]

Christianity is therefore a religion of revelation. It is not a secret religion. We do not have secret ceremonies. We are not a mystery cult. We do not have secret handshakes, secret looks, secret code words or secret doctrines. When Christianity met underground, it did so only for reasons of survival, not for reasons of concealing its convictions.

Our faith is built around a figure who is Himself the revelation of God. Jesus sheds light. Jesus makes known. Jesus uncovers. Jesus unveils. Jesus shows. Jesus announces. Jesus proclaims. Jesus is the great revelator. Jesus is revelation. Jesus shows us God.

To see Jesus is to see the Father.

To see Jesus heal is to know that God is a healing God.

To see Jesus forgive is to know that God is a forgiving God.

To see Jesus reach out to the outcast is to know that God is the God who loves outcasts.

To see Jesus tell His disciples to forgive and forgive again, is to know that God’s mercies are ever new.

To see Jesus weep is to know that God cares.

To see Jesus die…is to know that God will do whatever it takes to save lost humanity.

To see Jesus rise again is to know that God wins!

Do you want to know what God is like? Then look at Jesus and know!

In what ways does Jesus demonstrate the truth that to see Him is to see the Father? He demonstrates it in two ways: His words and His work.

¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

If you doubt Jesus’ unity and oneness with the Father, ask yourself this question: where could the words of Jesus have come from if not from the very heart of God. People ask, “How can I know that Christianity is true? How can I know that the Son and the Father are one? How can I trust in the deity, the divinity of Jesus Christ?”

Here is how: immerse yourself in His words. Read, learn and open your heart to the teachings of Jesus. The disciples knew in their bones that the kinds of things Jesus was saying were the kinds of things they had never heard anybody say before. They knew, as I know, as all of you who have trusted in Jesus also know, that the words of Jesus go to the very essence of our hearts’ condition. There is power in the Word of God, and the Word of God is Jesus!

“The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority…”

People sometimes condemn Christians for irrational belief, for believing against the evidence, but that is not my experience. What is irrational about hearing Jesus speak and feeling your heart burst into flame within your chest at the realization that these words are qualitatively different than anything else the world has ever heard before? What is irrational about hearing the teachings of Jesus and knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that the teachings of this Jesus have a shocking capacity to penetrate past our own thoughts and assumptions and an amazing ability to reveal to ourselves more than we previously knew?

Irrational to believe? No evidence? I see the evidence for the truth of Christianity every time I hear Jesus speak the Sermon on the Mount, every time I hear Jesus answer His religious critics, every time I see Jesus hold His tongue before a kangaroo court hell-bent on destroying Him. I see the evidence for Jesus every time I see Him speak words that silence hateful tongues or stop self-righteous hands from doing evil. I see the evidence of the truthfulness of Jesus whenever I see Jesus reveal more and more truth to His struggling and sometimes thick-headed disciples, when I see Him tell parables that seem so very simple at first blush but that end up being so utterly profound when you step into them that you marvel how such a simple story could be so multi-faceted and poignant.   I see Jesus as God and Man whenever I see Him confound Pilate, or acknowledge Judas’ coming crime, or foretell Peter’s denial, or forgive Peter.

No evidence? The evidence is in the words. Had Jesus never performed a miracle, I would believe, for His word is truth and His word is power.

But what of the human heart’s demand for more proof, for more certainty? There is more:

¹¹ Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

Are the words not enough? Can you possibly convince yourself that what Jesus said was not of God, was not divine in its origin? There is more. Jesus offers us the words and the works.

Jesus was no mere speaker, no mere preacher, no mere rhetorician. Jesus spoke words of power, but Jesus also confirmed His words in works of power.

¹¹ Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

Jesus states elsewhere that we are most blessed if the words are enough. In John 20, after Thomas asks to touch Jesus’ resurrected body so He can believe, Jesus responds:

²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Yes, we are blessed if we do not have to see the works…but Jesus is not stingy with His grace, not is He stingy with His evidences. In addition to His words, He works!

What are the works that confirm the words? The works are nothing short of His miracles, of His divine displays of power.

Are you not awed by His astounding teachings? Then be awed by Him turning water into wine. Be awed by Him healing the blind, the crippled, the lame. Are Jesus’ words not enough? Then what of His walking on water, His calming the storm, His multiplying bread and fish?

Even these miracles were merely preparatory for the great work to come: His work on the cross. Is it not enough that Jesus said God would forgive your sins? Then watch Him die as a sacrifice for your sins! Is it not enough that Jesus said God loves you? Then watch Him suffer on the cross to win you to the Father!

But there is even more. Is it not enough that Jesus said He would go to prepare a place for us in the Father’s house? Then watch Him, when dead and buried, breathe again on the third day, live and rise and walk out of the tomb! Are the words not enough? Then watch Him rise and ascend to the Father, speaking words of commission and mission as He ascended.

Dear friends, Jesus proves His deity through the words and the works. They are the two-fold evidences of His deity, His oneness with the Father.

But to what end, all of this? To what end? Are the words just so you can know more in your head? Are the works just so you can feel more in your heart? No. No, there is more! Jesus’ oneness with the Father, His coming, His evidential words and works are not intended merely to convince you. They are intended to call you and compel you to come into a relationship with the Father.

Consider the first verse of our text this morning:

⁷ If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

In verse 7, Jesus uses the word “know” three times. When Jesus uses “know” here, He is not speaking merely of knowledge. “Know” is not synonymous with “know about.”  Instead, “know” here is talking of intimate knowledge, relational knowledge.

Jesus is not talking about information. He is talking about a relationship.

Christ came that we might enter into relationship with Him and, in doing so, enter into relationship with the Father.

⁷ If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Jesus’ words foretell a future shift in the way the disciples will know Jesus. As they see Him crucified and resurrected, as they experience the shattering pain of loss when Jesus dies and the ecstatic rebirth of faith when He rises again, they will grow in their knowledge of the Father and of the Son. But this knowledge will not grow only quantitatively. It will grow qualitatively. They will learn more about the Father through the Son, because they will finally see and love the Father in the Son.

This is a forward-looking promise: “From now on you do know him and have seen him…” A.T. Robertson suggested that the statement, “From now on you do know him,” should best be translated, “you are beginning to know the Father from now on.”[6] In other words, they see the Father in the Son, but they will grow to know Him more through the events that are about to take place. Or, as the church father John Chyrsostom put it, “The [knowing] belongs to the future; the [seeing] belongs to the present.”[7]

Do you see? Our journey with God in Christ is (a) relational and (b) progressive. We learn to love Him more and, as we do so, we travel deeper into who God is. We not only see the Father through the Son, we love Him as we love Jesus.

Lest you fear that I believe in a Binity instead of the Trinity, let me point out, as Jesus will do in next week’s passage, that God the Holy Spirit is at work revealing God the Father in and through God the Son, that the Holy Spirit convicts and calls and equips and builds and informs all who come to the Father through the Son.

I am a Christian. That means, by definition, that I believe in one God. “Hear oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). But this one God is one in essence and three in person. He is the “three-in-one” Triune God:  Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Our journey into the Triune God is a marvelous adventure of growth and revelation and understanding. God can be seen in Jesus! The Son is not the Father and the Father is not the Son but the Son and Father are equally God. So too with the Holy Spirit. Three persons, one essence: “God in three persons, blessed Trinity!”

Would you like to know the Father? Do you, like Philip, wish only to see God the Father so that you might believe? Then look and see! “Where do I look,” you ask? Simple: Look at Jesus! Look at Jesus and see God. Look and see and know and come and love and live! See and repent! See and let go of all that you were and are. See and embrace the Father through the Son by the power of the Spirit.

The gospel is quite simply the truth that God is in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. He did so on the cross and in the empty tomb, and He does so every time a human being repents of his sins, comes to the cross and empty tomb and calls on the name of Jesus today.

“He who has seen me has seen the Father.”

To see Jesus is to see God.

Jesus is God.

To come to the Son is to come to the Father.

There is nothing stopping you from coming but your own heart. Would you be forgiven? Then come to Jesus and be forgiven! Would you live? Then come to Jesus and live! Would you know God? Then come to Jesus and know Himtoday!

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