Know One and You Know the Other

Feast of Saints Philip and James

 

~~~ 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 ~~~ Psalm 19 ~~~ John 14:6-14 ~~~

 

“I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you know me, then you will also know my Father.
From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

 

Jesus appears to speak in riddles at times.

If you know someone's father do you necessarily know the son?

 

I recently met a young man, a stranger, who shared with me

how he had to leave home

because it was not good for him to be with his parents.

He went on to share that his parents were both drug dealers

and his sister was a prostitute.

I was so touched by the strength and courage it took for him

to realize that his home environment was not good for him.

 

He did not want to go down the path of drugs and sex for money.

I tried to affirm his courageous decision and told him I would pray for him.

We parted our way, but his story has remained in my heart.

 

I pray that he will be able to stay strong in facing his many challenges.

 

Sometimes even if we have wonderful parents

 we do not want to be associated with them.

A young person wants to claim their own identity.

They want to be their own person.

I have seen children completely reject

even the positive things modeled by their parents.

 

Jesus says he is the way, the truth, and the life.

Basically he is all that we need.

Jesus is one with the Father as the Father is one with him.

So in the case of God; f you the Son then indeed you do know the Father.

Jesus came to do the will of the Father...

The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own.

he came down and became one of us to save us...

to secure eternal salvation for us.

 

The mind and heart of the Father is also the mind and heart of the Son.

If you know one then you do really know the other.

Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me

We have this human drive to understand coupled with curiosity.

The human side of us questions how can you really know one person

 if you only know someone closely related to them?

 

It is not the same as the saying,

'tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are.'

 

 

We want to believe, because Jesus himself made this statement.

 

I do find it easier to relate to Jesus than God the Father.

For me, it is easier because we have so many wonderful examples of Jesus

during his public ministry.

He was a real person...flesh and blood.

The Father is 'up there' somewhere in heaven,

which makes it more challenging to connect on a personal level.

 

Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes in me will do the works that I do,
and will do greater ones than these,
because I am going to the Father.

 

Jesus leaves us with a challenge to continue his works

 and even greater things.

Jesus wants to aspire to be even better then he was.

How can we meet that kind of a challenge?

 

Whatever we are doing with our life it is fitting for us to always

be seeking the direction God wants us to pursue.

He is the way and the truth and the life.

The Blessing of Easter is God allowing us to know him

through our knowing his Son.