Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? (14:9)
Philip has been living in constant companionship with Jesus now for three years. Philip knows that Jesus is deeply, consistently good; that he walks with God in holiness of life; that he possesses power, and wisdom, and authority, such as no other man has ever done. Philip has listened to Jesus teaching, both publicly and privately. He has witnessed his miracles, seen him at prayer, observed his clashes with the Jewish religious leaders. Based on all that, Philip has no doubt whatever that Jesus is from God. With Peter and the other disciples, Philip has concluded that Jesus fulfils in himself all the prophecies of Israel: that he is indeed the promised Messiah. But still, Philip does not yet know Jesus. He has not yet grasped that Jesus is Son of God in the fullest possible sense; that he is the eternal Son of the Eternal Father; that Jesus is perfectly one with his Father, such that he is himself God in human form; the eternal Word of God made flesh.
What Philip did not know, we do know. Unlike Philip, we have never seen Jesus in the flesh. We live 2,000 years after his human life on earth. Yet we truly know him. In the Good Shepherd discourse of Chapter 10 Jesus says: I know my own, and my own know me: just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father (10:14). This is an astonishing saying, and apparently difficult: but we should try to grasp it. In the mystery of God’s eternity, God the Father and God the Son know each other. Their mutual knowledge is ineffable; infinitely beyond our capacity to comprehend: because this is the knowledge by which God knows himself. Yet Jesus says that the mutual knowledge between him and those who belong to him is analogous to this divine knowledge. How so? Surely because the mutual knowledge of God the Father and God the Son, like their mutual love, can be given a name, which is God the Holy Spirit.
The man Jesus enjoyed perfect possession of the Holy Spirit in two ways. First, by virtue of his divine nature. The Person of the Son in principle cannot ever be separated from the other divine Persons. But Jesus also perfectly possessed the Holy Spirit, according to his human nature, through the infused gifts of the Holy Spirit, as enumerated in Isaiah Chapter 11. The gifts are: wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge, piety and the fear of the Lord. So the man Jesus also knows his own by the infused gift of knowledge. And by that same gift, from that same Spirit, we in turn know Jesus. So we must say that, insofar as our knowledge of Jesus is from and in the Holy Spirit, then it is certain, and perfectly secure, and without possibility of error.
This inspired, divinely given knowledge is expressed in the cry of Thomas in the upper room: My Lord and my God! (20:28). All the faithful express it whenever they cry out, from the heart, “Jesus is Lord!” or “Jesus is risen, Alleluia!” or “Jesus have mercy on me!” or “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for me!”
So: by the gift of the Holy Spirit, believers do not just think, or have the opinion, or more or less reach the conclusion, but they know with certainty that Jesus is Lord; that what he says is true; that he is truly the Saviour of the world (4:42). But of course for us this knowledge is just a starting point. There is limitless scope for us further to explore and consolidate it, using our natural human resources. We do so by pondering the testimony of the holy scriptures, and the witness of the Saints, and, in so far as we are able, the investigations of the best theologians. Crucially also, we develop our personal knowledge of Jesus through living the life of the Church, through participating in her liturgy, and through persevering personal prayer.
No one comes to the Father, says Jesus, except through me (14:6).
For us, who believe in the divinity of Jesus, this statement is obviously true, and affirming, and uplifting, and life-giving. We know that Jesus is himself the content of salvation, and of heaven. So of course there can be no salvation, no eternal life, no way to the Father, apart from him. But for non-believers, claims like this are deeply shocking: either the ravings of a deluded madman, or outrageous blasphemy. Plenty of others in history have claimed to be God. They have all been proved wrong, one by one: not only by their lives, marked by folly and wickedness, but above all by their ending in death. For us, the claims of Jesus are confirmed above all by his resurrection from the dead.
If you know me, says Jesus, you know my Father also (14:6).
This is the heart of the Gospel. In Jesus we see God. Knowing Jesus, we know God. United with Jesus, we are united with God. Loving Jesus, we love God. Hearing the words of Jesus, we hear the words of God. Having the life of Jesus, we have the life of God.
Nowadays there is a strong temptation to secularise the Gospel. People who are embarrassed to speak much about God try to turn Jesus into a sort of visionary leader who can inspire us all to build a better world: a world of peace and love and universal brotherhood. But actually this is to reduce or diminish or rationalise the Gospel, which is what all heresies always do. On the contrary: we need to be boldly confident in asserting that the mission of Jesus is bigger and better than that. Jesus is always more, not less, than you think! Our task is not to bring him down to our own level, but by the Holy Spirit to rise up to his. He came as God in order to bring us to God. Yes of course because of him, in countless ways, this world becomes a better place. But until the end of time it will remain a place in which we are called to share in the passion and death of Jesus. Doing that, we are blessed indeed, and our reward will be far beyond what we could ever deserve or even imagine: an eternal share in the divine life; the fullness of joy, with Jesus, forever, in heaven.