If you were to spend 26,280 hours with someone, how would you define that relationship? Would you say that you were close? Would you say that you really got to know the person? Would you say that you had learned to love the individual with whom you had spent so much time? Or worse, did that much time spent together push you apart?
The disciples of Jesus spent roughly three years or 26,280 hours with Him and all but Judas could say that they had grown to love and know Him. Yet their knowledge was, even at the time of the last supper, incomplete, a work in progress, a growing relationship.
Jesus had just shared that He would be going away and preparing a place for His followers. Thomas had asked Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” to which Jesus told him that He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the only way to the Father.
Knowing is a theme in this conversation. Thomas wanted knowledge and Jesus told him, “And where I go you know, and the way you know” (John 14: 4).
Jesus followed up His statement, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” with:
“If you had known (ἐγνώκειτέ) Me, you would have known (ᾔδειτε) My Father also; and from now on you know (γινώσκετε) Him and have seen Him.” John 14:7
ἐγνώκειτέ ginóskó: to come to know, recognize, perceive properly, to know, especially through personal experience (first-hand acquaintance).
ᾔδειτε eidó: be aware, behold, consider, perceive /eídō (“seeing that becomes knowing”) then is a gateway to grasp spiritual truth (reality) from a physical plane.
γινώσκετε ginōskete I am taking in knowledge, come to know, learn; aor: I ascertained, realized.
Daily following Jesus, seeing His works and hearing His words, had brought these men into a deeper relationship with Him, a knowledge of God, that even the religious leaders in all their training lacked. The progression of relationship that these men had with Jesus brought them to this place where Jesus shares with them that from now on they will know and see the Father, because they have known and seen the Son.
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] Wyman Richardson
If we are believers in Jesus Christ, we are as Peter stated, to…”grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen” (2 Peter 3:18), and in doing so, we will know and see the Father as well.
Jesus is the “spitting image” of His Father, to see Jesus the Son is to see the Father. We too, as children of God, should be revealing more and more traits of the Father, as we grow in our knowledge of Him. We should becoming “spitting images” of Jesus, and therefore the Father. So spending time in His Word and in conversation will grow this relationship and reveal Christ to the world.
This is a progression and therefore we should not be discouraged at how slow our growth may seem, but we also should be concerned if our growth has stopped, been truncated or stunted. We need to take time to determine why we seem to be no longer growing. Just as human relationships take work, our spiritual relationship does as well. If you are experiencing a time of stunted spiritual growth, reach out to the Counselor, aka the Holy Spirit, and spend time talking and listening to God, to see what needs attention. It could be that we have sin in our lives that needs to be cut off and then new growth will occur, or it could be that we are growing in an area that appears infinitesimal, yet is of utmost importance to one’s development, and extra time is needed. God is the One Who created you anew and is growing you into His image. His timing and ways are not ours, and we merely need to love and obey Him, as He perfects us day by day.
Knowing God is the journey of our lifetime, so grow in your relationship with the Lord and enjoy Him until the day we get to know Him face to face.