23 April 2016 - show us the Father

[ Today's Readings ]

LORD, open our eyes. We think we know you but there is always so much more to know. We think we see you but we don't realize we're looking at the Father. Do we? We have a genuine relationship with you Jesus. You are our friend and our elder brother and our LORD. But do we have a relationship with the Father? We acknowledge that we are made sons of the Father by your sacrifice. But even though the Spirit is within us trying to cry out "Abba!" doesn't the Father seem more distant to us than you do, LORD? Doesn't he seem less personal and more abstract?

How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? 

The revelation of the Father's love is already here before our eyes. We just need to be open to see it. If this is true, there is no reason to be any less intimate and personal in our relationship to the Father than in our relationship to you Jesus. Help us to see this. In your love for us we see the love of the Father revealed.

The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. 
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me,
or else, believe because of the works themselves. 

Jesus, just as you reveal the Father, your people are meant to reveal you.

I have made you a light to the Gentiles,
that you may be an instrument of salvation
to the ends of the earth.

The world may contradict us with violent abuse. Even so, help us to speak out boldly. Just as for Philip, to know the Father is the desire of the whole human race. Don't let us keep quiet about it. Let us share it so that everyone can be "filled with joy and the Holy Spirit." Let us be bold until the words of the psalmist are true.

All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.