John 14: 7-14
Jesus said to his disciples:
“If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. 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 words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Be in Jesus, and Jesus in Us
It can be hard to believe, but we are called to the same intimacy that Jesus has with his Father. Jesus and the Father dwell in each other. This is the same for us.
Later in John 14, Jesus will say, “I am in my father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” (Jn 14:20). This is not future tense. He is describing a present truth.
We seldom understand that we have Jesus and we have his Father as close to us as we could imagine. The difficult part is not to “get closer to Jesus” but to recognize that he is so close, we could not get any closer.
No doubt this can get complicated, which is to say we complicate it. Our sin, our wounds, our shame and our sojourning in what can be a wicked world muddy the waters and make us forget such intimacy.
Today, even for a few minutes, consider what it feels like to be in Jesus, and him in us, and us both in the Father.
—Billy Critchley-Menor, SJ, is a Jesuit of the Midwest Province; he writes on Substack at From Every Side and currently studies at Boston College.
Prayer
Make us one with you
in your body, Lord.
Make us one with you
through this blood outpoured.
You have called us to this feast,
From the first to the least.
In your love, make us one, O Lord.
—Lyrics to “Make Us One with You” by Rick Modlin, ©2009