Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
Go to iTunes or SoundCloud for Audio Podcast
Original Manuscript:
What Jesus says tonight about His relationship with the Father is very similar to what we have been hearing in John, particularly in our Bible Study recently. To know the Father truly, we have to have Him revealed to us through Jesus.
At first glance, it might seem, to a few, that this passage is too exclusive. But if we look closer at what Jesus is saying, that is not really the case. Yes, it takes the Son, Jesus, to reveal God the Father to us, but in doing so, God the Father is revealed to us in a way we never could have dreamed of. For one thing, Jesus is telling us it doesn't matter how wise or smart we are, we just need Him and His word to bring us closer to God. In fact, infants seem to hear these words better than the wise and intelligent, who, perhaps because they are too used to relying on their own wits, have these things hidden from them. Perhaps we could say it has to do with the misuse the so-called wise and intelligent religious leaders have done to God's word at this point that keeps that same word hidden from them now.
Jesus' coming down itself is a way we become closer to God than would have otherwise been possible. Before there was a great divide between us on earth and the Almighty way beyond us in Heaven. But with the Almighty coming down in human form to be with us, that divide is no longer there. Jesus has made the Divine present to us. That's why the prophets and kings of old would have given anything to see Him. They would have given anything to see God made so close that He dwelt among us.
This is what it is really all about; God's compassion for us is so deep that He revealed Himself to us in human form, a way that all on earth could have access too. He's right there in front of everyone, even those who do not listen or believe.
It's not about the power of God's glory and majesty, as Jesus points out to the Disciples, and as His servant Paul points out to us in 2 Corinthians 12:9: "the power of God is made perfect in weakness." What it's about is God wanting to make Himself known to all of us, and the way God did that was through His very Self in human form and through Himself alone.
If you worry about whether all will know our Lord Jesus, just turn to the Outline of Faith in the Prayer Book. In the section on Jesus under the question of Jesus' descent to the dead, we learn that Jesus offered "the benefits of redemption" to those who had died too.
Let's also not forget what the Outline of Faith tells us about our ministry in the church as well. We are all, lay and clergy alike, called to represent Christ Jesus and "bear witness to Him" always. That reflects what we hear at the beginning of the passage from Luke this evening. It's the role of the disciples, and it is the role of us as well.
Jesus is the only means which the Father is revealed in the world, but that doesn't mean only a few get to have that relationship with Him. The hope is that we all take part in revealing God to the world, through word and deed. May we continue to do so and do the work that Christ Jesus has given us to do.