When you can’t see… LENT 2021: Gospel of John, chapters 14-17

 LENT 2021:  The gospel according to John, chapters 14-17

When you can’t see the forest for the trees…

It’s been necessary for me to wear glasses since the age of 11, and now in my late 40s, the slow but sure decline of my vision continues a preoccupation with seeing clearly - seeing well.

The interactions of the disciples and Jesus during the final discourses of his life give us a glimpse into how hard it is to see, even when something, or someone, is right in front of our eyes. 

We can imagine that scene where John 14 onward, takes place:  Jesus was before them, in rabbinic traditional pose for teaching, and they – loyal followers of Jesus – were around him listening intently.

Disciples had been called to follow this man, and they had done so. They - and others - were there when he turned water into wine, when he fed thousands of people, when he calmed storms and opened blind eyes, and yet, the recorded conversation shows that they still could not “see” Jesus.  They were those of whom demons had been cast out, who had received healing, and who had donated towards the ministry, and now, who were hanging on his every word.

Here, Jesus was concluding his earthly ministry, heading to Jerusalem and to the cross as he had told them, and here leaves the incredible words of John chapters 14 to 17 to comfort his disciples, and ourselves.

In this beautiful passage, we get an interruption from Philip who piped up and asked the question on the minds of them all:  Show us, please Jesus! Let us see who you are talking about!  Who is this Father, and how does it all fit together?

Clearly, there was another picture in the minds of the disciples, something that they saw that blocked their view of Jesus.  Were they still dreaming of a Jewish revolution to overthrow the Romans and restore the kingdom of Israel?

Jesus had refused to be made a military leader.  Now, he reiterated that knowing him is the same as knowing God the Father, and having seen him (Jesus) is the same as having seen God. [Jesus already outraged the religious leaders by calling God his Father, John 5:18]. 

For the religious leaders of the day, that meant he must be removed – killed - as necessary to keep their observances calm from disruption.  For the disciples, this meant confusion and anxiety as to when and how the “kingdom” Jesus had proclaimed was going to come about. Neither group could see Jesus.

Philip and the others were following Someone who had up-ended their lives. They had given up everything for him – some their fishing boats and livelihoods; women regularly gave of their wealth to support Jesus, and one poured out a costly perfume. They followed up and down the dusty roads of the region, and they heard his words and saw what he could do.

Who was Jesus, if not a food provider, a magic worker, a mystical healer, or a purveyor of pleasant distraction from the harsh realities of life, or a leader to bring an end to Roman oppression?

The disciples both ‘saw’, and did not ‘see’.  There was something going on, and now Jesus was talking about leaving them. Right there, they could only see a gloomy future without this amazing man... they despaired of their teacher moving on and leaving them without a plan and without guidance.  The passages in John’s gospel show how much Jesus saw and felt for them in their pain and confusion.

There is no shame in asking questions, and the honesty of the accounts found in all the gospels and through the New Testament declare that real people met a real man who was really God. 

What about you and I today?  What clouds our vision of Jesus?

Do we come with glasses fogged by assumptions that he is just a nice moral teacher - not God, and not the Saviour?  Do we see the gospels as a bit fanciful - merely interesting or amusing? 

Or, do we come with eyes of faith, asking for help to see clearly as we put daily trust in Jesus as Lord and Saviour?

The solution to our problem of seeing Jesus is firstly in recognising that we cannot see – we are blinded by sin to our own sins, and that is our fundamental issue. As hard as it is to admit, our lenses are scratched and our eyes are clouded by a variety of preconceptions and fears. The Bible is clear - all is not right in the world, and the name of this is sin.

Secondly, accepting that there is a Hope that is so much more than corrective lenses – there is transformation power that happened at the cross where sin was dealt with, and when we accept this - repent, and let Jesus in - we have our eyes opened.  Then, we can see and know and live for God, because of what Jesus did that first Easter.

Only in the salvation provided through Jesus Christ’s life, brutal suffering and death on a cross, his burial, resurrection to life on Easter morning, can we live for God, now and always – only in this Way can we truly see.