On a Sunday morning some five years ago, a man was making pancakes for his family. As he removed one of them from the frying pan, both he and his family were surprised to see the face of Jesus staring up at them from that freshly-made pancake. He took a photo of what he called the “Jesus pancake” and the next day placed it for sale on eBay with an opening price of $500. The bidding quickly escalated, and within a few days it reached a bid of $14,999. Then the “Jesus pancake” auction listing was removed by eBay for violating that company’s rules, and rumors circulated that the “Jesus pancake” was a fraud. Several days later he admitted that his pancake had, indeed, been a fraud – he had made it with something known as the Jesus Pan.
You, too, can make your own “Jesus pancakes.” Just go to www.jesuspan.com, and for the low price of $29.99 plus shipping and handling you will receive not one but two of these unique skillets, made of durable steel and topped with a non-stick coating and a special surface guaranteed to give you an image of Jesus each and every time. Now we can joke about things like this, but the fact of the matter is that a lot of people will pay a lot of money to “see Jesus.” And not just Jesus! Shortly before this man tried to sell his fake “Jesus pancake,” a Florida woman pocketed $28,000 when she sold a 10-years-old grilled cheese sandwich that seemed to show the face of the Virgin Mary.
So many people seem to think that their faith will be strengthened or perhaps that only then can they believe in Jesus if they have some type of proof. It may be the kind of proof – unless it’s a fraud, of course – that “miraculously” stares up at us from a pancake or a grilled cheese or even a passing cloud in the sky. It may be proof in the form of a miraculous sign or an overwhelming emotional feeling. Give us proof, God, that you really exist, and then we will be satisfied. Because all too often we want to know You in a manner other than how You have revealed Yourself to us.
In today’s Gospel lesson, the disciple Philip says to Jesus: “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” His request almost seems simple enough, but it actually betrays a major lack of faith. A lack of faith in Jesus as the Son of God, the Messiah, the one promised to Israel for generation after generation by God speaking through the prophets. Philip had been the third disciple chosen by Jesus, and he had been with Jesus throughout the three-plus years of His ministry. He had heard Jesus preach, he had seen Jesus work countless miracles, he had even seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. Jesus repeatedly talked about His Father, and it was abundantly clear that he wasn’t talking about Joseph, the husband of Mary, but was always speaking about The Father, our Heavenly Father, Almighty God.
In verses 6 and 7 of our reading, Jesus says: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Hearing these words, Philip and the other disciples just don’t get it. They are confused. They don’t understand. When Philip says, “Lord, show us the Father,” what he is really saying is “Lord, give us more than a bunch of words. Give us some tangible evidence. Give us something we can see with our own eyes. Give us something that we can experience and feel. Show us the power and the majesty and the glory. Give us something really big. We’ll all be satisfied if you can just demonstrate the Father for us. Just give us a heavenly show-and-tell.”
John chapter 14 recounts the last hours that Jesus spent with the disciples on Maundy Thursday before His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. But the words that Philip spoke on that night are not so much different than the words spoken by the disciple Thomas on Easter evening when he refused to believe in the risen Christ without some sort of tangible proof – proof he could see with his own eyes and touch with his own hands.
In ancient Israel it was commonly understood that no one could see the face of God and live. The glory of the Lord was always hidden from men – in a great cloud or in a pillar fire or even in the burning bush when God gave Moses instructions on leading the Children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt to the promised land. There were few exceptions, such as when the prophet Isaiah saw God in all of His glory and he was absolutely terrified. “Woe is me!” Isaiah cried. “For I am lost … for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Isaiah had seen God and he expected to die. But he didn’t.
Not only could no one see God and live, but the Children of Israel were strictly forbidden from making any kind of “graven image” representing God. Pagan religions created all sorts of carvings and statues and artwork representing their pagan gods, but no one was allowed to depict the true God in any way at all. Today we are used to seeing pictures and statues of God the Father and Jesus, but nothing like that existed or was allowed throughout the history of Israel. When Philip asks Jesus to “show us the Father,” he is asking to see the God who cannot be seen by human beings.
But seeing Jesus – well, as far as the disciples understood, that was entirely something different. After all, Jesus was a flesh-and-blood man, who traveled with them, ate with them, slept with them and worshipped with them. He had taught and told them many things. The problem was that much of what he told them – well, let’s just say that they didn’t understand. Immediately before the words of today’s Gospel lesson, we read that in this same conversation Jesus had told the disciples that one of them would betray Him, that Peter would deny Him before the end of that night, and that He was going where they could not follow him now. And now all of this talk about Jesus being one with the Father! One ancient commentator wrote that the “disciples knew it well, but on this occasion they did not know that they knew it.”
Within hours of the conversations recorded in our Gospel lesson, the people of Jerusalem would see Jesus hanging from a cross. Jesus had said, “Believe in God; believe also in me,” but those must have seemed to be incredibly strange words in view of what was taking place. No one expects to see God nailed to a cross. No one expects to see God suffer and die. No one wants to see a God like that.
But that was exactly the point of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. Philip couldn’t understand it then, but by Easter evening it would all be perfectly clear. It is only through the cross that we truly see God. It is through the cross that we truly know God. It is only through the cross that we see God’s wrath against our sin – and see His forgiveness of our sin. It is only through the cross that we can see and know and understand God’s love and mercy and compassion, love and mercy and compassion so incredibly strong that God the Father would send God the Son to voluntarily die that terrible death.
Like Philip, we sometimes think that we should be able to see God on our own terms. The problem is that sometimes the God we want to see is not the God who truly exists. Some want to see a God who exists only to give them what they want – and give them what they want when they want it. Some want to see a God who’s willing to bend the rules, relax the Commandments and let us – not God – decide what is right or wrong. Some want to see a God who is tolerant of other beliefs and teachings, even if those beliefs contradict or even deny the clear teachings given to us by God.
Try as they might, those who make those demands will never truly see God until they see Him dispense His judgment on the last day. The only way to see God now is to see Him as He reveals Himself to us in the strength and glory and triumph and shame of the cross. For this is truly the work of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – the reconciliation of a sinful world and its hopelessly sinful people to Him. Offering forgiveness of sin by substituting His death for ours. Laying down His life for us, so that we may have eternal life with Him in heaven.
And here’s the best part. Unlike Philip, we don’t have to ask to see God. He sees us. He sees us as the wretched, disgusting, scum-of-the-earth sinners that we are. He sees us as His fallen, broken and despairing children – His fallen, broken, despairing, hopelessly lost sheep. So the Good Shepherd comes looking for us. He comes to us in His death and resurrection. He comes to us in His Word and Sacraments. He sends His Holy Spirit to bring us to faith and to keep us in that one true faith. And at some point He will call us to our heavenly rest, in the Father’s house, where there are many rooms that He has prepared specifically for us and for all believers.
How do we now this? Because Jesus – God – has told us so. In verse 6 of today’s Gospel lesson we heard Jesus say: “I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me.” Jesus is the way – the only way – to forgiveness, to salvation, to eternal life. Jesus is the truth of the salvation and forgiveness and eternal life that He won for us by His death and resurrection. And Jesus is the life – the eternal life – with our God in heaven. Where we will never have to ask to see God because we will forever be with Him – and will see Him – with all believers for all eternity.
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