Philip says to him, Lord, shew us the Father and it suffices us.
Philip's words come near the end of a long evening of teaching, after Jesus has spoken of His Father's house. It sounds like the highest thing anyone could ask for. Yet the Lord's answer carries real pain.
A longing that was not wrong
Philip has caught something true: that a place is only as good as the Person who fills it. One writer links his words to the Father's house the Lord had just spoken of.
J. A. TrenchPhilip wanted to know more about the place. He seemed to grasp that the Person makes the place — that the Father is all the joy and blessedness of the Father's house. So he prays, "Show us the Father, and it is enough for us." What a blessing it is, by grace, to know that we need nothing else to fill and satisfy the whole being.
Asking for eyes when he needed faith
The problem lay in what kind of showing Philip had in mind. He wanted something his eyes could take in. The Lord was speaking about a different kind of seeing. One writer sets him beside Thomas, another disciple who also could not see past physical things.
Hamilton SmithPhilip, like Thomas, cannot rise above physical things. Thomas thought of a physical place. Philip thinks of physical sight, and so says, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." The Lord's reply shows that He is speaking of the seeing that belongs to faith.
Why the request grieved Him
Read on its own, the request sounds admirable — and this from a man who had once brought others to Jesus. But it was not a step forward.
William KellyPhilip says, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." To many readers this might seem an excellent wish. It comes from a man who had seen Jesus himself and had helped others who wanted to see Him. But it was sad unbelief. The Lord had just spoken patient, gracious words to lead them on.
But Philip did not doubt everything. It is worth naming what he did not believe.
J. G. BellettThe Lord's rebuke of Philip was aimed less at his unbelief about the Person of the Son, and more at his unbelief about the revelation of the Father which the Son had made. The first is bound up in the second.
The Father in plain sight
Philip was asking for a separate display of the Father. He wanted Him to appear in some form other than the Son. One writer answers by pointing to the ordinary substance of Christ's life — what He said and what He did.
W. H. WestcottThe Lord patiently explains to Philip that He Himself, as a Man here, gave a full and blessed display of everything the Father is. His words were the Father's words; His works were the Father's works... When they looked at Jesus the Son as Man here, they were looking at what the Father is. There is no difference between the Father and the Son.
That also settles where anyone should look who shares Philip's longing today.
H J VineIt is pointless, then, to look anywhere else, or to look for something beyond what He has already made known. The Son alone gives us the knowledge of the Father, and He reveals the Father fully.
Nothing less than this
Philip spoke as though he still had ground to cover. In fact, whoever comes to Christ has already arrived — and Philip was right that the Father would be enough.
F. W. GrantHis very presence here was to declare the Father. That His own disciples still did not know the Father, after all this, wounds Him in the deepest way... If we have truly come to Christ, we have no further journey to make to reach the Father. We already have the very depth of the Father's heart laid open. And oh, what a wonderful joy it is to take this in by simple faith! Philip was at least right in saying, "It is enough for us"; and nothing less than this can satisfy us.
Summary
- Right longing. Philip was right that the Father would be enough. Nothing less than knowing the Father can satisfy anyone.
- Wrong request. He asked for physical sight, while the Lord was speaking of the seeing that belongs to faith.
- Real grief. His words were unbelief. He had missed the Father whom the Son had already revealed.
- One place to look. The Son's words and works show the Father. There is no other display of Him, and nothing beyond Him to find.
- Already enough. Whoever has come to Christ has no further journey to make. In Him the Father's heart lies open — and that is enough.