“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do 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 initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; otherwise believe on account of the works themselves.” (Jn 14:7-11).
Jesus makes clear in this passage that He and the Father are one. He goes so far to say that if you have seen the Son, you have seen the Father. Or course, with only a hint at the concept of the Trinity, the disciples are scratching their collective heads. Philip speaks for the group with what sounds like a reasonable request, “Show us the Father.”
Jesus states more than once in these verses that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him; that if you have seen Jesus, you have seen the Father. So the answer to “Show us the Father” is Jesus standing right in front of you.
But there is a requirement to see the Father in Jesus; faith in Christ. Jesus said, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? … Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me.” Faith is required to see the Father in the face of the Son.
Jesus goes on to give the disciples two avenues to exercise their faith. They are to believe Jesus’ words about who He is; He is in the Father and the Father in Him. But as they try to process what these words exactly mean, Jesus gives them an alternative path, “Believe on account of the works themselves.”
Jesus gives the disciples some space to come to grips with His statements. “Look at the works themselves,” Jesus says. “You will see that the Father abiding in Me is doing His work. The works I do are the works of God.” To extend Jesus’ thought, I think He is saying only God can do the works you have witnessed. And these works testify that I and the Father are working in unison and it is the work of God that you have seen in these three years of miracles. These signs and wonders can only be the work of God the Father; working through Me because I and the Father are one.
I love the compassion in Jesus’ words. He is essentially saying to His friends, “If this concept of I am in the Father and the Father is in Me has your head spinning, focus on the works themselves. They testify to who I am. They testify that I am the divine Son of God. I am doing works that only God can do.”