"SHOW US THE FATHER."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 261, 4 November 1933, Page 2 (Supplement)

"SHOW US THE FATHER."

OUR LORD'S REPLY TO PHILIP. The general conference of the New Church (Swedenborgian) took place at Derby, England, some time ago. A sermon, of which we give extracts, was preached by the Rev. Clarence Lathbury, one of tho "leading New Church ministers of the U.S.A., on our Lord's reply to Philip, "Have I been so long time with you and hast thou not known Me, Philip?" Just what did Philip mean by asking to see the Father? What did he expect to see when shown the Father? Doubtless some overpowering splendour, a speechless, unhuman glory. But God has myriad adaptations of Himself and His world-children. He came to the shepherds of Bethlehem as a babe in a manger. He came to His disciples as a citizen of Palestine clothed, like them, in flesh— human, gentle, fraternal and understandable. How definite and clear our Lord's reply: "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." And Philip found himself looking wonderingly into the face of a man he loved, yet the Divine man. It seems that Philip had been with Jesus for a long time, one, of the first of His disciples, and yet had not recognised Him as "Divine." Therefore, he had not actually seen Jesus. His fleshly eyes had rested "upon the outer wrappings of Divinity sheathed in the flesh of a resident of Nazareth.

For what is to to see God? What is it to see anyone ? It is not merely to look upon the outward form. We say: "I saw the President, the King." What does

that really mean? Usually a fleshly figure and from a distance. An animal can see the outer form of man. We do not see the book by gazing upon its printed pages and cover; we see the book by getting the book's inner thought. A dog can see a book outwardly as well as a man, yet absolutely nothing of the book's thought—the book's self. We see people, then, only by comprehending them, only so far as we know their mental and spiritual states, only by detecting their inner quality. WTien we recognise their kindness, their purity, their patience, their goodness and their love, we actually behold them. The good old English word "know" is composed of two Greek words which complement each other—one meaning "observation" and the other "reflection." The difference is similar- to that of the words "knowledge" and "wisdom." For a person may be very learned and yet not be wise. On the other hand, some very simple man or 'woman, unlettered, may be "wise," yet knowing almost nothing of philosophy or science. The child knows its mother by intuition, while knowing nothing of her physiologically or mentally. It does not know her age, her forbears, the simplest annals of her life. Yet in a way the child knows its mother better than some adults.

Philip's idea of knowing God was mostly external —a Resplendent Form, unapproachable and blinding glory. Jesus intimates that knowing Him must be something inward —for God's mind and character make God God. Philip had been gazing upon the fleshly covering of the Lord, yet had not seen him. Jesus meant to say that Philip could have the Father "shown" to him only by becoming like the Father. "I shall be satisfied," said the Tsalmist, that is, I shall see God clearly "when I awake in His likeness." It takes a long time for a deep personality to break upon our comprehension. God lias lent us some rare spirit to-be near us for awhile, as dear companion or friend, a wife, a husband, a child. And, when that loaned one has returned to heaven we begin to realise in some sense what we had possessed—what we have lost. There is a merely literary knowledge of God through a technical study of theology. None of the disciples, save John, knew mueh of Jesus until after.His resurrection. His fellow Jews mistook Him for a Nazarene zealot—a fanatic. We must drink in the spiritual nature of our friends to truly know them. That is why "the pure in heart shall see God." The question of our Lord's to Philip: "Have I been so long time with you and Last thou not known Me ?" is a personal one, for us as well as Philip.