“Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?” (Jo 14:9a).
Every Christian who has known the Lord for a while can quite rightly put his or her name in place of Philip’s and the question would still be relevant today. Our conduct, confusion and impact often contradict our duration in the Kingdom.
In this particular case, Jesus doesn’t query the disciple’s lack of religious knowledge, creeds or jargon. He only queries Philip’s slowness in knowing the true identity of the One he’d been following closely for three years. What more proof did Phil need before he could infer that this Messiah is more than a man? Surely the blind He’d healed, the cripples He had restored and the dead He had resurrected–not counting calming the raging sea, delivering ferocious demoniacs and turning water into wine–were testimony that Jesus was God in the flesh!
We too must recognise Jesus for who He really is today. Let’s repent from sluggish or partial reception to the greatest of truths.
Pastor Josh