The Father Points To Christ

The Father Points To Christ

Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”

“You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied.

“If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

John 8:19

When the Pharisees asked, “Where is your father?” they were saying, “We don’t hear the testimony of the Father. The miracles that you have performed, such as raising the dead, don’t amount to anything.” The Pharisees wanted Jesus to place the Father right before their eyes so that they might feel and touch him as they would a wall. Otherwise, they wouldn’t believe or accept what he was saying. But Christ pointed to the Father’s testimony, not so that they might see and touch the Father, but so that they would believe. The Father’s testimony should have led them all to his Word. Philip also said to Christ, “Show us the Father” (John 14:8). But Christ doesn’t show us the Father the way we might want him to. Rather, the Father shows us Christ, who says, “The Father points you to me, not the other way around. He is the one who shows you Christ. He testifies of me. You must do what he says and listen to my words and testimony.”

This is the main point of the argument: we should always keep Christ before our eyes. The devil continually tempts us to abandon Christ and seek the Father, saying to us, “This or that will please him.” Meanwhile, we ignore Christ—the one the Father sent—so that we might listen to him alone. We respond as the Pharisees did and reject Christ. We wonder, “Where is the Father?”That is the question the world asks.

This is the greatest temptation to our faith. We must devote ourselves to the Word of Christ and train ourselves to hold on to it so that we never lose sight of Jesus.