John 14 is included in the first of twelve passion accounts read on Holy Thursday evening, at the Orthros of Great and Holy Friday.  This is some indication of its central importance to Orthodox Christians.  Passages from this chapter are read at other times throughout the year as well.

John 14 shows Jesus asserting His divinity in no uncertain terms when speaking with His closest followers. He says time and again, to see Him is to see the Father, for He and the Father are one: He IS God. But who has the eyes to see?  This has been the chief problem facing our Lord all along—because in order to see the Father in Him we must love Him; and then we who are called—who are of his “little flock”—are obliged by love to be true to Him, to keep His commandments. And it is then and only then—doing these two things: loving Him and keeping His commandments—that we become convinced of His divinity. This is what Christ is trying to teach His little flock in these last days before His crucifixion. This is the difficult teaching point Jesus is trying to get across to them.

And then the Apostle Jude, brother of James (the brother of the Lord) asks this question:

Lord, how is it that you will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?

This question reflects the Jewish anticipation of a worldly messiah, one who would fulfill Israel’s dream of worldly dominance.  You see, St. Jude speaks for the Apostles, and they still don’t get it.  They want the God of Israel to be manifested to the world.  In fact, they expect it.  But how is this possible, given who the Father is revealing Himself to be in Christ?  For isn’t it apparent even today that many still prefer a different kind of god—or different gods—to the one, true God?   

And consider Jude 1:1-15. This is the very same Jude who asked Jesus the above question: “How will you manifest Yourself?”.  But now this Apostle understands (St. Jude was martyred in Beirut in the year 80).  And so in his epistle he castigates members of the Church community who “pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny the only Master and our Lord Jesus Christ”.  So you see, even in Apostolic days, the Church consisted of “little flocks” among the larger.  Not much has changed in over 2,000 years.

My point is this:  that God does not manifest Himself to the world is no reflection on God.  It is a reflection on the world and the worldly.  God is love.  He desires the salvation of all (1 Timothy 2:4-6).  To know God, to see Him, requires faith and love.  But when I say faith, I mean more than belief.  I mean fidelity, being faithful to Him. 

It is the kind of fidelity that keeps His word, for no other reason than that we love Him.

Fr. Paul Martin
Annunciation & St. Paraskevi Greek Orthodox Church
New Buffalo, MI