Recognizing Jesus
Description
Richard Griffin was Queen Elizabeth II’s personal police officer for fourteen years. Accompanying her on a picnic in the hills near Balmoral Castle one day, they met two American hikers. “Have you ever met the Queen?” they asked, not recognizing the monarch in plain dress. “I haven’t,” the Queen quipped, “but Richard here meets her regularly!” Thrilled to meet someone close to royalty, the hikers then handed the Queen their camera, posed with Richard, and asked her to take a photo!
It isn’t the first time someone has been in the presence of an important person unawares. “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it,” Jacob said after encountering God in a dream at Bethel (Genesis 28:16 ). And when Philip asked Jesus to show the disciples the Father, Jesus replied, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Like the hikers, the disciples had been ready to hand Jesus the camera, not recognizing He was the one to zoom in on (vv. 10-11).
Like the Queen that day, Jesus hasn’t always been recognized for who He really is. Beyond a “wise teacher” or “great moral leader,” He’s God in the flesh and King of the world (1:14 ; 18:36 ). What a revelation it is when we discover it!
INSIGHT
Lack of spiritual sight wasn’t limited to those closest to Jesus. The beginning of John’s gospel says this about people not being able to see Christ for who He is: “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” (1:10-11).
Yet Jesus had expectations for those who were closest to Him—those who’d heard His words, who’d seen and experienced His works. He rebuked His disciple for not recognizing Him: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?” (14:9). When we honestly and prayerfully evaluate the words and works of Christ as seen in the Gospels, the Spirit can open our eyes and hearts regarding His identity as God’s Son and the King of Kings, and we’ll be welcomed into the family of God (1:12-13).
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