‘On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.’ Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, ‘Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.’
John 14:20-23

A professor of quantum physics told me he frequently tells his students if they don’t understand the subject matter, that’s okay, because he doesn’t understand it either. There are things that are real, yet beyond human understanding. If that is true of quantum physics, then how much more so of spiritual realities! I am reminded of the Apostle Paul’s words: “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him – these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit” (I Corinthians 2:9-10).

Language buckles under the weight of the reality Jesus reveals: “I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” Who can conceive the unity, the oneness, and intimacy of Jesus being in the Father, and we in Jesus, and Jesus in us! The chasm that has separated the created from the Creator, the sinner from a righteous God, has been spanned. Through Jesus we are brought into a mutual sharing of life with the Father.

Here are seven monosyllables that hold the key to life: “You in me, and I in you”. Jesus finds His identity in His shared life with Abba Father: “I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (John 14:11). So we were created to find our identity in Jesus: “You in me, and I in you”.

We see in Jesus’ relationship with the Father the model of our relationship with Him. Just as He lived by the life of the Father in Him, so we are to live by the life of Jesus in us. This means that we can handle anything that’s thrown at us. We can face whatever happens in the same way Jesus did: “You in me, and I in you”. The key is the life of Jesus in us. Our future intimacy with our Father in heaven begins now.

But notice in the text that our experiencing this shared life with Jesus is related to our keeping his “commandments”. Jesus says that when we keep His commandments, that is, walk in His love, He will “reveal” Himself to us. The old hymn writer well understood what Jesus is saying:

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way,
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
– John Sammis

REFLECTION

What are there in Jesus’ words today to know; to feel; to do?