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5th Sunday
of Easter, Cycle A
Terranova
Hermitage
May 14, 2017
In the End “Looks” Do
Matter!
By (Rev. Msgr.)
Nicholas P. Amato
What Does the Baby Look Like?
Practically
all of us, and especially you who are parents, have had the wonderful experience
of seeing a newly-born baby.
One
of the things that almost always happens is that family members and friends look
closely at the baby’s physical features.
They try to see who the baby looks like or takes after.
We
hear things like: “He has his father’s forehead
and hair.” Or: “She has her mother’s eyes and complexion.”
What’s
underneath this is that we like to see family members in the physical features
of the newborn. We like to see parents or even grandparents in the baby’s
traits.
What Does God Look Like?
Perhaps we have not thought about it this way, but
Jesus gets us caught up in something like this with God.
We and perhaps most individuals have wondered: “What is God really like?” And so, over
the centuries, our human imagination has produced many images of God.
Some artists have depicted God as a grandfatherly
old man with a gray beard. Others have
depicted God as simply a brilliant, bright light.
And such images of God are important. They have had consequences on us as persons
and on the way we have related to God and how we relate to one another.
For example, we may have an image of God as
vindictive or punishing, like some of the Old Testament writers did. This can lead us to be insensitive or harsh toward
others.
Or our primary image of God may be as a judge. This can lead us to feel distant from God and
afraid of God and inappropriately guilty.
So, what we think God looks like and how we see
God’s traits is very important. As I
said, it forms us as persons and effects how we relate to God and one another.
We See God in Jesus
In today’s Gospel, Philip asks Jesus to, “Show us the Father.”
He wants to know what God is like. And Jesus responds, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” “I am in the Father, and the Father is in
me.”
So Jesus is saying that he is like a clear pane
of glass through we which we can see God directly and clearly. He is, in himself, the full and accurate self-disclosure
of God.
In Jesus’ thoughts, feelings, words and
actions, he shows us the mind and heart of God.
So, like looking at a baby and seeing the parents or grandparents in the
baby’s features, we can look at Jesus and see the Father, God himself.
And So God Looks Like…
So for example, we hear Jesus saying, “Let those among you who are without sin
cast the first stone.” From this we
know that God is patient and accepting of our humanity.
We see Jesus mingling with tax collectors and prostitutes. From this we know that God is inclusive and
outreaching.
We hear Jesus saying, “Let the little children come to me.” From this we know that God greatly values those
whose life is vulnerable, from unborn children to the disabled, all the way to
the frail elderly.
And we hear Jesus saying, “Whatever you do for the least of my brothers and sisters, that you do
for me.” From this we know that God
is especially compassionate toward those who cannot afford to pay for both food
and electricity, those who are homeless or refugees or minorities, and on goes
the list.
Conclusion
So, we see that by looking at Jesus and his
thoughts and feelings and words and actions, we can know a great deal about
God.
And these images of God that Jesus gives us
have an effect on whom we become as persons are and how we relate to God and to
one another.
