Philip put forth what seemed like a really good request. “Show us the Father.” He added, “That will be enough for us” (John 14:8). Yes, that would be great. If we can just see the Father, we’ll be cool. We’ll have all the inspiration we need to keep plugging away. We’ll be set for life. We’ll be good.

This reminds me of the old Steve Martin movie, “The Jerk.” There’s a scene in which Navin (Steve Martin) is breaking up with his wife, Marie (Bernadette Peters). She tells him to leave, so he begins to walk out of the house. He announces to her that he doesn’t need her or any of the stuff they’ve accumulated as they’ve grown wealthy together. But as he exits, he says, “I don’t need anything…except this,” and he picks up an ashtray.

As he makes the long shuffle out of the large room and down…