John 1:18

"No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known." (John 1:18, ESV)

In the beginning of John's Gospel, the Evangelist sets before us a mystery and a mercy. God, who dwells in unapproachable light, has never been laid hold of by human sight. Moses asked to see His glory and was told that no one could see His face and live. Even the holiest of the Old Testament saints knew God only through veils — a pillar of cloud, a burning bush, a still, small voice.

And yet John does not leave us there. He turns our eyes to the One who is at the Father's side and tells us that this One — the Word made flesh, the only-begotten Son — has made Him known.

The Greek behind "made known" carries the weight of an explanation, an unfolding, a telling out. Jesus does not merely point toward God from a distance; He exegetes the Father. In His words, His works, His compassion for the outcast, His tears at the grave, and above all in His cross, the invisible God becomes visible to us.

We live in a world that still asks the old question: What is God like? Some answer with their own imagining — a vague force, a distant judge, an indifferent watchmaker. But the Church has an answer that is not speculation. We have a face.

When you look at Jesus — the One who welcomes children, who eats with sinners, who washes feet, who cries out "My God, my God" and then "It is finished" — you are looking at the very character of God. The Father is not less merciful than the Son. He is not reluctant while the Son is willing. They are one.

And this Son has come near to you. He is not hidden away in the heavens, known only to scholars and mystics. He has spoken. He has entered our flesh, our calendar, our history, our grief. Whoever has seen Him has seen the Father.

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