¹¹ “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.”

Question gives way to command. “Why don’t you believe?” gives way to “You should believe.” Not strictly a command, but what is called a “hortatory” statement, an exhortation. Jesus urges Philip and the others to believe, to go where the evidence leads. Their faith has a solid foundation on which to build, but it is still faith. Not blind, but reasonable faith.

Too often faith is portrayed as believing in something that is not real or doesn’t exist, but if you believe, then whatever you believe is true or real for you. That is not the kind of “faith” to which Jesus is calling His disciples. They had had three plus years with Him, there was sufficient evidence in His teachings and interactions and His love. In essence, faith does not have to do with believing things, but believing a person. It has to do with believing Jesus. It is not just believing about Him, or as a result of Him, or even “in” Him. It is believing Him. That includes everything about Christ, including His teachings and the things He points to. And it includes believing in Him, as having a personal relationship. It means everything that Jesus is. Savior, Messiah, Master and King, Friend, Shepherd, the Way, the Truth, the Life, the “I am.” He is the door, the light, the living water. He is the Son of God. That is all wrapped up in His statement, “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.”

Plan A is backed up by Plan B. Jesus said that if they have difficulty in accepting all that because of His teachings, then they can believe because of the sign-evidence. When He taught in the synagogue in Nazareth early in His earthly ministry, He quoted Isaiah 61, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed…” (Luke 4:18) Then He said these evidences or Messianic qualifications were fulfilled in Him: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:20).

Everything He did pointed to who He was. And that demanded a response. Not just an acknowledgement, but belief. So in the Upper Room, Jesus called on His disciples to make that final step in following Him and fully believe what He is saying, that He truly is the Messiah, the Sent One of God, indeed, God in the flesh. They were going to need that kind of faith in a few hours, when the One in Whom they believed would be dead. When all would seem lost.

Lord, I believe in You even though it goes against all that I can see and touch.