Seeing the Father
The reason that Jesus is the way to the Father (6) is the intimate relationship which exists between the Father and the Son. The Son came in order to reveal the Father, and that revelation would be completed on the cross. Consequently, in Jesus it is truly possible to know and even to see God (7). As he has already said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me” (12:44-45).
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This seeing is not with the eyes, such as Philip hoped for, along the lines of the limited revelation of God’s glory given to Moses (8; Exod.33:18-23). The disciples had still not understood that the revelation of God through Jesus Christ was far superior to the revelation given to Moses (1:17-18). So much so, Jesus can make this amazing claim: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (9).
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So to know Jesus is to know the Father too (7), and this is at the heart of the meaning of the eternal life which Jesus gives to believers and which he defines as knowing God and Jesus (17:3). When we see Jesus, the one who came from the Father, the glory of God is revealed to us (1:14). And by keeping our eyes on him, we live in the glory of that relationship (2 Cor.4:6).