What? or Who?

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May 3, 2026

Mary Brown

John 14:1-10: Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.

And you know the way to the place where I am going."

Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works."

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I’m pretty sure that each of us here has known the pain of not being understood. Probably everyone has thought, at one point or another, “Wow. That person doesn’t know me after all.” And if it’s a person that you’re close to, there’s some disappointment. Some grief and pain. Maybe even anger that a friend or relative or loved one really does not know who you are.

Imagine, then, how Jesus felt when Thomas and Philip showed that they still didn’t truly know him. 

Our scripture today is set after the drama of Palm Sunday and the tenderness of the Last Supper. It’s right before Jesus is betrayed, condemned, and crucified. The disciples have spent months and years with the Lord; they’ve watched him do many miracles and interact with many people; they’ve had long conversations with him. But still, they didn’t know him.

Jesus was fully divine and fully human, so I’m sure he was disappointed in those guys. He may have felt like singing a song from 1972 by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes: “If you don’t know me by now, you will never ever know me at all.” There are some of you here who remember that song, like I do. Thankfully he didn’t give up on his disciples, and he will never give up on us. 

But still, it hurt that they didn’t know him after all that time. I think it hurts when we don’t know him too.

When we deliberately don’t try to know people, when we haven’t made any effort to understand folks or to remember important things about them, when we focus more on what than on who – we objectify people. We strip away their humanity and turn them into things, at least as far as we’re concerned. No one can really change a person into an object forever, but we can treat people like things in how we relate to them.

In our scripture today, Thomas said to Jesus, “Lord, we don’t even know where you’re going. How are we supposed to know what the way is?”

“How can we know what the way is.” A better question, considering the conversation, would be “How can we know WHO the way is?” Because that’s the question Jesus answered. In essence he said, “My name is WAY. My name is TRUTH. My name is LIFE.” Now let’s talk very briefly about the second part of that verse: “No one comes to the Father except through me.” 

If you agree that the WHO of Jesus is way, and truth, and life, then you can see that he’s saying “No one comes to the Father except by way of TRUTH. And LIFE.” Any time someone seeks the Divine in truth, and in life, Jesus is there. That five-letter word, J-E-S-U-S, doesn’t even have to be used. If there’s truth, and life, and love, then Jesus is there. WAY is there.

So let’s talk about WHO. Not what, or where, or why, but WHO. WHOOOO. It’s no coincidence that there’s a picture of an owl on the front of your worship guide. It’s there to help you remember WHO, and remember how important WHO is, in every single relationship. 

Let’s work to see people as who they are, not what they can give—what they have done—how they can be useful for you. See them as who they are, not problems to be solved or burdens to be borne or trials to be endured or tools to be used.

Can you see how objectifying people is a sin against God? We should objectify things like money, possessions, influence, jobs, power. We should seek to use them to the glory of God. 

But when we objectify people, when we think of them as WHAT instead of WHO, it is sacrilege. We demean God’s creation. We say that the purpose and intent of the Divine means nothing. We imply that the people created in God’s image, the people Jesus came to earth to save, the people Jesus suffered and bled and died for, are just things. Objects. Worth less than animals. 

So no, let’s not objectify people. Let’s stop seeing people as WHAT and start loving them as WHO.

When we objectify people, we rob them of personal power and dignity. We set out to use them for our purposes. This is one reason why child sexual abuse is so dreadful, because it treats precious children only as things to be used. Same reason why pornography is dangerous. 

It’s easy to objectify mean or evil people—our enemies, people who disagree with us or who do things that harm us, people whose policies and actions are sharply against what we believe. But even that objectifying is contrary to God’s desires.

Sometimes folks who feel bad are advised to go out and do good for others. To me, that sounds like objectifying. That feels like using God’s creation, people who are suffering, to make yourself feel better. I have a problem with that. If you’re going to help me, if you do something nice for me, do it out of love and compassion. Please. Don’t use me to make yourself feel better. 

I know what it’s like to be used and abused; I know what it’s like to be objectified; and I don’t ever want to make anyone else feel like that. I’m guessing some of you know that feeling too. Let’s ask the good Lord to help us, every day, to treat all people like they are all God’s children. 

Now this next point cuts closer to the bone but I want you to pay careful attention. It is possible for us to objectify ourselves. Sometimes we treat ourselves like things. 

Maybe we act like we’re machines and push push push till we drop with exhaustion. Maybe in our hearts we talk to ourselves and call ourselves hurtful names, names that others have called us so much that they have burrowed into our subconscious and they emerge when we’re at a low point. Maybe we treat our friends and loved ones really well but we mistreat ourselves because we think we don’t deserve any better. Or we feel like we have no worth if we don’t do everything perfectly.

I am here today to say that you are a WHO, not a what. You are God’s precious creation, treasured and beloved and honored in the Lord’s sight. Who’s talking about perfection here? No one. God’s not waiting for you to be perfect. 

God’s love for you—and you—and you is steadfast, never ceasing, always present for you no matter where you are. No matter who has mistreated you, you did not deserve that and God’s love for you, as an individual, as a WHO, will never fail.

I’m wrapping this up but there’s one other area that I want to talk about today. Sometimes we objectify God.

What does that mean? Simply that we treat God as a WHAT and not as a WHO. The WHO, greater than all others.

Now stop and think before you say, “I’ve never done that.”

You don’t have to raise your hand—I’ll raise my hand for all of us—but have you ever told God exactly how and when to fix something? Then have the nerve to get mad at God for not doing it in the way and in the timing that you demanded? That’s treating God as a tool, a fixer. A vending machine where if you put in just the right prayer you get just the right blessing. God is not a tool.

Or maybe you go to Jesus in earnest prayer only in a crisis. You communicate with the Lord only when you’re in trouble. That’s treating Jesus as an emergency rescue kit. That’s not who he is.

Maybe you feel like God is only what you were raised with, God only loves the people who look like you and talk like you and act like you and agree with you. My friends, that is objectifying God and creating God in your image. God is God and God’s ways are past finding out; we cannot ever put the Creator in a box, we cannot put limits on the Lord, and when we try to do that we are objectifying God. 

Let’s commit ourselves today. Let’s decide that we will not objectify God, and that we will pray for help because we can’t do that on our own. Then with each passing day, let us be more and more aware of WHO God is.

I heard a preacher say once that God is never spread thin; all of God is with all of us all the time. This means that when you bless someone and say “May God be with you,” you are saying “May LIGHT be with you. May HOPE be with. May LIBERTY be with you. May DELIVERANCE be with you. May WAY and TRUTH and LIFE be with you.”

I am saying that to you now. Close your eyes, open your ears and hearts to receive this blessing: GOD is with you, always. LIGHT is with you. HOPE is with you. LIBERTY is with you. DELIVERANCE is with you. WAY and TRUTH and LIFE is with you, forever.

Will you pray with me? O God, whose many names are all HOLY, we come to you in praise and thanksgiving because you are with us. You know us. You love us and we give you the glory, O God. May your word take root in our hearts and bear fruit to your glory. We pray in the Name of WAY and TRUTH and LIFE. Amen.