Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
St. Paul points out that Jesus Christ "is the image of the invisible God" (Col 1:15), and of us, "For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son" (Rm 8:29), "for man was made to the image of God." (Gen 9:6)
Now, we look in a mirror, and we see; an image. The image is not us, but a reflection of us. If the mirror is good, it is a pretty good reflection, but only in two dimensions. If it is not a good mirror, it is not even a good 2d reflection. But we never confuse the reflection with our self, it is only an image.
Yet for a moment, in your imagination, place yourself before the mirror and contemplate your image. It is not you, but it is there. Now God the Father has an image, but that image is a person, and that person is Jesus Christ! what a wonder this is! The invisible God has an image that can be seen! But since we are still in our imagination, consider for a moment with the eyes of the soul: God is spirit. Jesus chastized Philip for not "seeing" because he desired to see the Father with the eyes of the body, rather than the eyes of the soul.
Now whereas Jesus is the image of the invisible God, we are made "in" the image of the invisible God; in other words, Jesus is the model to which we are made. In that, we can look at this image that we are made to by looking at the image that we are; but this mirror is not a very good quality one, it is clouded and covered with the filth of sin. "We see now through a glass in a dark manner: but then face to face." (1 Cor 13:12) It is little wonder that Jesus said "they have eyes, but do not see."
Now, let's leave the imagination and go back to a real mirror; yeah, here we are, some days are just like this!
it has been said that the devil seeks our death, because he hates God's image so much. He is quite creative in working out ways to acheive his nefarious ends.
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