The Feast of Saints Philip and James, Tuesday, May 3, 2022

John 14:6-14

Jesus said to Thomas, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 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. 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 speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.”

St. James the Less, so-called to distinguish him from the Apostles James, the brother of John and son of Zebedee, was the son of a man named Alphaeus.  We do not hear much about him in the Gospels, but after Pentecost and after the martyrdom of St. James the Greater, the son of Zebedee, he becomes prominent among the leaders of the early Church.  He was the first bishop of Jerusalem.  He wrote an epistle included in the New Testament in which he shows a strong bond with Jewish moral teachings which the Lord himself emphasized.  In his epistle, he calls himself “the brother of the Lord”, indicating that he was a relative of Jesus, perhaps even residing in Nazareth.  St. Paul, in his Letter to the Galatians, also refers to him in this way.  He continued as bishop of the Christians in Jerusalem for many years, even earning the name “James the Just” from the Jews because of his righteousness.  The early Christian historian Hegissipus (ca. 150), whose works have come down to us only in fragments, wrote that James did not drink wine or strong drink, that he neither anointed himself, bathed, shaved or ate meat — living an utterly simple life very much in the tradition of St. John the Baptist.  Various traditions say that he was beaten to death with a club or crucified in Egypt, where he had gone to preach.

St. Philip came from the town of Bethsaida in Galilee.  He followed John the Baptist along with his later fellow Apostles Peter and Andrew, who also originally hailed from Bethsaida.  He became one of the first followers of Jesus, and brought his friend Nathanael (Bartholomew) to the Lord.  St. John mentions him a number of times in his Gospel.  Tradition holds that after Pentecost, Philip went to preach in Greece, Syria, and what is now Iraq, and that he was crucified or beheaded in the latter region, in the city of Hierapolis.  His name and that of James the Less are joined together in this feast because their relics were brought to Rome to a church then bearing their names, but now called the Basilica of the Holy Apostles.  

“Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”  This question, asked by St. Philip at the Last Supper, sounds outrageous, for God himself had said, “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me, and live” (Exodus 33, 20).  It comes on the heels, though of the Lord Jesus assuring St. Thomas, “If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”  To Philip, Jesus seemed about to reveal the Father to them in a vision.  Philip perhaps expected a vision such as is found in Daniel describing the Son of Man coming forth before the Father: “One like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and he came even to the Ancient of days: and they presented him before him” (Daniel 7, 13).  The Lord’s answer reveals that the Father could be seen in a more intimate way: “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.”  That is, we can see the Father in the works of the Son.  St. Paul tells us that the Son “is the image of the invisible God”, not, indeed, in terms of physical resemblance, but in that the Father accomplishes his works of mercy in his Son: “The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.”  

“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.”  The Lord continues his response to Philip’s question with these words.  Belief in Jesus and adherence to his commandments make a person a worthy instrument of God’s grace.  The “greater works” the Lord speaks of are necessary for the spread of the Gospel since only mortal men will be preaching and not the Lord himself.  These works will be “greater” in the sense that the Apostles and their successors will convert large numbers of Jews and Gentiles to the Faith — the greatest work of  all.

“And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.”  The Lord says, “Ask anything”, that is, related to the ministry of the Gospel, including for the cure of the sick and the expulsion of demons.  

In St. Philip we find a man impressionable and enthusiastic.  In St. James, a man passionate about the poor and a sensible leader.  Together they helped bring the word of the Lord to the nations, teaching us that we all have a part in this work.