The Feast of Saints Philip and James, May 3, 2021

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.”

Philip of Bethsaida is said to have introduced his friend Nathanael, whom Jesus subsequently chose to be an Apostle, to the Lord during the Lord’s early days of ministry: “Philip found Nathanael and said to him: We have found him of whom Moses, in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus the son of Joseph of Nazareth.”  So overwhelmed was Philip by the impression Jesus made on him that when his friend wondered if anything good could come from Nazareth, all he could answer was a breathless, “Come and see!”   Many of the first followers of Jesus like Andrew and John, had been followers of John the Baptist, and Philip may also have been one of these.  He evidently spoke Greek well, since Greeks who wished to see the Lord came to him for aid (cf. John 12, 21).  Later writers confuse the Apostle Philip with the Deacon Philip, whose exploits are recounted in the Acts of the Apostles.  St. James, the son of either Alphaeus or Cleophas, and whose mother was evidently named Mary, an early supporter of the Lord, was known, after the Ascension of our Lord, as one of the “Pillars” of the Church, especially in Jerusalem (cf. Galatians 2, 9).  He was the first bishop of Jerusalem and reigned there, until his martyrdom at the hands of the Jewish leaders, in the years leading up to the revolt against the Romans in 70 A.D.  The early Christian historian Hegesippus wrote that James did not drink wine or strong drink, did not eat meat, did not bathe, and did not cut his hair.  He lived as an ascetic, very much as John the Baptist had lived.  He was well-loved by the Jewish Christians whom he led, and even the Jews of the city called him “James the Just”.  His Epistle reveals him as well-versed in the Scriptures, with an earnest desire to help the poor.  He styles himself “the brother of the Lord”, which may indicate a close family tie to Jesus.

In the Gospel reading for the Mass of this Feast, Philip urges the Lord Jesus, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Philip’s words must have dropped the jaws of the other Apostles, reclining with Jesus during the Last Supper: no one can see God and live.  This revealed a certain naivety on Philip’s part, but the Lord does not crush his desire.  He uses his request to teach about his own relation to the Father: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”  Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God (cf. Colossians 1, 15).

Every day we encounter people who want to see the Father, most of whom cannot put their longing into clear words.  Often their lives are lonely, twisted, and torn, and their bodies and expressions bear witness to that.  They are helpless but for us.  As members of the Body of Christ we can also be visible images of the invisible God, to the degree that we live holy lives.  It is the saint who can say, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” Thus, the words and deeds which are done through the saint by the Father, are the meat and drink the people of the world hunger and thirst for.