1 Corinthians 15:1-8
Psalm 19
John 14:6-14
Dear friends, today, we celebrate the feast of two of the twelve apostles, Philip and James the son of Alphaeus, who were folowers of Christ, friends and collaborators in the preaching of tge gospel.
PHILIP
We know a little bit more about Philip than we do about James from the gospels. The first chapter of John’s gospel tells us that Philip was from Bethsaida, on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, the same town that Peter and Andrew were from. According to that first chapter of John it was Philip who went to Nathanael to declare, ‘We have found him about whom Moses... and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth’. He met with very little zeal from Nathanael: ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Yet, Philip was not put off by this rather discouraging response; he simply replied to Nathanael: ‘Come and see’. Nathanael eventually came and saw and stayed, he never saw any reason to go back. Philip encourages us not to be too easily thrown or discouraged when our enthusiasm For and our invitation to our faith is not readily shared by others. In this morning’s gospel, Philip makes a request of Jesus, ‘Lord, let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied’. He had yet to learn that, to have seen Jesus is to have seen the Father. Philip was full of faith when he went to Nathanael and his witness was very effective. Yet, it is clear that he was only at the beginning of his own faith journey; he had only begun to see. He had a great deal more to learn from Jesus. Philip reminds us that we don’t have to know it all to be effective witnesses for the Lord. Like Philip, we are called to share the Lord and invite others to him while we are still on the way.
JAMES
There are several people by the name ‘James’ in the gospels. The James of today’s feast is the one referred to as the brother or cousin of Jesus. In today’s first reading, Saint Paul lists James as one of those to whom the risen Lord appeared: ‘then he appeared to James, and then to all the Apostles’. James would become a leading member of the church in Jerusalem. Writing his letter to the Galatian Church, Paul refers to James as one of the pillars of the church in Jerusalem. Paul and James did not agree easily on the issue of the grounds for admitting pagans to the church. While James insisted that the pagans needed to be circumcised, Paul held that their faith in Christ was sufficient grounds. Albeit James was a man of deep faith, he still had much to learn.
Philip had already come to Jesus and seen him. Yet, he did not yet realize that in seeing Jesus he was seeing the Father, which is why Jesus says to him, ‘To have seen me is to have seen the Father’. Philip had responded to the call of Jesus and had gone on to bring Nathanael to Jesus, but he too had much to learn; he was still on a journey of discovery with regard to Jesus. Even though he saw Jesus with the eyes of faith, there were greater things he had yet to see, namely, that the Father was living in Jesus and working through Jesus, and to see Jesus was to see the Father. Like James and Philip, we are all on a journey of discovery with regard to Jesus, the journey of faith. There are always ‘greater things’ that we have yet to see. Through the Holy Spirit the Lord works in our lives to lead us to the complete truth. All he asks of us is that we be open and responsive to his guiding.
In this morning's gospel, the words and request of Philip to Jesus, ‘Lord, let us see the Father and we shall be satisfied' might well resonate with us. Perhaps we too believe that we will have our real satisfaction only when we see God, or, simply put, when we are in heaven. Yet Jesus replies to Philip that God the Father whom he longs to see has already been seen in Jesus, ‘to have seen me is to have seen the Father’. Here, Jesus is letting all of us know that he has already begun to satisfy our deepest longings, our longing for God the Father. Jesus has shown us the face of God in himself, in his life, death and resurrection. As we grow in our relationship with Jesus we will begin to see the face of God and the heaven for which we long will become a present reality to us. In Christ, the Father is revealed, what we need to do is to appreciate this revelation of the Father, to experience the presence of God in the person of Jesus who is with us always until the end of time; he is with us in his word, in the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist, and in each other.
Seeing Jesus with the eyes of faith in this life is a pointer to our seeing God face to face beyond this life. As we see Jesus with the eyes of faith, we will hear his call to keep on taking him as our way, our truth and our life. Like Philip and James, let us go about preaching the gospel, propagating our faith, and inviting others to Christ. May we NEVER be disappointed or discouraged when we have a cold response. Rather, let us be patient and try harder, a little more to convince them by telling them: 'COME AND SEE.'
SAINTS PHILIP AND JAMES.... PRAY FOR US. AMEN.
-PadreCharlesLwanga.
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