LORD, SHEW US THE FATHER!

 A SERMON FOR THE FEAST OF THE HOLY APOSTLES PHILIP & JAMES

How often do we harbor the wish that we could see God?  We believe in God, we love God, we obey God’s laws and try to do God’s will.  God is the center of our lives, the Supreme Being, our loving Creator and Protector, without whom we would be nothing.  It’s natural, then, that we should want to see him, to behold his countenance and rejoice in his presence, and it was this natural desire that motivated St. Philip’s request to our blessed Lord in today’s Gospel, “Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.”

Our Lord did not waste time explaining to St. Philip that God the Father was a pure spirit without a body, a Being that cannot be seen or, indeed, perceived by any of the five senses.  We might speak figuratively about the Face of God, but no one has ever actually seen the Face of God the Father with their own eyes.  Moses may have seen God in the form of a burning bush; the children of Israel may have followed God under the appearance of a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  But these apparitions never allowed anyone actually to see God himself.  If we are fortunate enough to save our souls and be admitted to the Kingdom of Heaven, there we shall be permitted to see God “face to face” in the Beatific Vision.  But until that time, no man may behold the Face of God.  And yet, I say, many people have seen the Face of God, and beginning of St. John’s Gospel explains how.

By the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us.  This Man to whom St. Philip was speaking was God.   He was the Word of God who was in the beginning: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  And when that Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us, “we beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”  Is it any wonder, then, that our Lord’s reply to his Apostle Philip should be in the form of an admonition?  “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?  He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.”  

Many multitudes of people followed Christ, witnessing his miracles, his healing powers, his ability to raise the dead.  Many were convinced already that this was the Son of God.  At his death, so great were the miracles at his crucifixion, when darkness descended upon the Holy City and the dead rose from their tombs and walked the streets of Jerusalem, that many of the Gentiles, even, were impressed to the point of believing.  One of the centurions guarding the cross actually exclaimed for all to hear, “Truly, this man was the Son of God.”  And yet, even one of his own Apostles, Philip, still did not understand that Jesus was God.  And so our Lord gently reprimanded him and then explained what today we all know and believe: “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.”

St. Philip no doubt listens to our Lord’s answer but the Gospel gives no hint as to his reaction.  However, we know that his faith must have been deepened by our Lord’s explanation: he received the Holy Ghost at Pentecost with the other Apostles and went on to convert the people of Scythia, a region that extended from the Black Sea and the southern Ukraine all the way to India.  Eventually, he ended up in Phrygia in what is now central Turkey, and there he was martyred for his faith, crucified and then stoned to death as he hung on the cross.  St. Philip’s faith ended up being strong and sure, fortified by the words of our Lord to him in today’s Gospel: “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me.”

Our own faith should also be confirmed by our Lord’s words to Philip.  When we receive our blessed Lord in Holy Communion, it is not just the Body and Blood of Christ in which we partake; it is also his soul and divinity—in other words the Triune God himself, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. 

The faith of the other apostles was also strengthened on this day.  In the case of St. James, whose feast day is celebrated today along with St. Philip, we know that even at the age of ninety-six, he was still “ever most constantly preaching Christ the Son of God.” 

The Roman Breviary gives an account of St. James’ life, and we can infer from it that he had a great faith in the divinity of our Lord.  The following snippets from today’s Matins give us an idea of his sanctity and fortitude: “During his whole life he never drank wine or strong drink, never ate meat, never shaved, and never took a bath.  He was the only man who was allowed to go into the Holy of Holies.  So great was James' holiness of life that men strove one with another to touch the hem of his garment.  And so continually did he kneel in prayer, that the skin of his knees became hard and calloused, like a camel's knees.  After Christ was ascended into heaven, the Apostles made James Bishop of Jerusalem.  He governed the Church of Jerusalem for thirty years before finally being arrested under orders from King Herod, who had him taken up on to a pinnacle of the Temple and cast down from thence.  His legs were broken by the fall, and he was wellnigh dead, but he lifted up his hands towards heaven, and prayed to God for the salvation of his murderers, saying: Lord, forgive them, for they know not what they do.  As he said this, one that stood by smote him grievously upon the head with a fuller's club, and he resigned his spirit to God.”

The body of St. James now rests in the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles in Rome, next to the body of St. Philip, whose request to our Lord to shew him the Father triggered the deepening of faith that gave them both the strength to endure their martyrdom.  Last week our faith was confirmed by the doubt of St. Thomas.  This week, let us pray that through the merits of these two holy Apostles, we may see our faith confirmed again and strengthened to withstand whatever sufferings and sorrows come our way.  In the Holy Face of Christ, we behold him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No one, he told us, cometh unto the Father, but by me.  Let us look deeply into that Holy Face, asking our Lord to show us the way, realizing that it is the Face of God himself, the Divine being in human form.  We don’t need to ask our Lord therefore that he show unto us the Father.  We just need to ask our Lord that though we see his Face in this life “as through a glass darkly,” we may one day truly see God “face to face.”