Feast of Saints Philip and James, Apostles
“You look just like your mother!” “He’s a spitting image of his father!” A compliment or a cringe-causing comment? I primarily take after my father both in appearance and personality, although I’m really a blend of both of my parents. And yet, I’m also uniquely my own person, as is true for each of us. Although I am their offspring, I am not my father or mother, and they are not me. So, I think it’s challenging to grasp what today’s gospel passage from John (14:6-14) has Jesus telling his disciples. Apparently, it was difficult for them to grasp as well.
Right after Jesus says to Thomas, “If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him,” Philip says to Jesus, “Master, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” This is where I can imagine Jesus doing a palm-to-the-forehead in exasperation; he even seems a little hurt by Philip not getting it. “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....Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?” (In my opinion, this is not an easy concept to fully grasp!)
And yet, it is a gift. That our God, whom Jesus called “Abba” (Father), became human through Jesus, the Son. And in this way has revealed God’s Self to us, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” With the closeness of a parent and child, yet even closer still. If we desire, like Philip (and the other disciples) to know our God even better, we must come to know Jesus all the more.
With thankful hearts this Easter season, let us pray for the grace to know the Risen One more intimately. That one day we might hear Jesus exclaim, “I have been with you for so long a time and you know me!” Amen. Alleluia.
—Eileen Miller