St. Philip and St. James, Apostles(U)
1 Cor 15: 1-8; John 14: 6-14
Dc. Larry Brockman
How often have we heard Philip’s words in our society? For Philip said “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Yes, everybody wants to be shown the Father; everybody wants proof of God’s existence! And yet, the fact is that people are blind to that proof when they see it. They are blind because the truth is ultimately incomprehensible to our limited nature.
You know, it’s hard to believe that the events that unfolded before Philip’s own eyes hadn’t been enough for him. For this man had heard Jesus personally during his three year ministry. He had eaten with him, and had been one of his closest disciples; he had heard everything first hand; and seen everything first hand. Philip had witnessed the death and Resurrection first hand; and he had heard Jesus unfold the scriptures for him after the Resurrection. Philip had seen, touched, and experienced the glorified risen Christ. One would think that such a person would know God for who God is as well as anyone possibly could. Such a person would know God in their heart. And yet Philip still says “Show me the Father”. Oh ye of little faith! What more could Philip have seen or experienced to convince him to believe!
Yes, it is a leap of faith to believe in the Gospel story. We don’t have the first-hand knowledge and experiences that Philip had. And yet, we are called upon to believe, to accept what seems unlikely, and what can’t be proven by human reason. We are called to accept it precisely because we simply must surrender our wills in the salvation process. We must recognize that we are not in control- God is and always will be in control. If we don’t accept that, we simply can’t be happy with him in the Kingdom of God because no matter how you slice it, we can never ever understand and match the mind of God. Something will always be a mystery to us- some things we must accept on faith.
Our Faith is worth any residual doubt because of the revelations Jesus made to us about God and his nature and laws. These revelations were not made by some transcendent distant unapproachable God; but rather by God made man who lived amongst us. His is a unique story in creation; the story of a God who loved us so much he manifested himself as one of us. And Jesus left us the legacy of that story- more than 500 eye witnesses and the Gospels themselves that record all those events. The Gospels also give us the roadmap for living life in harmony with God’s will.
Now many people cannot believe in their hearts what the Gospel relates. So Jesus comes right out and says that if you cannot believe because it touches your heart; then believe because of the great works that were done- the many miracles Jesus performed.
St. Paul summarizes what the rewards are for those who believe and follow Jesus’ teachings in this way. We have all been saved and will share in the glorified life of Jesus. Yes, Jesus is the answer, because no one can come to the Father except through belief in God and the Word of God- that is, they cannot come to God except through Jesus because Jesus is the Word of God.
Every day we wake up is a miracle. Every moment of our life is a miracle. Every flower, life form, and star in the sky is an awesome miracle. The scientists unravel some details about these miracles and think we are in control. These details are like the peels of an onion; no sooner does one layer get explained when another layer appears.. What scientists find is incredible simplicity and incredible complexity intertwined in all things. There simply has to be some architect of all that; it cannot happen by accident. That should be proof enough; because again, we cannot hope to understand all that God knows. But it isn’t. People want to know absolutely.
Well God didn’t send Jesus’ generation the “sign” they were hoping for so they could know absolutely. And the Father did not show himself to Philip with any more clarity than Jesus revelation. God doesn’t reveal himself with any more clarity because we are incapable of understanding. What we are capable of understanding is what God has revealed to us; that was the reason for Jesus Christ. There is no need for the Father to show us any more proof than that.