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?
On this feast of the Apostles Philip and James we hear the Lords’ rather impatient rebuke. ““Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip?”
“Always wanted to be an apostle!” sang the chorus in the 1970’s rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar. But the privilege comes with penalties, including this memory of Jesus’s impatience. If my embarrassing moments are remembered for a long time in social media, the Bible guarantees an eternal memory!
“He must increase, and I must decrease!” Saint John the Baptist said as he provided a model for prophets and disciples. The saints direct our attention back to the Lord whenever we honor them.
This remarkable tradition of self-deprecation begins in the most ancient stories of the Old Testament. The Jews remembered their infidelity at Massah and Meriba. These two words occur in combination in Exodus 17:7, and in parallelism in Deuteronomy 33:8 and Psalm 95:8. They become a symbol of all the sins of Israel. Where other ancient kingdoms like Egypt, Babylon, and Syria created monuments to celebrate their virtues and their victories, the Jews remembered their sins. Anti-Semitism justifies its unspeakable violence upon the honesty of the Jewish people even as it sabotages the mission of the Church.
We also remember King David not only as a powerful warrior, military leader, and founder of a kingdom; we remember in graphic detail his seduction of Bathsheba and murder of her husband; and then Nathan's confrontation as all of Jerusalem watched. The scriptures describe David's remorse, the ensuing curse, and the punishment of his infant son’s death.
Saint Paul’s character flaws also appear in the Acts of the Apostles and in his writings. More important is his theological explanation of God’s reason for choosing us: “…we hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.”
Rightly we admire the apostles for their heroic witness to Jesus, and especially because they confessed their betrayal, denial, escape, and abandonment of the Lord even as they announced his resurrection. No one who loves the Lord should pretend to be anything but an ordinary sinner. As we live and spread his Gospel our very-apparent shortcomings make his victory all the more convincing.
Finally as the Lord practically shouts at Phillip, he directs our attention not to himself but to the Father, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father!” Given the example of Our Lord Himself, only fools would want to draw attention to themselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.