Wednesday May 3
In his last days, Jesus realizes that his disciples have doubts and misunderstandings. Like Philip, the other apostles are not able to see the divinity of Christ; they do not fully believe that he reflects the light of the Father and that his words and deeds are divine. Jesus expressed concisely: whoever sees me sees the Father. In fact, when the disciple lives in communion with the Son, he will be able to perform mighty deeds of the Father in the Son's name. In this consists the mission of the Church, the Body of Christ through the centuries.
Alternative
Philip was the first person to whom Jesus said, “Follow me!” (Jn 1:45). James was “brother of the Lord,” understood to mean cousin.
From today’s reading, four words to dwell on—spoken by Jesus to Philip—four words that are almost like icons, to come back to again and again.
• “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
• “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”
• “The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own.”
• “The Father who dwells in me does his works.”
Don’t forget that these words are not only about Jesus; they are about us too.
The readings speak of these two men, first James who was one of the witnesses to the resurrection (though we do not have any written account of that, except in Acts) and Paul's writings. But the importance in each man's life (as in our own) is believing in the Word of the Scripture, the Gospel: passed onto us. We hand on what we receive: the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. This is what we stake our lives and deaths on. In the gospel, Philip seeks to know the Father and yet he does not understand Jesus' words-if we see Jesus, the Word made flesh, then we see God the Father. The mystery of the Trinity-the dwelling as one of Father, Son and Spirit-and our initiation into the Trinity is what our life is. It is what sustains us and makes us holy, whether we are apostles, disciples, preachers/teachers/workers, husbands and wives, parents, students, single/widowed/divorced-we are all coming to the Father through Jesus' Word.