A sermon preached by The Reverend Canon Dr. David Anderson at St. Jude’s Anglican Church, Oakville, on the Feast of Saint Philip and Saint James, May 1, 2024.
I speak to you in the name of our risen Lord. Amen.
I was under the weather this past weekend, so I was not at the Sunday services. If you were present for Evensong, you heard a reading about the Apostles Philip and James who are celebrated today on this their Feast. We don’t know much about James, the son of Alphaeus—also referred to as James “the less,” to distinguish him from the two other James who were also disciples.
Philip, however, does appear as a main character in John’s Gospel. Philip is there at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. After the brothers Andrew and Peter, who like Philip were from Bethsaida, Philip is the next person to become a disciple of Jesus. He is the first of the disciples to lead someone else to Jesus, telling Nathaniel, “We have found him about whom Moses and the prophets also wrote” (1:45). In John 6, Jesus “tests” Philip about feeding the crowds, asking him, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” (6:5, 6). Philip is not yet able to understand the abundance that is available within the reign that Jesus was inaugurating, answering Jesus, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little” (6:7). Although Philip does not yet possess the vision, the provision is still given, and the people eat.
Philip also appears at an important turning point in John’s Gospel when Greeks arrive looking for Jesus and first consult with Philip. This becomes a turning point, because when Philip and Andrew report to Jesus about the arrival of the Greeks, Jesus declares, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (12:23).
Where our reading for today begins, Jesus is speaking with his disciples, and in particular, he is responding to Thomas. Jesus has told the disciples that he is preparing the way for them and has told them that they “know the way” (v. 4). Thomas states the objection, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (v. 5). This is where Jesus responds with the words that appear at the beginning of today’s Gospel, “Jesus said to [Thomas], ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (v. 6).
On this occasion Jesus is speaking to his disciples. It is the night in which he was betrayed. From the beginning of his relationship with these followers of his, their relationship has been that of rabbi and disciples—or in other words: teacher and students. The disciples, Philip and James whom we celebrate today, together with all the rest, have been students in the School of Jesus. What has Jesus been teaching them? What is the curriculum of the School of Jesus? Jesus has been teaching them the Way. The way of God. The way of the reign of God. The way of God’s future for the world. The way of life abundant.
Right now, however, as Jesus is saying these words to them, I can only imagine that the longer he talks, the longer they spend this terrible long night together, the harder and harder it becomes to trust what they have learned from Jesus about the Way. Hence, Thomas’ complaint, “How can we know the way?” (v. 5). Philip also seems to have reached the breaking point and, in light of the lofty claims that Jesus has made, makes a simple request: “Show us the Father, and we will be satisfied” (v. 8).
I don’t know about you, but I feel that I can relate. When we are confronted by the powers of violence and death, I think we all need more than words that are hard to follow and harder still to trust, even if those words come from Jesus. Finding it difficult not to let our hearts be troubled, we ask, “Where is God?” “What is God like?” “What, if anything, is God doing?” We have been learning the Way, yet we yearn for greater clarity and assurance along the way. In other words, “Show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”
Jesus is a bit frustrated with Philip’s request. “Have I been with you all this time, Philip,” Jesus asks, “and you still do not know me?” (v. 9). Then, in no uncertain terms, Jesus points us to himself: “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? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works” (vv. 9-10). Jesus answers, “God is right here. Whoever sees and knows me has seen and known the Father.” Jesus is in the Father, and the Father is in Jesus. We have Jesus’—no, the Father’s—word on it. Jesus has taught us and shown us the way of life abundant.
Philip does not say anything further, but I wonder whether Philip is satisfied with Jesus’ words. As a priest, a Christian, and human being, I know that I am not often satisfied. I am not satisfied with Jesus’ words during those seasons of life when I urgently need to know where God is and what God is like. I am certainly dissatisfied with words, even words of Jesus, during those seasons of life when death and evil rage unexpectedly and uncontrollably. I do not feel terribly satisfied when people turn to me as a priest, demanding to know where God is, what God is like, and what, if anything, God is doing. I know the Way, but sometimes I feel I need something a bit more concrete.
In response, Jesus points to his works, saying, “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves” (v. 11). The evidence of Jesus’ intimate connection to the Father has been there for the first disciples to see—and for subsequent disciples to hear—throughout Jesus’ public ministry. When words are too heady, distant, and theoretical, we can look to Jesus’ works, because they reveal his intimate connection with the Father. Throughout his public ministry, Jesus repeatedly declares that the works he does are God’s work and not his own (5:20, 36; 10:37–38; 14:10) and that his work is to complete God’s work (4:34; 17:4). Thus, everything about Jesus—his words, works, and entire person—makes the Father known. More than God working through Jesus, Jesus dwells in God, and God dwells in Jesus and “does his works” (v. 10) in the world. Scripture does not say this about anyone other than Jesus. We have Jesus’ works to confirm it.
More than reminding us of his works, Jesus points us to where we might look when we find it hard to believe his words. Wherever joy and abundance replace embarrassment and scarcity, healing occurs unexpectedly, paralysis gives way to movement, hungry people are fed and filled, calm overcomes a storm, someone receives new vision, and life triumphs over death, Jesus is still working.
It is important that we continue to notice these signs of God at work among us and do not stop with naming them. The assurance is not so much in the works themselves, but in the powerful way trusting Jesus unlocks signs in a community that trusts Jesus’ words. Jesus’ departure means the disciples will continue God’s work. Jesus’ departure also means we get to continue God’s work. Jesus’ prediction that his disciples will do “greater works than these” (v. 12) is understood in terms of quantity rather than quality. Jesus’ return to the Father makes possible all that could not be accomplished when Jesus was bound by his incarnation. Jesus withdraws so that God’s work can expand. The faith community’s works are also “greater” in that they point to the fullness of God’s love for the world revealed in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
That these are Jesus’ own works, and not merely a faith community’s efforts, is evident in Jesus’ declaration, uttered twice, “I will do” (vv. 13-14). Jesus’ continuing commitment and involvement in the faith community’s works are guaranteed by his promise to do whatever is asked in his name, “so that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (vv. 13-14). Trusting in Jesus’ word enough to ask in his name, the Christian community’s power is immeasurable. Even more, struggling individuals within the community and people in the world that surrounds it will come to trust because of the works the community does in Jesus’ name. The faith community’s works are Jesus’ works in the same way that Jesus’ works are God’s. More than ends in themselves, the works the faith community does in Jesus’ name are part of Jesus’ own work of making God known to the world. When you do not trust the words, look to the works. Jesus is there.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.