Podcast: Download (Duration: 15:38 — 21.5MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | RSS | More
Today is the feast of St. Philip the Apostle. Although the feast gets preempted by the 5th Sunday of Easter, we have the happy coincidence that the gospel reading for this week is the same gospel that would be read on the feast of St. Philip. My middle name is Philip and I take St. Philip the Apostle as my secondary patron after St. John the Baptist. I also take his famous line from today’s reading as my personal motto, “Ostende nobis patrem”… “Show us the father.” In today’s reflection I look at some of the deep meaning behind this seemingly simple request.
First, I like to think of this encounter as Philip getting to ask for whatever he wants, almost like a genie giving the famous three wishes. Philip doesn’t need three wishes; he just needs one. And when he gets to ask for what he wants more than anything, he asks “Show us the father.” I interpret this as Philip essentially saying “I want to see God.” If you think of all the things we might ask for, that’s a pretty good one. We call the entire life of heaven the “beatific vision,” to behold God face to face. So Philip is basically asking to see God and to be in heaven. Well done, Philip!
Now, secondly though, Jesus kind of corrects Philip. “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’?” Ooo, so maybe not so good? I don’t think so. I actually love this. Philip doesn’t have the benefit of hundreds of years of trinitarian theology. He asks for what he thinks he wants and maybe gets it a little wrong. But that’s ok. We shouldn’t be afraid to ask for what is on our hearts. Our father loves us. He’ll make perfect whatever we ask for.
Finally, when Jesus says that whoever sees him has seen the father, I treat this as a sort of call to mission. No one reveals the father better than Jesus. But we’re all called to continue this revealing of the love of God to the world. Whether people know it or not, they’re all ultimately asking the same thing Philip did. People want to see God. Many people don’t know where to look or are looking for love in all the wrong places. That’s why we have to show them the father. People can’t see God directly today, but they can see you. How will you make the love of God incarnate in the world today? How will you answer the call to “show us the father?”