If they ever discover the lost book of the Apostles, I’d be the first to buy it. We know so little about the twelve and their lives after the resurrection that it sparks curiosity in us. But, whatever book may be discovered, like the alleged other Gospels, you would need to look on it with a discerning eye. If there was such a thing, it would likely be apocryphal; written by some ancient or not so ancient writer with an overactive imagination.
Nonetheless, what we do know primarily from the scriptures and other local traditions helps to construct the picture of a thriving but challenged early Church. Today’s Feast of the Apostles Philip and James affirms the truth that these two Apostles, like the others, were chosen directly by Jesus to follow him and to continue the work of building the Kingdom of God; that we know to be true of all the Apostles. They must have a special place in heaven because they were so pivotal in the establishment of Christianity. But, let’s not forget how truly human they were. Common men from a variety of backgrounds, most were fishermen but not all, to do extraordinary things as intimate companions of the Lord Jesus. I love to take them off holy cards and stylized statues in Churches because then I can relate and have hope that with God’s grace we too can do extraordinary things in ordinary ways.
In today’s Gospel from John 14: 6-14 we hear Jesus telling these chosen men, “I am the way and the truth and the life . . . If you know me, then you will also know my Father.” In one sense, any of us could say the same but it would mean something far different. The saying, “like father like Son” or “like mother like daughter,” might apply here. We are products of our parents. We resemble them to some extent not only physically but in our habits and patterns of living. We are a reflection of them. We hold their values and inherit memories that affect us for a lifetime. We may have a mixed reaction when we say, “I sound like my Dad!” Maybe we need to confront feelings of anger or hurt that remains in us but we also can be proud to be their children. So, for Jesus to say, “If you know me, you will also know my Father,” may have been similar and on the minds of the Apostles. If Jesus resembled anyone physically it would have been Mary. Maybe when the time comes and we behold the glory of the risen Christ, we might ask, “Ok Mary, stand next to Jesus. You are your Mother’s son, Jesus. I can see the resemblance!”
But, Jesus wasn’t speaking of mere biology or human resemblance. For the Apostle Philip, who asks Our Lord at this scene from the Last Supper, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us,” was a loaded question. Clearly, he didn’t ask, “Where’s Joseph?” Philip may have had a sense that Jesus was speaking of a spiritual relationship but yet needed to understand the relationship between the Father and the Son. They weren’t trained theologians. Their experience of faith was more through the heart rather than through books and classroom study. Their conviction of the truth of who Jesus is came later, through the power of the Holy Spirit who immersed them in a grace powerful enough to compel them to give everything, their very lives for this truth. But, earlier in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, we see that Philip was the third to be called by Jesus. He then went to his friend Nathaniel, to “come and see” the Lord. So Philip was a missionary from the beginning and fertile ground to do the Lord’s work.
James, likely a cousin of Jesus through his mother, became the first Bishop of Jerusalem. He apparently led the first of the Church councils, the gathering of the first Bishop’s (aka Apostles) in Jerusalem who dealt with the first major question of the early Church: what do we do with all these Gentiles? You can read about this crucial council in the Book of Acts which changed the face of Christianity forever. In the end, though, both Philip and James are a testimony to what God can do with ordinary people. To simply be in their presence must have been extraordinary.
Today’s Feast of these two Apostles, buried side by side in Rome, I think reminds us to never be discouraged. We are not called to be Apostles in the sense that they were for that is not our role. But we are called, through the consecration of our baptism, to be missionaries in our own right. As St. Paul reminds his Corinthian community in today’s first reading from 1 Cor 15: 1-8, “I am reminding you, brothers and sisters, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand. . .” No less word is spoken to us each Sunday. We priests need to be reminded as well that our task even more is to be authentic witnesses of the Gospel.
No matter how ordinary you may feel, the twelve Apostles are a living testimony how God does extraordinary things with ordinary people. How we in our own way are called to do the same. May we bring others to know the Father through his Son in the power of the Spirit which compelled the Apostles to be authentic witnesses.
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