The title of my thoughts for today is, “Two New Testament
Characters Named Philip.”
Today is the feast day of the first one - Philip the
Apostle - and the second is Philip in the Acts of the Apostles - called,
“Philip the Evangelist.”
I going to talk about both of them because both of them
brought people to Jesus. I’m skipping James - the other person in today’s feast
day. There are supposedly 3 James in the Early Church mix of characters.
I would like to stress that that’s our call: to bring
people to Jesus.
THE PHILIP IN
THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
Philip the Apostle gets some unique recognition in the
Gospel of John.
In Chapter One of John he’s is called by Jesus - meets
him - follows Jesus. His first step is to head for Nathaniel and bring him to
Jesus.
The Philip-Nathanael situation goes a bit like Andrew
meeting Jesus and then bringing his brother Peter to Jesus.
This Philip is from the same town as Peter and Andrew and
their stories begin with the moment they meet Jesus.
It seems in John - when someone meets Jesus they want to
tell others about Jesus. They want to introduce other people to Jesus.
Then in Chapter 14 of the Gospel of John, it’s Philip who is approached by some Greeks
who want to meet Jesus. Then Philip does the introduction. And notice in this
Chapter 14 story about Philip - which is today’s gospel - Andrew’s name shows
up in the mix and the meeting as well.
And notice Philip asks Jesus to show him the Father -
which is a major theme in the Gospel of John.
If you want good stuff for prayer, it’s right there -
wanting to meet Jesus and wanting to know what the Father is like and who He
is.
Ask for that in prayer.
PHILIP IN THE
ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
And in the Acts of the Apostles we have the so called,
“Philip the Evangelist.”
He does the same thing that Philip the Apostle does -
this bringing someone to Jesus.
This Philip runs into an Ethiopian - a eunuch and an
officer in the court of the Queen of Ethiopia.
He’s the chief treasurer. He’s in
a chariot. He’s on his way home. And he’s reading the prophet Isaiah.
And Philip gets the inspiration to run over to the
chariot and ask the occupant if he knows what he’s reading. “Do you
understand?”
And the Ethiopian gives the great answer, “How can I
understand, unless I have someone to guide me?”
That scene becomes the name of a good book on Bible
reading: Unless Some Man Show Me [1962]. It’s by Alexander Jones.
The Ethiopian invites Philip to get into the chariot and
Philip introduces this man to Jesus and surprise he baptizes him right then and
there when they go by some water - along the road.
I wonder if that quick baptism enters into some Early
Church discussions about when to baptize.
I love the line, “And the eunuch never saw him again but
went away rejoicing.”
THOUGHTS
We’re called to introduce people to Jesus.
Think about the people who got you to visit Jesus in the
Eucharistic Adoration Chapel or any church - or the people who ran Bible study
programs - say on Isaiah - and introduced you to Jesus.
I think of all the places I preached - where I preached to a lot of people I never
saw again. I also think of all the people
who gave me Jesus.
CLOSING EXAMPLE
This is getting too long, so let me close with a quick
example.
I was about to take a 3 hour car ride, so I looked for
something for the car tape system. This was before CD’s.
I grabbed a cassette I had not listened to in 25
years. Surprise. As I’m listening to it
- I hear this great example - that I used in a sermon - but I thought it was my
idea - that I was original.
Surprise I stole it without knowing it.
I just noticed in yesterday’s news that Marine La Pen in France is being accused of plagiarizing parts of a speech by Francois Fillon.
Having discovered I borrowed something from someone else,
without realizing it, I have sympathy.Let’s plagiarize the Word of God, the word made flesh, Jesus Christ. Then
let us bring Jesus to others. Amen.
Today is the feast of
Saint Athanasius - so a few words about him on his feast day - May 2nd.
His dates are 295 to May
2, 373 - 78 years of life. Nice....
He’s born in Alexandria,
Egypt - which had a lot of Christians in his time. It had a great catechetical
school - and it was a central educational center. Numbers of Christians back
then in that city - I’m not that scholarly. Right now
Egypt has 92 million people - 10% who are Christian. 270,000 are Catholics - and the pope went to
see them a week ago or so. I was trying to find out if he went to Alexandria -
where there was a bombing of a Coptic Church about 10 years ago. It looks like
he just went to Cairo. I assume security was tough, tough stuff.
So Athanasius was Egyptian
for starters - but he was part of the Egyptian culture of the 300’s.
In the Church - it was the
time of trying to pull together the great teachings about Christ - and the Trinity.
Cardinal Newman - said that
Athanasius was key in conveying further along the way, “the sacred truths of Christianity.”
The Christ born of Mary -
the Christ who walked our roads - breathed our air - healed and helped people -
the Christ crucified on the Cross - the Risen Christ of Easter - was and always was, God and will always be
God. So too the 3rd person in God - the Holy Spirit.
So our religion is all
about hearing about, meeting God in person - in the 3 persons in the Holy
Trinity.
Our religion has doctrines
and creeds - but the key experience is to enter into a relationship with the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
SUGGESTION - THEOLOGY AT OUR FINGER TIPS
I’m sure you’ve heard in a
dozen homilies the Orthodox as well as Eastern Catholic way of
making the sign of the cross. These 3 fingers are brought together at their
tips: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Then the pinky and 4th finger are
bent over - and the tips of those two fingers touch the palm of our hands. These 2
fingers symbolize the humanity and divinity of Christ.
So there it is at our
finger tips as we make the sign of the cross - in the name of the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit. Cross my heart and hope
to die.
Suggestion: that would be a good
way to sit down in a quiet chair in our home or here at church - and enter into
the Holy Trinity.
AA
The main nemesis of
Athanasius’ life was a priest name Arius - who almost destroyed Christianity.
Arius dates are 256-336. He was from Libya - but settled in Alexandria for a
while. Arius said that Jesus as God was not equal to God the Father - but born in time.
St. Athanasius stood up to
Arius and anyone who did not see the 3 persons in the Trinity as equal and
forever.
God is a Trinity - 3
persons, 1 God.
All 3 persons have always
been - God.
All 3 persons are infinite
All 3 persons are equal - but distinct.
It is difficult - to get
this - in fact we won’t - we are not God. Yet St. Athanasius said, “The Son of
God became man so that we might become God.”
EXILE
St. Athanasius was not
killed - he was not a martyr - like Stephen in today's first reading from Acts 7: 51-8:1. Yet he was persecuted and hunted. He went into exile 5 times because of
his beliefs - and his standing up to those who denied the divinity of Jesus
Christ.
As I was reading about
this last night, I found out that one motive for Arius and others - was to
simplify the idea of who Christ was. Son
means son - and sons come along in time. Well, Christ was son - the Son of God
- but always being begotten by the Father.
That’s mystery - and we don’t get it. But we have all eternity - now and for all eternity to enter into God and get deeper and deeper into God. CONCLUSION So that's a few ideas about Athanasius. Type his name into Google and see where that takes you.
