06042022 – John 14. 8 – 17
So, at long last, the Day of Pentecost has arrived.
What was once “a Jewish HARVEST celebration” has now turned into the BIRTHDAY of the church.
Happy Birthday, by-the-way!
The season of Easter OFFICIALLY CONCLUDES today! 50 days ago, EXACTLY WE celebrated the Resurrection of Our Lord!
After today: the Paschal candle will disappear from our midst EXCEPT FOR Baptisms and for Christian burial.
Guess WHAT, there are two baptisms next weekend on Sunday? DOUBLE-YAY! (The candle gets to hang around some more…)
And, TODAY, we get to meet some guy named “Philip.”
What you probably DO NOT KNOW is that the name Philip is Greek. It means “horse loving” or a “fondness of horses.”
If I were to ask you RIGHT NOW to pull out a chunk of paper and to “quickly write down” ALL of the twelve disciples – “HOW” do you think YOU would DO?
Don’t do it NOW – hang with me HERE…
Philip was not A MAJOR PLAYER among the disciples of Jesus!
Oh sure, he raises his hands a few times, makes-a- couple-of-comments, it is ONLY THEN, that we – EVEN TAKE NOTICE OF HIM!
He’s just “one of those guys” IN THE BACKGROUND somewhere, who doesn’t immediately come to mind.
He definitely was no PETER, no JAMES or JOHN, as in the sons of Zebedee.
He was FAR from “a starter” on the A-TEAM. As a matter of fact, he was absent at the Transfiguration and in the Garden of Gethsemane.
BUT ONE THING HE DID DO: he “bought” “wholeheartedly into the ministry of Jesus.” He believed in “the guy from Nazareth” from the beginning…
WE know Jesus CALLED HIM…right after Peter, Andrew, James, and John. We KNOW he is from Bethsaida in Galilee the same city as Peter and Andrew!
You probably DO NOT know there is “non-canonical book” called the ACTS of Philip. But don’t bother checking it out, it has dragons in it. It is a really LATE writing. NON-CANONICAL – totally not acceptable! Kinda lame!
What WE DO KNOW: IS that Philip was there when Jesus TURNED WATER INTO WINE, he saw him HEAL THE SICK AND THE CRIPPLED, he WATCHED, as Jesus CLEANSED the lepers, and even when he BROUGHT THE DEAD BACK TO LIFE! Philip was present for the GREAT FEEDING FRENZY on the mount.
Surely all of this – was just a “foretaste of things to come.”
And just as ALL TWELVE of them are ready to KICK this “TRAVELING SHOW” into HIGH GEAR…
Jesus tells them, he will be LEAVING them pretty SOON! No wonder the disciples were saddened and dismayed and completely confused…
“Where are you going?” “Can we go, too?” “What’s going on, here, Lord?” Who’s up for another road trip? I call “Shotgun!”
So, when Jesus rather cryptically again speaks of “going back to the Father…” up goes PHILIPS HAND SLOWLY and he clears his throat a couple of hundred times…
And manages to squeak out, “UM LORD, can you SHOW US, the Father, and we will be satisfied?”
Which really precipitates the whole gospel text for this weekend.
There were actually two guys named Philip, one is a disciple/apostle, the other, a deacon and missionary. So, there is “automatic confusion” about who’s who…and WHERE they go…
“THIS GUY”, brings NATHANIEL to Jesus, introduces some Greek speaking God-fearers from his hometown to Jesus, calculated in his head (or tried to) “how much it would cost to feed all the people” at the FEEDING OF THE 5,000, (he knew TACO BELL was definitely out of the question,) he was present for the ASCENSION and then, later goes out and spreads the GOOD NEWS like the other disciples did.
It is speculated that originally Philip was one of two disciples of John the Baptizer who later followed Jesus.
And his name is usually associated with the Apostle Bartholomew.
I would bet anything, there was a bit of exasperation in Jesus’ voice as he attempted to answer the question of Philip.
Three years Philip, day in, day out, and you still do not know me? I can see Jesus shaking his head and rolling his eyes…
But the BIG THING comes at the end of our text almost like an appendix…an add on…the ADVOCATE is coming…
THE HOLY SPIRIT…and he will be with you forever.
The Spirit of the LIVING GOD, right alongside of you, day in and day out.
So, how many of the twelve disciples can you name? Save that for later.
Amen.