Jesus Christ, the final revelation of the Father
May 3, 2024 - Friday, Feast of Saints Philip and James, Apostles
1 Cor 15:1-8; Psalm 19:2-3, 4-5; John 14:6-14
The Gospel for today’s feast of Saints Philip and James begins with the statement: “I am the way, the truth, and the life”. From its beginning, Christianity has been called the way. On the one hand, it means following Jesus on the way of the cross towards Easter. On the other hand, it is the way of life that leads to personal transformation: dying to oneself and living for Jesus and His Gospel.
Christianity also maintains that truth is not an idea but the person of Jesus. To know the truth means to know Jesus. Jesus reveals the truth about God and what it means to be truly human. He is the image of the invisible God and he is also the new human being. By getting to know Jesus, we get to know God and become transformed into the image and likeness of Christ.
Finally, Christianity proclaims that a life that surpasses our imagination can only be found in Jesus. He is life itself (1:4) - without him, nothing would exist. He is the one who has life in himself (5:26) and so he can give it to those who trust in him. He is "the resurrection and the life" (11:25), the one who defeats death and in whom we all pass from death to life.
The powerful statement of Jesus - “I am the way, the truth, and the life” - ends with an additional clause: “No one comes to the Father except through me”. Some have a problem with the word “except”. It is too restrictive for them. They claim that many ways can lead to God. But, the question is: what kind of god? The biblical tradition knew about the false and empty gods. Moreover, even if people accept the existence of one God as the source of everything, it does not mean that they know who He truly is. Saint Philip says to Jesus: “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us” (John 14:8).
The Church teaches that God, defined as “the first principle and last end of all things, can be known with certainty from the created world by the natural light of human reason” (see CCC, 36). But, only God could reveal to us His name (see Ex 6:2-3), His divine mystery, and His plan of salvation. This truth is proclaimed by the author of John’s Gospel when he writes: “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known” (John 1:18). It is also declared by the Church when she speaks about “another order of knowledge, which man cannot possibly arrive at by his own powers: the order of divine Revelation” (CCC, 50).
Jesus answers Philip’s request with these words: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Jesus Christ is the perfect and final revelation of the Father. In Jesus, the Father “has said everything” that needed to be said (see Heb. 1:1-2; CCC, 65). And so, we who believe in this revelation become, together with the apostle James, the servants “of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (James 1:1).
Saint Philip and Saint James, pray for us.