The Feast of St. Phillip and St. James
Written by Blake Plympton
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. - John 14:8-9a
I have a question for you: can you name all the 12 disciples Jesus called to follow him? Try it. Take out a piece of paper, and try to write down all their names. Don’t worry, we gave you a couple free ones. If you want to take it another step farther, try and write where each of them went after the ascension. Once you think you have a complete list, compare it to one of the synoptic gospel accounts of the list of twelve (Matt 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:14). How well did you do? If it makes you feel better, I only got 8 or so myself.
When we read through the Bible, we can often skim over the details in order to take in the bigger picture of the whole. While there is nothing completely wrong with doing this, we can sometimes miss the beauty of a flower for the complexity of the world. It takes an intentional effort to comb through the Bible looking for these small details as you are reading. It often does not happen in one sitting, or even one reading in our times of study. Rather, through the intentional study of scripture, we can begin to see the small details as a part of the whole picture.
If we take a closer look at scripture, we can see just a little more about these two. First, Philip is the clearest of the two with his mentions. Specifically in John 1:43, we see Jesus call Phillip to be a disciple, “The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’” Then, according to scripture, we see Phillip’s immediate response is to evangelize by telling Nathanael that the messiah has come. From this point, we know that Phillip continues to follow Jesus during his ministry. The only other times we see his name appear is in John 6:5 when he asks Jesus, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” and in John 14:8 when he asks Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
Now, if we take a look at James in the Bible, we might get confused really quickly. You cannot tell which James this is just by the title of the feast day itself. Is this the brother of Jesus? Is this the brother of John who was also believed to be a part of the inner three? According to a biographical sketch by James Keifer, there could be as many as eight different James in the Bible, but it often believed that there are really only two or three. Thanks to tradition, we know that this feast is for James the Lesser, believed to be the author of the book of James and the cousin/brother of Jesus. Surprisingly, he is not mentioned in the gospels outside of the list given to us in the synoptics and he does not have any specific words or things he says in there either. However, he is mentioned in other New Testament works as he is interacting with Paul and other characters.
So, what might two men who are probably barely ever remembered in the list of disciples Jesus first pick supposed to tell us. For starters, we might be reminded that God chooses people for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes, God’s plans and the people he picks does not always make much sense to us. The whole story of the Bible is filled with examples of God picking the people that do not seem obvious to the human eye. Yet, he uses those people. Even if they fail him or seem to not get things right from the start. This is because God is always wanting to use the willing heart to bring about his purposes. And, whether everyone knows about the specific work they did or not, does not matter because their work was done for the glory of God.
The other thing to consider is the worth and value these men bring to those who do not have a voice. Imagine the message that might come across to the mute, who have no voice and yet serve the Lord. James does not get a quote in the scripture like Phillip, and yet he is celebrated as a great saint. As I write this I was reminded of the mute man I met who shared the gospel with me as he was fishing discs out of the water. He could not say a word to me but pointed me to Jesus through his necklace, shirt, and rings. I wonder what else we are missing when we do not stop to ponder the beauty and wonder of the details to only get to the big picture.
Collect for St. Phillip and St. James (BCP 2019, p. 628)
Almighty God, you gave to your apostles Philip and James the grace and strength to bear witness to Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life: Grant that we, being mindful of their victory of faith, may glorify in life and death the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Resources
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2022-05-03
https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saints-philip-and-james/
https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/may-3-saints-philip-and-james-apostles/
Questions for Reflection
Who is your favorite character in the Bible?
What do you like about them?
Why do you think it is so hard for us to do things that do not go noticed or seen?
How do you feel about the work you do that goes unnoticed?
When you think about the things you do in the silence, who are you trying to please? Yourself? Your spouse? Your boss? God?
What would it look like to do more of our work in secret (not boasting about them or seeking approval for them)?