Today we celebrate the feast of Saints Philip and James, who were in the group of Jesus’ apostles. They traveled with him and heard his words and saw his miracles and the way that he treated people. They were among the first to go out and live the Gospel, and were among the first to be filled with the Holy Spirit and preach the Word.
There are two saints named James among the apostles. This is the man we call “Saint James the Lesser.” Saint James the Greater would be the Saint James that we know as a relative of Jesus and the traditional author of the book of James. Unfortunately, all that we know about this Saint James is that Jesus chose him as an apostle, and that Jesus appeared to him after his resurrection, as we hear at the end of today’s first reading. Saint Philip we know a bit more about. We hear of him in the Gospel story of the feeding of the multitudes because he is the one who tells Jesus “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.” In today’s Gospel we see him again as an apostle who is a little bit slow to believe. “Show us the Father,” he says, “and that will be enough for us.”
So this, I think, is the feast for all disciples who don’t put themselves in the spotlight. Maybe some of us have been slow to believe, or were never really sure how to accomplish the mighty deeds God requires of us. Maybe we aren’t among the “cool kids” or the holy kids. And maybe that’s good enough for us. Today’s feast says that’s okay. It says that our efforts of faith, small though they may be, make us great believers in God’s time and in God’s eyes, led to the Father, as we always are, by our Savior. It says that we might need a little convincing that we can do the work God asks us to do, but that filled with the Holy Spirit, all things can be accomplished. It says that we don’t have to be on the cover of the book to live our faith with conviction.
So how do we live our faith, those of us who are more like Saints Philip and James the Lesser? Well, I think first of all, we live our faith by being friends with Jesus and showing our love for him by spending time with him in prayer. Then we live the faith by doing little things, small acts of kindness, things that make another person smile when they’re not having so great a day. Maybe it’s just smiling and saying hello in the hall, or sitting next to them at lunch, or even just setting the table at home without being asked. None of these are big things, but they all show that we love Jesus and we love the people he has put in our lives. If that’s the only thing we accomplish as disciples, it’s still a lot. It’s still the kind of discipleship that gets us to heaven and helps us to bring other people with us.
Today is the feast of disciples who are called to make God’s love known despite our imperfections or what may look like a lack of ability. It is a feast for all of us who know that we are called by God and led by the Spirit to do great things in Christ. To Philip and James and all the rest of the Apostles, Jesus said then, “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.” Jesus says that to us today, too, all of us disciples who are slow to believe and understand: “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do.”
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!