Pastor's Message

5th Sunday of Easter

“Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”  John 14.11

            “Have I been with you all this time Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, Philip ‘show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? “Believe me … I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.”

            These are the most wonderful words any human being should be glad to hear. The greatest mystery revealed in all creation; that the Creator of all lives in his creation, in the Person of Christ Jesus. What was denied to Moses in the Book of Exodus 33:20; Moses, “You cannot see my face, for no one can see my face and live,” is generously given in Jesus, for in him we see the Face of the Father. We should be grateful for the question of Apostle Philip; “Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied.”

           The Human Being in his arrogance, in wishing to put himself in the place of his Creator had lost the gift of physical presence of God among them and this resulted in confusion, hardship and agony. Worse still, because man was not an origin in himself, in his inner being, cleaved for the Friend, whom he had knowingly disobeyed. He cleaved for “The Face of God whom he had regularly encountered. “This Cleaving for the Face of God;” “The quest to see his Face,” “The desire to see God as He is,” was clearly present throughout the Old Testament. The wish to see God’s Face is expressed over a hundred times in the Old Testament. (Pope. Benedict -General Audience Jan. 2013)

           Something then, very extraordinary happened in the New Testament. At Christmas and in the grotto of Bethlehem, the search for the Face of God was given an unimaginable turning point; The Face of God was seen in his only Begotten Son! The sad spin however, was that, only a few people were attentive to recognize this miracle; many, unlike the shepherds and the Magi, failed to go and adore the Face of God shining through that of baby Jesus.

          You can understand then the significance of Philip’s dialogue with Christ. Philip like everyone of else, in the Old Testament, still quested for the Face of God even though he had been beholding it, for the time they had been with Christ.

          The challenge to Philip was to every human being; “Philip, believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.”

          Brothers and Sisters, once we believe in this mysterious reality, then, we are completely transformed and we understand this great privilege. We are able to rejoice and are consoled, when Jesus exults us; “Let your heart not be troubled.” Jesus is Emmanuel and is announcing this to us, human beings! We should be fully secured in Him as “The Way, and the Truth and the Life.” We, then, can rejoice in the words of Apostle Peter that we are “A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people.”

         “Philip, whoever has seen me has seen the Father. … Believe me … I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.”

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