John 14:6-14 ..so that the Father may be glorified..

There is something really beautiful in everything that Christ does, and that is that he continuously tells us, it is not for him or his sake that he asks us to do things, but for our Father in Heaven.  Jesus is so willing to give completely of himself.  It reminds me of when he told the Apostles that, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down his life for his friends." (Jn 1513)  Jesus lets us know that his words and works are from the Father.  This is how he is in the Father and the Father in him.  Thus they become one. 

"Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes in me will do the works that I do,
and will do greater ones than these,
because I am going to the Father."

Jesus promised to send the Advocate and with the help of this Holy Spirit send by the Father in Christ Jesus' name, we will have great power to do His will.   It is an incredible amazing thing.  Hard to be true, yet it is.  How does it relate to our own life?

A brother who has sought God in nearly every religion throughout his life looks at my faith and asks, how can you believe?  Why can't I quite turn the question around and ask, why don't you believe? In today's reading Philip asks Jesus to explicitly show everyone the Father as proof.  Thomas the Apstle is with them.  Philip and Thomas portray those doubts and uncertainties we all have.  This is why Jesus has already challenged Thomas to put his fingers into the wound marks.  Now he explains explicity how he and the Father are one, how what he does glorifies the Father, and how we are to be united with him in following him in his works to also glorify the Father: to give our whole selves to God.  Christ died for our sins, that he could raise us up with himself for the honor and glory of God.  Alleluia!

John 14:7-14 Whomever has seen me has seen the Father.

In today's Gospel, there is a line, "Show us the Father."  It reminds me of when people say, "Show me the money!"  There is so much doubt and perhaps annoyance in it.  Jesus is challenging Philip and us to look at the entire situation differently than originally perceived.  Philip followed Jesus for a long time, Jesus tells us, but still Jesus is shaking his head at him and asking how Philip could still not know him. 

We live sometimes in the moment, that words spoken seem more important than the actions or rhythmic pattern of one's life, but Jesus is arresting Philip's attention, and basically saying, hey, look deeper into what you know is true, not because I said it, but because I have said it and lived it;  You know that it isn't me, but the one who sent me who is beckoning to you to come follow me to him. 

"The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own."  Just as when we proclaim Jesus's words, we are in him and him in us because through our imitation of him, we have become an extention of him, so too are his word's the Father's and so the Father is in him and he in the Father because he is an extention of the Father.  So really, when we do good works, and proclaim the Kingdom, we are an extention of the Father through Christ, and we know the Father is with us.  This is what Jesus explains to Philip.  Jesus says that he will help Philip with anything because of that, just as he will help us.     

John 6:44-51 Come to Me

In today's first reading, God the Father called this eunuch to himself, and God the Holy Spirit sought to impart the teachings of the Son so that that this man, through Philip, might come to be saved through him. 

Jesus reminds us in today’s Gospel, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him up on the last day…They shall all be taught by God.  Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me…Amen, Amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.”  Jesus further reminds us, “I am the bread of life…and the bread that I give is my Flesh for the life of the world.” 

St. Tomas a Kempis reminds us, “These are your words, O Christ, the everlasting Truth.  Because they are yours and true, they are all thankfully and faithfully received by me.  They are yours and you have pronounced them; and they are mine also because you have spoken them for my salvation.”  (Imitation of Christ: Book 3, Ch 1 On Receiving Holy Communion)  Our Lord is the bread of heaven, come to nourish us, heal us, and lead us out of the slavery of sin, to the freedom of salvation in him, Christ the Lord.  St. Paul reminds us, “Christ died for all: that those who live may live no longer in themselves, but for him, who died for all and is risen, alleluia.” (2 Corinthians 5:15)