I wonder about folks who proclaim their theology through the medium of bumper stickers. I have wondered ever since I read about the fellow who honked when he saw the bumper sticker, “Honk if you love Jesus,” only to be greeted by an obscene gesture from the driver of the other car. I suppose “Have a nice day” is harmless enough, but I recently came across one which said: “Don’t tell me what kind of a day to have!” A few years ago there was a campaign which plastered bumper stickers on cars with the caption, “Have you found it?” I assume that they were referring to salvation—or to God. But God is not an “it.” God is personal. The often used evangelistic query, “Have you found Christ?” prompts the somewhat incredulous reply, “I didn’t know He was lost!” According to the Bible, God isn’t lost. We are. And the whole Biblical story from the Garden of Eden to the Garden of Gethsemane is the great Biblical drama of God’s reaching out to save us. In our Scripture lesson for the morning we read: “The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. And he found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’” (John 1:43)
I. IF IT WERE NOT FOR THE FOURTH GOSPEL, WE WOULD KNOW LITTLE ABOUT PHILIP EXCEPT HIS NAME.
The other Gospels mention him, but tell us nothing about him. Philip came from Bethsaida, the town from which Peter and Andrew came, and thus was most likely a fisherman, one of the “Bethsaida Boys.” As John tells the story, he was the first individual to whom Jesus addressed the words, “Follow me!” Peter and Andrew attached themselves to the Jesus Movement. Philip was called. Philip was the first of the Twelve to whom Jesus specifically addressed the words: “Follow me.” And the very first thing He did after responding to Jesus’ call was to go and tell somebody else about it. This tells us a couple of things about the Christian life. Knowing Christ and sharing Christ go hand in hand. How is it possible that we can know the One who has changed our lives and changed the world, and keep the secret to ourselves? We are called to call others. Frederick Buechner says: “We always answer with our feet. We get up and start following. Or we do not. Maybe we just plant our feet squarely in the ground and pretend we did not hear. Or we move them, all right, but in another direction...” (THE MAGNIFICENT DEFEAT, New York: Seabury Press, 1966, pp. 97-98) Faith is the direction our feet take once we have heard Jesus’ call: “Follow me.”
After his call, the very first thing Philip did was to find Nathanael and tell him of this Jesus whom he had discovered and who had discovered him. He told Nathanael that he had found the One of whom Moses and the Prophets spoke. Nathanael was skeptical. He wondered whether anything good could come from the little hick town of Nazareth. Philip did not argue, he merely said, “Come and see.” (John 1:45-46) Christ is not found at the end of an argument, but in personal experience. The best we can do in our day is what John Wesley said he did in the 18th century: “I offered them Christ.” The rest is up to them—and to God.
The word “apostle” means “someone sent with a message to deliver.” And that is the mission not only of the Twelve, but of all of us. All of us, by virtue of our baptism, are ministers of Christ, called to minister to one another in Christ’s name—not just the clergy in the pulpit, but the laity in the pew. Mark Twain once asked someone, “Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?” Have you ever mailed a letter, only to have it returned because you neglected to put any address on it except the return address? A lot of our religion is like that. It goes out from us and returns to us without ever reaching anybody. Most church members, I am afraid, see themselves as consumers of God’s grace rather than distributors of it. Therefore, Philip is a very important apostle for us to know. He responded to Jesus’ call to follow; and immediately thereafter he told somebody else about Jesus. We are saved to serve. We are called to call others. We are invited to invite. The minister glared down at Joe Smith and roared, “And are you, my son, a soldier in the army of the Lord?” Surprised at being singled out, Smith replied anxiously, “Y-yes sir, I am.” “Then why,” pressed the clergyman, “do we see you here only at Christmas?” Thinking quickly, Smith replied, “Would you believe, sir, I’m in the Secret Service?” That’s where most of us seem to be: in God’s Secret Service. That’s why it is important for us to consider Philip. Having been found by Christ, he immediately went to find others, and bring them to Christ.
II. THE NEXT TIME WE MEET PHILIP IS AT THE FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND.
A huge gathering had followed Jesus around the Sea of Galilee, and as dinner-time was approaching, Jesus had them sit down. He asks Philip, “How are we to buy bread that these people may eat?” (John 6:5) These words suggest that Philip may have had the job among the Twelve of keeping the supplies. The question is double-edged, for it means not only “Where are we to get the money?” but also “Where can we find a kosher deli here in this pagan Gentile area on ‘the other side’ of the Sea of Galilee?” John says that Jesus put this question to Philip only to test him, for Jesus knew perfectly well what He would do. Perhaps. But Philip did not, and said, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” (John 6:7) In other words, he saw the problem. He did not yet see the solution.
Now, I don’t know what happened that day on the seaside. Some say it really was a miracle: Jesus multiplied the five barley loaves and two fish so that the multitude would be fed. Others suggest that everyone had brought along their own lunch, but had kept it carefully hidden up to that point, and what Jesus was doing was getting them to open up their lunch sacks and share. I don’t know which to believe. I don’t know which would be the greater miracle! I do know that we have a dickens of a time getting the “haves” of our world to share with the “have nots.” And you and I are among the “haves.” It is not easy getting people to share. Best-selling author Robert Fulghum says that he learned it in kindergarten, but many of us do not seem to have learned it even yet.
Philip’s question suggests pessimism in the face of seemingly insuperable obstacles. We have all been guilty of it. I know that I have. Along about December every year I get into a really foul mood, worrying about the church’s finances. How on earth are we supposed to pay our bills when the money isn’t coming in for the current year, and the pledges aren’t coming in for the coming year; and in the midst of all this, I am supposed to climb into a pulpit and say, “Ho-ho-ho!” To tell the truth, sometimes I feel like saying, “Bah! Humbug!” instead. But somehow it always comes in, and we pay our bills, and sometimes we even have a little left over to help us get started with the New Year. But every year, like Philip, I am fearful. Barclay says that Philip had “a warm heart and pessimistic head; he was one of those many people who would very much like to do something for others, but who do not see how it can possibly be done.” (THE MASTER’S MEN, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1959, p. 89-90) I can relate to Philip. I must confess that it is only my faith in the God revealed in Jesus Christ which helps me to overcome my innate pessimism. Without that faith, I see little hope. With it, well, anything is possible!
III. THE THIRD TIME WE SEE PHILIP IS DURING THE LAST DAYS OF JESUS’ EARTHLY LIFE.
Some Greeks had come to Jerusalem (probably Greek-speaking Jews) to celebrate the Passover feast. They gravitated to Philip, perhaps because he had a Greek name. They requested to see Jesus. The strange part of the story is that Philip did not take them directly to see Jesus, but rather took them to Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, and then fortified with Andrew’s help, the two apostles brought the Greeks to Jesus. Perhaps Philip was timid. Perhaps he still wasn’t sure how this Rabbi from Nazareth would feel about “outsiders” from another part of the world. Introducing people to Jesus is a bit intimidating, I will admit. None of us find it easy. I think it is a most serious undertaking. I must confess again that I do not find it easy to talk to strangers about faith matters. And I am a bit suspicious of those who do. Some of them sound much too glib and much too shallow to me.
Philip gives one the impression of a man who really disliked having responsibility. He disliked making decisions. When you are a person with that kind of personality, William Barclay suggests, there are but two courses of action open to you. You either do nothing or you have the strength of character enough to know your own weaknesses and shortcomings and refer the matter to somebody who knows more about it than you do. (Ibid., p. 90) Evidently, Philip knew when to refer.
IV. PHILIP MAKES ONE LAST APPEARANCE IN THE GOSPEL RECORD.
It is in the Upper Room. Jesus was talking about the Heavenly Father and telling the Twelve that He was about to leave them and go to the Father. Philip was a man for whom faith was difficult. After all he had seen and done, he could still ask, “Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied.” (John 14:8) Jesus’ reply shows a wee bit of impatience, when he sighs and says, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9)
We are tempted to be critical of Philip, but let’s be careful. Remember that for every finger we point at him, three fingers are pointed back at us. Has Christ been with us for so long and we still do not know Him? We have had Christ with us (in the Church) for almost two thousand years, and it is only in recent centuries that we have even begun to understand His teachings about love, brotherhood, sisterhood, non-violence. Some years ago, a black opera singer was refused permission to sing in a white church in Washington, D.C. The church’s bulletin board announced the title for the following Sunday’s sermon: “Following Jesus.” A Washington newspaper editorial said, “They’re following Jesus, all right, but from a heckuva way off!” That seems to be true of most of us in most periods of history.
“Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me?” That is Christ’s lament across the ages. People have claimed to know Him and supported the Crusades, when they went to the Holy Land and slaughtered thousands of people so that the blood ran in the streets of the Holy City up to the knees of the horses, all in Christ’s name. People have supported slavery and apartheid, all in the name of Christ; claiming that while they enslaved people’s bodies, they gave them the Gospel to free their souls. For years the Church blessed any and all wars in which the State was engaged, and during World War One, the YMCA even produced a little pamphlet describing Jesus impaling His enemies on the business end of a bayonet. I recently heard a television preacher say that we must get back to basic Christian principles, and reinstate the death penalty! “Have I been so long with you, Church, and still you do not know me?” The best Christian witnessing is not with words, but Christ-like deeds. The world is dying to see Jesus—literally—and dying to see Jesus in us. It sure beats bumper stickers!
Philip had a questioning mind, and that is O.K. But he had the good sense to take his questions to Jesus, and that night he learned what theologians and philosophers and common folks have yearned to know down through the ages: What is God like? He learned the central truth of the Christian Faith which is not merely that Jesus is like God, but that God is like Jesus! If we come across anything that does not fit into the mind and spirit of Jesus—even in the Bible—then we must reject it, because, “The one who has seen me has seen the Father.” That is what Philip learned that dark night before Jesus’ betrayal in the Garden. One can only wonder when the rest of us are going to learn it!
E. Stanley Jones once told of a mother who was reading to her little girl some Bible stories and happened upon the rather unedifying story of the massacre of the Amalekites. The little girl was bothered. She could not understand how the God who told us in Christ to love our enemies could approve wholesale murder. So her mother told her that the people who lived back then did not know as much about God as we do—that now we have Christ. Her little face lit up and she said, “Oh, yes, mother, now I see. This back here was before God was a Christian!” A lot of folks still haven’t wakened up to the reality that God is, indeed, a Christian. The good news of the Gospel is not that Jesus is like God, but better: God is like Jesus. If you read or hear anything about God that doesn’t square with Jesus, even if it is in the Bible, then be careful. “The one who has seen Me has seen the Father.” As the Fourth Gospel puts it: “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17)
There is a very strange legend about Philip’s martyrdom, which shows that even after Easter, Philip had a lot to learn. According to the legend, (described in Barclay, op. cit., p. 92) Philip came to Heirapolis and found the people worshipping a great snake. He preached there with great success, which aroused the hatred and enmity of the town authorities. Philip was arrested, stripped, pierced in the ankles and thighs and hung head downwards. Then follows a curious episode. Philip began to get angry about such treatment (who can blame him?) but the other apostles, including John, came to him and urged him not to return evil for evil. But Philip was angry and ordered the ground to open up and swallow the people, and seven thousand people were swallowed up! (Have you never felt that kind of anger...even a little bit? I have.) But Jesus appeared to Philip, according to the legend, and rebuked him for his anger, and restored to life the seven thousand people whom Philip had destroyed. Then Philip, still hanging downward, confessed his fault, and died; though just before he died he made a strange request. He asked that his body should be wrapped, not in linen but in papyrus, for he was not worthy that even his dead body should be treated as the body of Jesus had been. And the legend says: “And they buried him as he had directed. And a heavenly voice said that he had received his crown.” So in the end, Philip, in spite of all of his ups and downs, finally got to see the Father face to face. So may we all. Amen.