"We have found Him" -- "Come and See!"

(23rd Sunday after Pentecost) (Luke 8:26-39)

Today the Church celebrates the life and ministry of the holy Apostle Philip. Philip lived in Bethsaida, the city in which also dwelt St. Andrew the First-called, and his brother, St. Peter. When our Lord met St. Philip, He said to Him, “Follow me.” Philip will follow our Lord throughout His earthly ministry. We hear him mentioned at the miracle of the feeding of five thousand with five loaves and two fish; for, when our Lord asks where bread might be purchased to feed the multitude, it is Philip who replies that they do not have enough money to buy enough bread to give each person a morsel. Philip is mentioned again in Jerusalem, after Lazarus had been raised from the dead. Some Greeks came to him and said, “Sir, we would see Jesus.” Philip takes them to St. Andrew, who takes them to our Lord.

But I think the two most significant mentions of the holy Apostle Philip are the first, which we heard read today as the second Gospel reading, and the last, also from the Gospel account of St. John the Theologian. In the last occurrence, he is with the Lord and the other disciples at the Last Supper, and he asks our Lord, “Show us the Father, and that is enough.” In reply, our Lord gives him an important bit of information: “If you have seen me,” He says, “you have seen the Father.”

After the day of Pentecost, Philip, in the power of the Holy Spirit, goes to Greece and then into Asia to preach the Gospel of our salvation. Many miracles took place as he journeyed. In one place, where the Jews sought to kill him, there was an earthquake, which swallowed up his persecutors. There were miraculous healings, which helped bring many from paganism to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. In one place, the pagans kept an enormous snake, which they worshipped as a god. St. Philip killed it with a prayer, as if he had thrust a spear into the snake. The enraged pagans seized him, together with St. Bartholomew, and crucified them both upside-down, on a tree. Again, there was an earthquake, in which the earth consumed those responsible. This led the others to try to release the apostles. Bartholomew was still alive; but St. Philip had already departed this life to be with the Lord once more.

So we see St. Philip ends his life as he began to live after having been called by our Lord; for, having met Jesus, Philip goes to his friend, Nathanael, and says to him, “We have found the one we have been waiting for, the one Moses spoke of, and the prophets. He is Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, the carpenter.” He does the work of an evangelist. Though he did not then know what he would know later, he brings his friend, telling him, “Come and see.”

Brothers and sisters, the Lord has also said to us, “Follow me,” just as He called St. Philip. He has given us the Holy Spirit, just as St. Philip also received the Holy Spirit. If we see Him – through the way of life we can learn from the Orthodox Church, and our fathers before us in the Church: through prayer, and fasting, through giving, and through struggling to overcome our sins and to live a life pleasing to God – we have also seen the Father. And, while we may not be able to go to the marketplace, or the assembly, or some other gathering, and proclaim the good news of our salvation in Jesus Christ, yet we can still do as St. Philip did for his friend Nathanael. We can, by being prepared to speak of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ our Lord, and by laboring with God in the transformation of our lives, we can say to people, “We have found the One all the world has been waiting for – the One Who sets us free from sin and death”; and, when they say, “How can we find Him?” we can say, “Come and see,” and bring them here to meet our Lord, even as we are gathered here to meet Him, to praise and worship Him, and to love and care for each other with the love He gives to us to share.

Brothers and sisters, let us prepare ourselves, in word and in deed, to be evangelists, to bring to those in the world around us the good news of Jesus Christ; to the glory of God, and the salvation of souls.

Holy Apostle Philip, pray to God for us!