Patrick Comerford
Easter is a 50-day season, beginning on Easter Day (4 April 2026) and continuing until the Day of Pentecost (24 May 2026), or Whit Sunday. Today is the Fifth Sunday of Easter (Easter V, 3 May 2026).
Later this morning, I hope to sing with the choir at the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford (9:30 am). But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:
1, reading today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
John 14: 1-14 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 1 ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ 5 Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ 6 Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’
8 Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ 9 Jesus said to him, ‘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, “Show us the Father”? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.’
Questioning plays an interesting role in nurturing and developing faith.
In the first reading in the Lectionary today (Acts 7: 55-60), when Stephen is questioned at the Sanhedrin, he replies recalling the whole story of Salvation, from Abraham through to Christ. It leads to his martyrdom, but it eventually also leads to Saint Paul’s conversion.
The Gospel reading (John 14: 1-14) is set within the context of the Last Supper, Christ’s Passover meal with the Disciples, and introduces his ‘Farewell Discourse’ in Saint John’s Gospel, in which he responds to their questions by telling them he is the way, the truth and the life.
Judas Iscariot has left the table and the upper room and has gone out into the dark (John 13: 30), about to betray Christ.
Christ then gives his disciples the new commandment, ‘that you love one another’ (John 13: 34). In response to questions from Peter, Thomas, Philip and Jude, Christ now prepares his disciples for his departure.
This Gospel reading includes some well-known sayings, including:
• ‘In my Father's house are many mansions’ (KJV), translated in the NRSV and NRSVA as ‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places’ (John 14: 2)
• ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’ (John 14: 6), the sixth of the seven ‘I AM’ (Ἐγώ εἰμι) sayings in Saint John’s Gospel
• ‘If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it’ (John 14: 14)
This Sunday Gospel reading (John 14: 1-14) is also the Gospel reading in the Lectionary last Friday for the Feast of two of the Twelve Apostles, Saint Philip and Saint James (1 May). They have been associated since ancient times: an ancient inscription shows the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles in Rome had an earlier dedication to Philip and James.
In Shakespeare’s play Measure for Measure (III, ii, 204), a child’s age is given as ‘a year and a quarter old, come Philip and Jacob,’ meaning, ‘a year and a quarter old on the first of next May, the feast of Philip and James.’ This day has also given us the word ‘popinjay’ for a vain or conceited person or ‘fop.’
But, despite the cultural legacy they have left us, the Philip and James recalled on 1 May, are, to a great degree, small-bit players – almost anonymous or forgotten – in the New Testament, and in the Church calendar.
The Western Church commemorates James the Greater on 25 July, James the Brother of the Lord on 23 or 25 October, but James the Less has no day for himself, he shares it with Philip, on 1 May. Philip the Apostle who has to share that same commemoration is frequently confused with Philip the Deacon (Acts 6: 7; 8: 5-40; 21: 8 ff) – but Philip the Deacon has his own day on 6 June or 11 October.
The James we remembered last Friday is James, the Son of Alphaeus. We know nothing about this James, apart from the fact that Jesus called him to be one of the 12. He is not James, the Brother of the Lord, later Bishop of Jerusalem and the traditional author of the Letter of James. Nor is he James the son of Zebedee, also an apostle and known as James the Greater. He appears on lists of the 12 – usually in the ninth place – but is never mentioned otherwise.
Philip the Apostle, not Philip the Deacon, came from the same town as Peter and Andrew, Bethsaida in Galilee. When Jesus called him directly, he sought out Nathanael and told him of ‘him about whom Moses ... wrote’ (John 1: 45).
Like the other apostles, Philip took a long time coming to realise who Jesus was. On one occasion, when Jesus sees the great multitude following him and wants to give them food, he asks Philip where they should buy bread for the people to eat. We are told Jesus says, ‘this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do’ (John 6: 6). Philip answers unhelpfully, perhaps in a disbelieving way: ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little [bit]’ (John 6: 7).
When Christ says in this Gospel reading, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life ... If you know me, then you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him’ (John 14: 6a, 7), Philip then says: ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied’ (John 14: 8).
Satisfied?
Enough?
Jesus answers: ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father’ (John 14: 9a).
Yet, despite the near-anonymity of James and the weaknesses of Philip, these two men became foundational pillars in the Church. They display total human helplessness, yet they become apostles who bring the Good News into the world. Indeed, from the very beginning, Philip has an oft-forgotten role in bringing people to Christ. Perhaps because he had a Greek name, some Gentile proselytes came and asked him to introduce them to Jesus.
We see in James and Philip ordinary, weak, every-day, human, men who, nevertheless, became pillars of the Church at its very foundation. They show us that grace, holiness and the call to follow Christ come to us not on our own merits, or as special prizes to be achieved. They are entirely the gift of God, not a matter of human achieving.
We need not worry about questions and doubts … there are many dwelling places in God's house, and faith grows and develops and matures, just as a child learns, through questions.
Questioning is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of willingness to learn.
It is OK not to have all the answers. It is OK not to have all the answers. For Christ is ‘the way, the truth and the life’ (John 14: 6).
In following Christ, we need not worry about our human weakness or that others may even forget us. God sees us as we are, and loves us just as we are. It is just as we are that we are called to follow Christ.
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Today’s Prayers (Sunday 3 May 2026, Easter V):
‘Following God’s Lead’ provides the theme this week (3-9 May 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), pp 52-53. This theme is introduced today with a programme update from Father Thanduxolo Noketshe, Vicar of Saint Mary’s and Christ Church in Cayon, St Kitts & Nevis:
I continue to be in awe of God’s wonder and the way He weaves people’s lives together across the world. A few months ago, I received an unexpected email from a lady in Wales, a long-standing USPG associate since the 1960s. She had followed my story through the USPG newsletters and, learning that her cruise ship would call at St Kitts, reached out to me. By God’s grace we met at Port Zante. Though it was our first meeting, it felt as though we had known each other for years. We shared a joyful half-day, visiting Sandy Point – remembered in connection with John Newton, whose conversion led to the hymn Amazing Grace.
The ministry entrusted to me continues to expand. I now serve as Chaplain to the Mothers’ Union in St Kitts and have supported their activities, including the election of Mrs Noketshe as Assistant Secretary. Ecumenically, I represent the Christian Council on the National Drug Council and also serve on the Saint Mary’s Biosphere Reserve Committee because caring for God’s creation is important to me.
During the school break, I rolled up my sleeves with my son Olwabo and fellow altar servers, and we got to work on the little church garden. Together we weeded, watered, and planted peppers and aubergines. The children took delight in harvesting okra and cauliflower, and in refreshing themselves with coconuts from the trees nearby. From simple soil came plenty; what might you do with what you have?
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Sunday 3 May 2026, Easter V) invites us to pray as we read and meditate on John 14: 1-14.
The Collect of the Day:
Almighty God,
who through your only–begotten Son Jesus Christ
have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life:
grant that, as by your grace going before us
you put into our minds good desires,
so by your continual help
we may bring them to good effect;
through Jesus Christ our risen Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Eternal God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life:
grant us to walk in his way,
to rejoice in his truth,
and to share his risen life;
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.
Additional Collect:
Risen Christ,
your wounds declare your love for the world
and the wonder of your risen life:
give us compassion and courage
to risk ourselves for those we serve,
to the glory of God the Father.
Yesterday’s Reflections
Continued Tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org