Daily Gospel Reflection
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August 24, 2022
Philip found Nathanael and told him,
“We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law,
and also the prophets, Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”
But Nathanael said to him,
“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him,
“Here is a true child of Israel.
There is no duplicity in him.”
Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”
Nathanael answered him,
“Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“Do you believe
because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?
You will see greater things than this.”
And he said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will see heaven opened and the angels of God
ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
I don’t know about others, but I feel comforted when the gospels show just how typically human and flawed the apostles were. In this gospel, Jesus had just called Andrew, Peter, and Philip. Philip then went to his friend, Nathanael, who did not hide his prejudice about a tiny, middle-of-nowhere town: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
If I’m honest with myself, I know I also pre-judge others based on minimal information, “Can anything good come from____?” Many things can fill that blank: that school, that profession, that state, that politician.
Despite Nathanael’s prejudice, he had enough curiosity to go with Philip to meet this supposedly marvelous Nazarene. There he met Jesus, who saw all of Nathanael, inside and out. I imagine that Nathanael was stunned as he asked Jesus, “How do you know me?”
How would I feel to have Jesus standing in front of me, showing that he knows who I am, inside and out? Beyond my weakness in making snap judgments of others, I have even more negative judgments about myself that can be obstacles to wanting to be seen and known by God.
My mind knows that just as Jesus knew and loved Nathanael before God called him, God knows and loves all of me. My fear wants to hide the parts of me that I don’t like as much. At the same time, my heart and soul long to be known and loved by Jesus.
Today, let us acknowledge the snap judgments we all make of others. Let us pray that despite these preconceptions and prejudices, we can all be as open as Nathanael. May we follow the call to “come and see” Jesus and experience being fully known.
Prayer
In your goodness, O Lord God, you chose Bartholomew to follow in the footsteps of your Son. In so doing he became his disciple and intimate friend in the founding of the early Christian Church. Inspire all your Christian people today to live in such a way that they too can be called disciples of Jesus in the building of his kingdom on earth. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
There is a fascinating, roundabout story in how Bartholomew came to be one of the twelve disciples:
Jesus walked by his cousin, John the Baptist, who encouraged two of his own followers to follow Christ. One of those two was Andrew, who went and found his brother, Simon Peter. Andrew and Simon Peter had a friend from their hometown, Philip, so Jesus went there to speak to him. Philip told his friend, Bartholomew, that he had found the messiah, and Bartholomew encountered Jesus for himself and confessed him as the Son of God (John 1).
Isn’t this how human beings work? When we find something important, we recommend it to our friends. In today’s age, we “like” something on Facebook, or “re-tweet” it on Twitter.
As Bartholomew experienced, however, nothing replaces a face-to-face encounter—it was only when he met Jesus for himself that he believed.
Bartholomew’s personal encounter with Christ changed him so fundamentally that he traveled as far as India to tell others about Jesus. He was willing to even die for this faith: he was flayed alive before being beheaded.
Jesus assembled his followers by diving into a network of relationships. He continues to do this today—he continues to call us within the relationships of our own lives. Let us be open to that call from others and respond, as Bartholomew did, by seeking a one-on-one encounter with Christ.
St. Bartholomew is depicted in stained glass in the Morrissey hall chapel; the knives are a sign of his martyrdom (he was skinned alive and beheaded). His relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica, and this illustration of him is held by the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art. He is patron of those with neurological diseases, butchers and leatherworkers.
In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Bartholomew is always shown accompanying Philip; the name Bartholomew does not appear in the Gospel of John, but tradition holds that he is called Nathaniel in that Gospel because Nathaniel is shown in the company of Philip.
St. Bartholomew, you found Christ through your friends, pray for us!
Image credit:
Luigi Gregori (Italian, 1819-1896), Saint Bartholomew (after Perugino), n.d., black chalk on tracing paper. Raclin Murphy Museum of Art: Gift of Luigi Gregori, AA2009.056.297.