Daily Gospel Reflection
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August 24, 2023
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.”
Early one evening, many years ago, a college junior walked into a crowded campus dining hall. Unlike the vast majority of the other students, he was not there to eat. As a work-study student, he had come to wash dishes, take out the garbage, and bus tables. As he strolled to the kitchen, he walked past rows of tables.
As he obliviously passed by one boisterous table of coeds, he caught the eye of one young woman. Thinking that this guy was “kinda cute,” she asked her friends who he was. One of her friends identified him by name. She went on to explain that the young man was a transfer student living in some slightly renovated old army barracks, which was the cheapest housing option the university offered its students—$60 for an entire semester, dirt cheap even for the 1960s.
Still undeterred by her friend’s information, she asked, “Where’s he from?” When her friend replied, “Alabama,” the curious coed finally winced. Thinking of staunch segregationists like George Wallace, who had stood in the doorway to block the integration of the University of Alabama, she remarked, “O good grief! Can anything good come out of Alabama!”
That comment reflects a common kind of prejudice. It’s the same prejudice reflected in today’s gospel when Nathanael dismisses Jesus by contemptuously objecting, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Fortunately, his companion Philip was persistent, and Nathanael’s prejudice was overcome. On his first personal encounter with Jesus, he confesses, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel!”
As Nathanael’s experience indicates, personal contact can overcome prejudices if one is willing to risk engaging with others. I’m happy to report that the coed who had found the young man “kinda cute” was persuaded to meet him, and she found him to be not nearly as bad as she had expected.
They eventually married and last year celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary, though I must confess that she (my wife), from time to time, thinks that her initial instinct about her husband was still correct!
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.