Daily Gospel Reflection
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August 24, 2024
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.”
“Can anything good come from Nazareth?” It is a question of utter disbelief that anything remarkable could come from a small farming community. Yet, throughout the church’s history, the same question has been asked of many obscure places such as Lourdes, Ars, and Champion. These are places of pilgrimage throughout the world, where saints have lived and breathed forth missions and works of the Holy Spirit that continue until today. The Virgin Mother has appeared in these towns, inspiring many to care for the poor and offer prayers for the world— places all unknown, seemingly hidden among the thousands of others.
Throughout history, God has continually chosen people, towns, and moments that we overlook. Adrienne von Speyr, a Swiss theologian, once wrote that “all love wants to surprise through unsuspected love.” These little unsuspected moments and places, like Nazareth, contain some of the grandest surprises of God’s love for us precisely because real love is not self-marketing.
Love comes from humble places, from a hidden attentiveness and care to the other person that is not flashy. This is precisely why Nathanael senses a deep divine truth in Christ, asking Jesus, “How do you know me?” Jesus responds, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” It’s as if Jesus was holding in his love for Nathanael until this encounter, and Nathanael cannot help but confess that Jesus is the Son of God, the same son of Mary who came from the humble Nazareth.
Christ invites us to this same intimate love. God is seeking us in unexpected people and places to surprise us with an endless love that is attentive to the hidden desires and hopes that we hold so dearly. We entrust ourselves today to this life-giving and freeing love that makes what was hidden, revealed, and what was unloved, loved.
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 is 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.