This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.
If you want to name a son after today’s saint, one of the original twelve apostles, you can name him Nathaniel…or Bartholomew. Same guy. Hence, on the feast of St. Bartholomew, the Gospel reading is about Nathaniel.
The Gospels never say “Jesus laughed,” but if we listen closely enough, we can hear Him chuckling in today’s Gospel reading. “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?” Nathaniel lent credence to Jesus as Son of God, and anointed Him King of Israel, evidently just because He said Nathaniel was not two-faced, and that He knew this upon seeing him under the fig tree.
Despite Jesus’ wry question, we can be sure that Nathaniel didn’t jump on Jesus’ bandwagon just because he was spotted under a tree, or because he received a compliment, even one he considered to be precisely on target. As seemed to be the case with the other apostles who jumped up and spontaneously followed Jesus, leaving everything they had behind, Nathaniel had an experience of Christ upon meeting Him. Without being able to put his finger on why, he saw that there was something drastically different with this Teacher.
Our experience of faith is no different. We sometimes conceive of “faith” as some sort of logical assent, a nod of our heads to the existence of God and to Jesus as His Son and the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity because it makes sense. As if we have deduced the existence of God from the order in the universe, analyzed the teachings and life of Christ and confirmed those as being logically consistent with the necessary love of a God who would create such a universe. Then, sitting back, half-closing our eyes, and joining our two hands at the tips of the fingers in a sign of our profound wisdom, we have deigned to nod our head exactly once.
If we are honest, while our faith may not derive from “sight” literally understood as the external sense, it does come from the unmistakable internal experience we have of Jesus Christ, the person, in our hearts and in our souls. We have “met” Him there. And our intuition, that difficult-to-pin-down but oh-so-real-and-necessary component of the faculty of our intelligence–a component which today, some call “emotional intelligence”–has vigorously assented that this Jesus Christ is in fact our Lord and Savior.
It is exciting to think that we have had this very real, unmistakable experience, which sustains us even when, during periods short or extended, God allows for trials in our spiritual lives wherein that experience seems to be lacking.
As we reflect on Nathaniel’s moment of clarity in faith, we detect a sort of delicious irony in today’s readings. Philip describes Jesus as the one about whom the prophets have written. Nathaniel, he who was hanging out under just another fig tree in dusty Galilee, couldn’t have imagined how he himself would be wrapped into this narrative–that, in fact, the Old Testament directly foreshadowed his own life and mission as well. As the first reading shows, the great Twelve Tribes of Israel–of which Nathaniel would be very much aware–were themselves but a foreshadowing of the twelve pillars of the Church, the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, of which Nathaniel would become one.
Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Reflect on your most powerful experiences of Jesus Christ, and thank Him that He calls us to faith not through intellectual deduction, but through a direct experience of Himself. Consider that, as with Nathaniel, a relationship with Jesus brings with it a cosmically foreseen and foreshadowed mission of great import. Ask Him to help you fulfill that mission with your ironically small “yes” of every day.
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