Festival of St. Bartholomew, Apostle
John 1:43-51
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 49 Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
First, a note of explanation. St. Bartholomew and the disciples, Nathanael, are the same person. No, I don’t know why…
In all the other call stories, Jesus walks by and asks someone to follow him, and they do. No questions asked, no hesitation. Not so for Nathanael. When Philip came back bursting with excitement about Jesus, Nathanael replied, “can anything good come out of Nazareth?”. But he went along to be a good sport, and the rest is history.
I like Nathanael’s story because it reminds us that we don’t always rush off to do exactly what Jesus asks of us every time. Sometimes, like Nathanael, we need some convincing or, at least, some prodding.
The beautiful part of Nathanael’s story is that, when he showed-up, Jesus was waiting for him. When Nathanael hesitated, Jesus offered him some encouragement. Jesus does the same for each of us.
Prayer: Lord Jesus: Thank you for waiting as long as it takes for me to come around and for being there with open arms when I show up – every time. AMEN