Word to the Wise
Tuesday, August 24, 2010 - St. Bartholomew, apostle
[Revelation 21:9b-14 and John 1:45-51]The wall of the city had twelve courses of stone as its foundation, on which were inscribed the twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. [Revelation] 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." [John]
The first quotation I've given above brings to mind those bricks that one occasionally encounters at museums or monuments which are donated by individuals and have the names of the donors inscribed on them! I've wondered if one would find "Bartholomew" or "Nathanael" or both with one of them in parentheses? There's no real way to settle the name difference. What is certain is the number twelve and the Lord was intentional about that. It was so important that when Judas left the group, they felt it necessary to restore the number by choosing Matthias. The new group considered itself a "new Jerusalem" - a "new Israel" - and the twelve apostles formed the foundation just as the twelve original "tribes" of Israel were the foundation of the Chosen People. This thinking would find its way later in the Book of Revelation. The vivid, as usual, portrait of Nathanael (Bartholomew) is one of the few amusing moments in the New Testament! Doubtless, Nathanael was reflecting a local prejudice in Cana about folks from Nazareth! Jesus recognizes the straightforward, "tell it like it is," character of Nathanael by commenting, "Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him." Nathanael responds to Philip's offer, "Come and see." The rest is history, but the invitation remains open to all of us. In fact, I wonder if we shouldn't give Philip more credit today for seeking out Nathanael to make the invitation. Perhaps in celebrating the feast of any apostle we could honor them more by offering the invitation to someone to "come and see." AMEN
config
view
logs
4096.0 KB
215 ms
4
