Reflection
Feast of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle
Revelation 21:9b-14
Psalm 145:10-11, 12-13, 17-18
John 1:45-51
Today we celebrate the feast of the Apostle Bartholomew and reflect on the calling of Nathanael, who is identified as Bartholomew in the synoptic Gospels. After Jesus enters Galilee and calls Philip to follow him, the Gospel of John highlights Philip’s introduction of Nathanael to Jesus.
Philip is convinced that Jesus is the long-awaited One, the Messiah. He speaks with excitement about the fulfillment of Scripture and eagerly invites Nathanael to meet Jesus of Nazareth. Nathanael’s response is dismissive: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nazareth was a small, secluded Galilean village, regarded by many in Israel as insignificant. Yet this was the place chosen by Almighty God to reveal himself through his only begotten Son, Jesus. Nathanael does not yet realize that Goodness itself has come to them, and that Jesus, God incarnate, has been living in anonymity as the son of Joseph, the carpenter.
When Jesus sees Nathanael coming toward him, he speaks of Nathanael’s honest nature and then reveals that he saw him under the fig tree. This reference would have been familiar to Nathanael from the ancient Scriptures, and it leads him to proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God.
Nathanael would have connected his being called while sitting under the fig tree, with the messianic image of neighbors inviting one another beneath their vines and fig trees, as we hear from the prophet Zechariah: “On that day, says the Lord of hosts, you shall invite each other to come under your vine and fig tree” (Zechariah 3:10). The fig tree also points to a period of security, prosperity, and peace under King Solomon in 1 Kings 4:25. Again, in Micah 4:4, we read: “They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid.” Vineyards and fig trees take time to grow and to bear fruit; they symbolize stability, rootedness, and peace. Jesus delights in the profession of faith made by Nathanael and promises that he will see even greater things: the heavens opened and angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.
So today, as we celebrate St. Bartholomew, whatever may be happening in our lives, let us imagine taking our place beneath the fig tree of peace and security, inviting our neighbors to join us in the stability of a faithful community. From that place of rootedness, Christ desires us to go forth like the Apostles: introducing him to others and proclaiming him as the Son of God.