Answering the invitation

Rv 21:9b-14
The angel spoke to me, saying, “Come here. I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” He took me in spirit to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. It gleamed with the splendor of God. Its radiance was like that of a precious stone, like jasper, clear as crystal. It had a massive, high wall, with twelve gates where twelve angels were stationed and on which names were inscribed, the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. There were three gates facing east, three north, three south, and three west. The wall of the city had twelve courses of stones as its foundation, on which were inscribed the twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.

Jn 1:45-51
Philip found Nathaniel 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 Nathaniel said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.” Nathaniel 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.”Nathaniel 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.”


Today is the feast of St. Bartholomew (otherwise known as Nathaniel) and the readings are stories of beginnings. I’m struck by how easy it was for those first followers to come to a knowledge and faith in Jesus. With John the Baptist’s brief testimony, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” Jesus begins to gather an interested group who in turn invite others. They all drop what they are doing and, curious, they follow him. Nathaniel is the only skeptical one, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (Nathaniel likes to lay it on the line, and one gets the impression that he has both an innocence and a sardonic wit that would have made him the guy who everybody wanted as a dinner guest. Jesus, upon hearing of Bartholomew's statement, immediately embraced him as one of the inner circle. Bartholomew's straightforward and clear-eyed observation allowed him to straddle that boundary between innocence and experience that helps each of us best serve God. As Jesus Himself tells us, "Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves," (Matthew 10:16) and he gives us Bartholomew as the example of this behavior.)

Philip replies with the invitation, “Come and see”. Nathaniel, easily impressed because Jesus anticipated his coming, eagerly follows—effortless, uncomplicated and undemanding.

Surely the early disciples came to faith the way we do… over a long period of time, imperfectly, eager one minute, hesitant the next; hearts full of doubt and full of hope; a history of broken promises and re-commitment.

Accepting an invitation to relationship is not easy. We long for the life that Jesus promises, but we carry the hurts and heartbreak of human relationships. Can we take the risk? Is our desire for fullness of life greater than our need to hold onto our wounds, the battle scars of human relationships? How is Jesus inviting me into relationship through the circumstances and people of my life? I say it often—we won’t know unless we are open-minded, listening, and looking.

Here are some questions to consider:
Is there anyone in my life who sees something greater in me than I can see in myself? Do I trust him or her?

Jesus invited Nathaniel into relationship… who is inviting me to a deeper relationship?
Who is inviting me to greater love, greater hope, greater compassion and greater life?

Jesus promises that Nathaniel will see even greater things -- that Jesus himself will unite the heavens and the earthly, reveal the presence of the eternal within the temporal -- that all may know that the goodness and compassion of God are now carried in us, in our humanity and our everyday, mortal world. The kingdom is among us!