Rushing To Judgement

 

John 1: 45-51

 Come And See

⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” ⁴⁶ Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” ⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” ⁴⁸ Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” ⁴⁹ Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” ⁵⁰ Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” ⁵¹ And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Nathaniel immediately categorizes Jesus, whom he has never met, as one of those good for nothing Nazarenes, but takes a chance and goes with Philip to meet him. Evidently Jesus wanted Nathaniel's friendship and dropped a few convincing facts in his lap to win him over.  It worked and Nathanael made an profound act of faith.

Don't we often find such skepticism, even cynicism, lurking in the closets of our minds? We are not privileged to receive direct encounters with Jesus to shoo those doubts away, but a daily "I do believe, Lord; help my unbelief" can be just as good.  May we renew our faith often by some simple Act of Faith; perhaps a prayer to St. Nathanael (also called Bartholomew) will help as well.

Bro. Rene