This morning, we celebrate the Feast of St. Bartholomew, the Apostle. Just a quick word about this Gospel: tradition holds that Nathanael and Bartholomew were the same person. Many Scripture scholars attest to this, arguing that Bartholomew is more likely Nathanael’s surname. Bartholomew actually means “son of Tolmai.” Remember, anytime in Scripture where we see the name “Bar-something,” it means son of whoever. So, that’s a fun fact you can share this morning with someone.

I love our Responsorial Psalm for this morning: “Your friends, O Lord, make known the glorious splendor of your kingdom.” It sums up our mission as followers of Jesus, as disciples of the Lord. As Christians, we are called to go out and share about all that the Lord has done for us, to lead others to an encounter with Jesus by sharing our own experiences with Him. That’s exactly what happened with Nathanael. Philip found Nathanael and shared with him about his experience with this man named Jesus and he invited Nathanael to come and see Jesus, to come and hear his preaching, to meet the Messiah. And that led to the encounter that we have in today’s Gospel.

Jesus seems to know Nathanael, like they’ve known each other for quite some time. And, of course, with Jesus being the Word of God, He does know Nathanael, He knows everything about him. Jesus uses the experience of Nathanael under the fig tree to really drive home that fact. And, in a sense, that frightens Nathanael a bit. We don’t know what happened under the fig tree, but many scholars hold that it may have been a moment of prayer for Nathanael, where he was speaking to the Lord about something in his life. And so for Jesus to hold up that moment as a way of knowing Nathanael, it’s a moment where Nathanael recognizes that the God of the universe, the One who created the world, had seen him, had heard him. He was known by God.

All of us desire to be seen, known, and loved. It’s the deepest desire of our hearts. And yet, that can still be frightening because in some way it means we have to be vulnerable, we have to be honest, we have to be authentic. It means we cannot be duplicitous. When we put all duplicity aside and allow the Holy Spirit to replace any fear, any anxiety with a genuine desire to be known by Our Lord, that’s when we are able to experience the true presence of the Lord in our hearts. That’s what took place with Nathanael, and it led him to faith in Jesus.

Today, let’s lock eyes with Jesus in the Eucharist. Let’s allow His gaze to penetrate our hearts; let’s allow Him to see us for who we truly are. Because it’s in that gaze that we encounter the deepest love that we will ever experience. Let Jesus love you. Let Him into your hearts so that you can be brought to a deeper sense of faith in Him as the Messiah, so that you can be one of those friends of the Lord who goes out and shares about the glorious splendor of His Kingdom.

Image: St. Bartholomew by Pierre Le Gros the Younger. Nave of the Basilica of St. John Lateran (Rome). Wikipedia Commons. Photo taken by Jastrow. Used under Attribution 2.5 Generic (CC BY 2.5) Creative Commons license.