But Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see” (Jn 1:46).

Some biblical scholars believe that Nathanael is the same man as the Apostle Bartholomew, who is mentioned in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Acts. He was initially doubtful regarding Philip’s invitation to see Jesus. Why? Because of where he came from. Nazareth was a small peasant village with a population of about 1,600 (Meier, 317) people. I don’t think its small size would be the main reason for Nathanael’s snarky assessment of Jesus’ hometown, though he certainly had some reason to believe that nothing good could come from Nazareth. The more important point is that Nathanael did not allow his prejudice to keep him from following Philip’s invitation to “Come and see.”

Nathanael would not only “come and see”, but after Jesus shared how he first saw Nathanael under the fig tree, Nathanael claimed that Jesus was “the Son of God… the King of Israel” (Jn 1:49). What he was able to see in Jesus, Jesus’ own townsfolk of Nazareth were not able or willing to see. Though, like the other Apostles, Nathanael was off the mark regarding the kind of messiah Jesus would be. Jesus would not be the warrior king but the suffering servant of Isaiah. Jesus also told Nathanael that he would “see greater things than this” (Jn 1:50). As Francis Moloney added: “Faith based on miracles will not suffice; something more is needed. This greater faith will enable all disciples to see the revelation of the heavenly in Jesus, the Son of Man” (Harrington, 57).

Though we do not know much more about Nathanael other than the encounter described above, we know he encountered and followed Jesus becoming one of the Twelve. There is speculation that he traveled to India to spread the Gospel he received. Most likely he encountered those who had the same doubt that anything good could come from the One from Nazareth. There would be those who refused to believe and beheaded him, but before his martyrdom, some, though initially doubtful, would also come and see and come to believe.

May we follow the way of Nathanael by resisting the temptations of our own doubts and prejudices so to open our hearts and minds to “come and see” Jesus in those we meet today. St Bartholomew, on this your Feast Day, pray for us!

Link for today’s Mass readings:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/082417.cfm

Meier, John P. A Marginal Jew, vol. 1 : The Roots of the Problem and the Person. New York: Yale University Press, 1991.

Moloney, S.D.B., Francis J. “The Gospel of John, vol.4.” In Sacra Pagina, edited by Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1998