St. Bartholomew - Skeptical but Come to Believe Thanks to St. Philip

 August 24 is the Feast of St. Bartholomew.

Bartholomew or Nathaniel, some biblical scholars continue to debate if they are the same person or not. If you want to join this debate, you can throw yourself into a graduate program in biblical theology and earn a Ph.D. to settle this debate and send me a copy of your dissertation. But here, we believe that Bartholomew and Nathaniel are identical.

Bartholomew is known as one of the twelve disciples to be named (Matthew 10:3//Mark 3:18//Luke 6:14). And he is also one of the disciples, who witnessed the Ascension of the Lord, and the original member of the ecclesia to be born in Jerusalem, together with Mary, the Mother of the Lord (Acts 1;13). However, the name “Bartholomew” is not found in John’s Gospel. Instead, in John’s Gospel, he is mentioned as “Nathaniel”, as mentioned in the Gospel Reading of the Feast of Bartholomew (John 1:45-51). The Gospel Reading describes how Nathaniel (Bartholomew) became one of the twelve disciples of Jesus.

It was shortly after Jesus called Philip to follow him (John 1:43) that Philipp told Nathaniel,” We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth”(John 1:45). The one whom Moses wrote about in the Torah (Law, Pentateuch) (e.g. Genesis 3:15; Numbers 21:9;Deuteronomy 18:15) and also the prophets spoke about (e.g. Isaiah 7;14; 9:6;40:10, 11; 53:1-12; Ezekiel 34:23; Daniel 9:24; Micah 5:2; Malachi 3:20) refers to Christ (Messiah). These words of Philip to Nathaniel is like Andrew’s words to his brother, Simon (Peter), “We have found the Messiah”(John 1:41).

Nathaniel, however, did not show any excitement to Philip’s words on finding the Messiah. Instead, he responded with his skepticism, saying, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”(John 1:46a). This indicates that Nathaniel just could not think that Messiah would be found in Nazareth. He must have thought that the Messiah mentioned in the Torah (the Books of the Law) and the Neviim (the Books of the Prophets) would be found in Jerusalem as a Davidic king to liberate the Israelites from the hands of Caesar. And he thought that Nazareth had “nothing” to do with David and his royal line, perhaps, not even being aware of Joseph’s Davidic lineage (i.e. Matthew 1:6-16, 20).

To Nathaniel’s doubtfulness about a possibility to find the Messiah in Nazareth, Philip did not waste time to argue but simply invited him to see the Messiah, saying, “Come and see”(John 1:46b). So, Nathaniel went with Philipp to see the Messiah.

A good thing that Nathaniel did not walk away from the Philip’s invitation to see the Messiah. Though skeptical about what Philip said, Nathaniel must have been somewhat intrigued what if Philip had met the Messiah.

And Nathaniel’s encounter (John 1:47-51) turned out to be like the Samaritan woman’s meeting with Jesus by the Jacob’s Well (John 4:4-30), coming to believe in the Messiah for realizing his insights on him, though having not met before.

As Nathaniel was coming toward him, accompanied by Philip, Jesus said to Nathaniel, “Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him”(John 1:47). And this statement of Jesus is like his way to respond Nathaniel’s skepticism on him with a bit of humorous sarcasm, to mean, “Here comes How a true descendant of Jacob, whom God called Israel (Genesis 35:10), better than Jacob, who deceived his father, Isaac, cheating on the birthright of his brother, Esau (Genesis 27:1-41)!” Though such a statement is satirical, it is nice to hear, nevertheless.

Nathaniel was obviously impressed by Jesus. So, he uttered, “How do you know me?”(John 1:48a).

So, how did Jesus knew Nathaniel before meeting him? Because of Jesus’ divinity. To make this point, Jesus said, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree”(John 1:48b).

Jesus is God, so he can see without being at the scene in person. And Nathaniel got it right and came to believe now, saying, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel”(John 1:49). To Nathaniel, though he is of Nazareth, given his divine insights, Jesus is the Messiah-King, the Son of God, as written in both the Torah and the Neviim.  He no longer doubted.

Then, Jesus said to Nathaniel:

Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this. Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man (John 1:50-51).

This is like Jesus saying, “Nathaniel, do you need evidence to believe? Yes, I just showed you my evidence of what I can do as the Son of God, seeing you without being in your eyesight physically. But, look, I will show you greater evidence of being the Son of God, presenting you my Kingdom in the New Heaven”.

So, this is reflected in the First Reading (Revelation 21:9b-14), an eschatological view of the consummation of Jesus’ salvific and redemptive ministry in New Jerusalem, the capitol of his heavenly Kingdom. There, there are twelve gates, stationed by twelve angels, where the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, namely, the names of Jacob’s twelve sons, are written (Revelation 21:12), and twelve courses of the foundational stones, in which the names of the twelve apostles of Jesus the Lamb are inscribed (Revelation 21:14).

Remember, Jesus called Nathaniel, “a true Israelite”(John 1:47)? In this, Jesus was implying him as a descendant of one of Jacob’s twelve sons, whose names are found in the New Heaven. And, by coming to believe in him, Nathaniel became one of Jesus’ twelve disciples (John 1:49; cf. Matthew 10:3//Mark 3:18//Luke 6:14) and became one of the twelve apostles upon Pentecost (i.e. Acts 1:13)

We all need to encounter Christ. Otherwise, how else could we become his disciples and be sent as his apostles, as his ambassadors?  Can we follow Christ without meeting him in person? How else can we get to know him to follow him and to do his work? Also, we are all like Bartholomew (Nathaniel), in need of someone like, Philip, to bring us to encounter the Christ in person, and in need of Christ to be ushered into his Kingdom. As we are like Bartholomew, having skeptical moments in life, we are in need of a brother or a sister in Christ, like Philip, to be accompanied to be brought to him. And Jesus has charged us to be like Philip to bring people like Bartholomew from all nations to him so that they may believe in him (i.e. Matthew 28:19) – so that Jesus can call all of us, “Come and see, my Kingdom!”