Thursday in the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time, August 24, 2023

The Feast of St. Bartholomew

John 1, 45-51

Philip found Nathanael 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 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.” Nathanael 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.” Nathanael 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.”

In comparing the lists of the Apostles furnished by the Gospels of Saints Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we note that the names Nathanael and Bartholomew are found in the same position and connected with that of Philip.  This helps us to know that Nathanael and Bartholomew are the same person.  Probably Nathanael was the man’s first name, with Bartholomew — from bar tholomai, or, “the son of  Talmai” — functioning as a last name.  It is as Bartholomew that he is best known, and how he is listed in the Roman Canon in the Missal.

It is Philip who finds Nathanael in the early days of the Lord’s public life and tells him about him.  We learn later in the Gospel Reading for his feast that Bartholomew was sitting under a fig tree when Philip spoke to him.  “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”  Even among the Galileans, Nazareth was held in low esteem.  It did not lie on a trade route or near a lake or river.  It is not so much as mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.  Still, Philip urges him, “Come and see.”  Bartholomew must have respected Philip’s opinion for he gets up from where he was sitting and follows him.  Since it is clear the two future Apostles knew each other and since we know that Philip was from Bethsaida, it is likely that Bartholomew was then living in that town, which neighbored Capernaum, though he originally hailed from Cana.  Due to its position near the Sea of Galilee, it is very possible that he was a fishermen, and this would accord with John 21, 2-3 in which he went fishing with Peter.

“Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.”  That is, there is no deceit or treachery in him.  Now, Jesus may have spoken ironically here since Israel, or, Jacob, was famous for his tricking his elder brother Esau out of his inheritance and his father’s blessing.  A true child of Israel (as the angel called him in Genesis 32, 22-32) would then also be a trickster or deceiver.  But the Lord says there is no treachery or deceit in him.  This statement may help us unravel the mystery of the Lord seeing him of under the fig tree.  Bartholomew reacts very strongly to the Lord’s saying that he saw him under the fig tree: “You are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”  This may mean that this particular fig tree stood in Bethsaida, miles away, or that Bartholomew was doing something particular at the time Philip spoke to him.  Going back to the Lord’s odd words about him being without deceit, perhaps Bartholomew was planning some deceitful act or even rejecting one.  Thus, the Lord both sees Bartholomew from a great distance, but also knows that is in his mind.  And this does warrant the exclamation that Jesus was the Son of God and the King of Israel.  For this nascent expression of faith the Lord promises Bartholomew that he “will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”  The Lord here refers to the vision of the Son of Man by the Prophet Daniel in which he stands in the presence of God in heaven.  The Lord’s promise goes beyond what Bartholomew meant in saying that Jesus was the Son of God and King of Israel, for the future Apostle meant these terms as the Pharisees had taught them, referring to the military Messiah who was to overthrow the Romans.

An ancient tradition reported by Eusebius in his History tells us that after receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, St. Bartholomew preached as far afield as India and that he was martyred in Armenia.  In speaking of Bartholomew, Eusebius writes that the missionary Pantaenus (d. 200) went to India and found a flourishing Christian community founded by Bartholomew and using a the copy of the Gospel of St. Matthew which Bartholomew had brought with him.

We pray that through our freedom from deceit of any kind we might attain the heights of heaven, to enjoy the vision of God forever.