St. Bartholomew – Nathanael
1) The sincerity of Nathanael: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” He says it as he sees it. But then with that openness, Philip says to him: “Come and see.” Benedict XVI makes the point that it is not enough to hear and know about Christ, one must experience Him. So, you have to go and see. This is already gift of self on the part of Nathanael. Then, he receives the gift of Christ’s revelation of Himself that we don’t understand, but Nathanael did: “I saw you under the fig tree.” Amazed, Nathanael confesses, “You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (Jn. 2, 49).
This scene is very similar as the encounter between Christ and the Samaritan woman at the well. She wants water from Him. He asks her to bring her husband. She has no husband and says so. Christ is pleased and admires this and eventually reveals to her that He is the Messias.
2) The large point here is that we must speak the truth with simplicity, especially about ourselves. If we do so, Christ will reveal Himself to us. The Pope makes the point that the faith is not a permanent possession but has to be achieved moment by moment. It takes place in the moment we make the conversion away from ourselves and vacate the interior premises thus creating space for Him to become us. Benedict wrote in “Introduction to Christianity” ([1990] 25): “belief is the con-version in which man discovers that he is following an illusion if he devotes himself only to the tangible. This is at the same time the fundamental reason why belief is not demonstrable: it is an about-turn; only he who turns about is receptive to it; and because our center of gravity does not cease to incline us in another direction it remains a turn that is new every day only in a life-long conversion can we become aware of what it means to say “I believe.’”
Therefore, without sincerity as authenticity [sincere = sine cera (a statue without wax connecting the separately sculpted parts)] the marble statue does not have the integrity of being a single sculpted piece. So also a man with wax connections is not a whole and integral man. He is complicated by an internal politic showing one thing and thinking another. He is full of himself and there is not space open for Christ in him. Remember, Revelation (the Person of Christ) only takes place when there is the act of reception of Christ as our Lady did with her “Yes.”
The following is Benedict XVI: L’Osservatore Romano, 11 October 2006, 11 (Old feast of the Maternity of Mary: Ephesus, 1500 anniversary in 1931, Decretum Laudis of Opus Dei in 1947 and Convoking of Vatican II in 1958):
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The Apostle Bartholomew shows the followers of Christ that attachment to Jesus can be lived daily without doing sensational, extraordinary deeds
At the General Audience on Wednesday, 4 October, 2006, the Holy Father continued his Reflections on the Apostles for the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square by commenting on St. Bartholomew. The following is a translation of the Pope's Catechesis, given in Italian.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In the series on the Apostles called by Jesus during his earthly life, today it is the Apostle Bartholomew who attracts our attention. In the ancient lists of the Twelve he always comes before Matthew, whereas the name of the Apostle who precedes him varies; it may be Philip (cf. Mt 10:3; Mk 3:18; Lk 6:14) or Thomas (cf. Acts 1:13).
His name is clearly a patronymic, since it is formulated with an explicit reference to his father's name. Indeed, it is probably a name with an Aramaic stamp, bar Talmay, which means precisely: "son of Talmay".
We have no special information about Bartholomew; indeed, his name always and only appears in the lists of the Twelve mentioned above and is therefore never central to any narrative.
However, it has traditionally been identified with Nathanael: a name that means "God has given". This Nathanael came from Cana (cf. Jn 21:2) and he may therefore have witnessed the great "sign" that Jesus worked in that place (cf. Jn 2:1-11). It is likely that the identification of the two figures stems from the fact that Nathanael is placed in the scene of his calling, recounted in John's Gospel, next to Philip, in other words, the place that Bartholomew occupies in the lists of the Apostles mentioned in the other Gospels.
Philip told this Nathanael that he had found "him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph" (Jn 1:45). As we know, Nathanael's retort was rather strongly prejudiced: "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (Jn 1:46). In its own way, this form of protestation is important for us. Indeed, it makes us see that according to Judaic expectations the Messiah could not come from such an obscure village as, precisely, Nazareth (see also Jn 7:42).
God's freedom
But at the same time Nathanael's protest highlights God's freedom, which baffles our expectations by causing him to be found in the very place where we least expect him. Moreover, we actually know that Jesus was not exclusively "from Nazareth" but was born in Bethlehem (cf. Mt 2:1; Lk 2:4) and came ultimately from Heaven, from the Father who is in Heaven.
Nathanael's reaction suggests another thought to us: in our relationship with Jesus we must not be satisfied with words alone. In his answer, Philip offers Nathanael a meaningful invitation: "Come and see!" (Jn 1:46). Our knowledge of Jesus needs above all a first-hand experience: someone else's testimony is of course important, for normally the whole of our Christian life begins with the proclamation handed down to us by one or more witnesses.
However, we ourselves must then be personally involved in a close and deep relationship with Jesus; in a similar way, when the Samaritans had heard the testimony of their fellow citizen whom Jesus had met at Jacob's well, they wanted to talk to him directly, and after this conversation they told the woman: "It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world" (Jn 4:42).
'How do you know me?'
Returning to the scene of Nathanael's vocation, the Evangelist tells us that when Jesus sees Nathanael approaching, he exclaims: "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile!" (Jn 1:47). This is praise reminiscent of the text of a Psalm: "Blessed is the man... in whose spirit there is no deceit" (32[31]:2), but provokes the curiosity of Nathanael who answers in amazement: "How do you know me?" (Jn 1:48).
Jesus' reply cannot immediately be understood. He says: "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you" (Jn 1:48). We do not know what had happened under this fig tree. It is obvious that it had to do with a decisive moment in Nathanael's life
His heart is moved by Jesus' words, he feels understood and he understands: "This man knows everything about me, he knows and is familiar with the road of life; I can truly trust this man". And so he answers with a clear and beautiful confession of faith: "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" (Jn 1:49). In this confession is conveyed a first important step in the journey of attachment to Jesus.
Nathanael's words shed light on a twofold, complementary aspect of Jesus' identity: he is recognized both in his special relationship with God the Father, of whom he is the Only-begotten Son, and in his relationship with the People of Israel, of whom he is the declared King, precisely the description of the awaited Messiah. We must never lose sight of either of these two elements because if we only proclaim Jesus' heavenly dimension, we risk making him an ethereal and evanescent being; and if, on the contrary, we recognize only his concrete place in history, we end by neglecting the divine dimension that properly qualifies him.
We have no precise information about Bartholomew-Nathanael's subsequent apostolic activity. According to information handed down by Eusebius, the fourth-century historian, a certain Pantaenus is supposed to have discovered traces of Bartholomew's presence even in India (cf. Hist. eccl. V, 10, 3).
In later tradition, as from the Middle Ages, the account of his death by flaying became very popular. only think of the famous scene of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel in which Michelangelo painted St. Bartholomew, who is holding his own skin in his left hand, on which the artist left his self-portrait.
St. Bartholomew's relics are venerated here in Rome in the Church dedicated to him on the Tiber Island, where they are said to have been brought by the German Emperor Otto III in the year 983.
To conclude, we can say that despite the scarcity of information about him, St. Bartholomew stands before us to tell us that attachment to Jesus can also be lived and witnessed to without performing sensational deeds. Jesus himself, to whom each one of us is called to dedicate his or her own life and death, is and remains extraordinary.
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