IMPRESSIVE TO JESUS

August 24, 2010
Feast of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle

John 1:45-51

Nathanael was an impressive person. Andrew found him impressive and brought him to Jesus. Jesus found him impressive, even much before he came to Him, and offered him the vision of great things. Jesus was impressed with this rare quality of Nathanael: his innocence, non-duplicity and truthfulness. In the course of events, Nathanael became a changed person. He was now fully impressed with Jesus. He committed his life for Him. From a casual visit to his friend Andrew, Nathanael was led through an unimpressive story about Jesus, to the presence and gaze of Jesus, to the gift of discipleship.

Andrew became the vocation promoter of Nathanael. He employed two tactics in bringing Nathanael to Jesus: Reason and experience. Nathanael took his religion seriously. He knew the scriptures, and cared for the study of scripture. So Andrew opens before him a theological discussion. Since the time Jesus called him, Andrew moved with Jesus, stayed with Him and learned from Him. He was convinced that Jesus is the Messiah whom Israel awaited. Andrew shared with Nathanael this conviction he had, and corroborated it with the strength of scriptural references. Yet, Nathanael is not convinced. Probably he knew the scriptures much better than Andrew. So he stumps Andrew with the question, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Andrew stopped the argumentation. He now used the second tactic: Have a personal experience of Jesus—“Come, and see”. Nathanael accepted this call. He went and saw. But he was surprised to realize that even before he had “come” and “seen” Jesus, the Lord has had already “seen” him! Jesus has seen his past and present. He also reveals to him his future—that Jesus and Nathanael will have the same destiny! Nathanael complimented the vision of Jesus with His commitment to follow Jesus and make His vision true.

We are the apostles of Christ today. Like Andrew, we need to invite people—beginning with those of our friends, relatives and family members—to Jesus. Is it not our experience that we find it difficult to convince them to come to the Lord—to the church, to the daily/Sunday mass and to other sacraments? If you have tried all your catechism and failed to convince people to come to Jesus, try the second tactic of Andrew. Just tell them, “come and see”. We only need to invite them to the Lord. Once they are in His presence, they will be “impressed” by the Lord. He will change them and make them his inner circle of disciples.

As an apostle of Christ, do I take the mission of inviting people to Jesus?
How far does the comment of Jesus “A true child of God, in whom there is no duplicity” apply to me?
When was the last time I realized the gaze of Jesus in my life?