Observation: Today is the feast day of Bartholomew the Apostle, one of Jesus' original twelve disciples. Traditionally the church has connected Bartholomew with Nathaniel, the disciple who meets Jesus in John 1. In this story, Nathaniel is impressed by how well Jesus seems to know him, without having met him before. Jesus sees him coming and calls him "an Israelite in whom there is no deceit." Jesus somehow saw Nathaniel under the fig tree before Philip even called him. Just as Jesus sees Nathaniel and knows him, he promises Nathaniel will one day see a lot more of who Jesus is, and know him as the Son of Man.
Application: There's a goofy expression I've never understood. When someone says "See you later," I've heard people say, "Not if I see you first!" Does that mean you'll duck out of the way to avoid saying hi to me? Gee thanks...
Anyway, the first thing Nathaniel learns about Jesus is that Jesus has in fact seen him first. Jesus knows him in a surprising and vulnerable way, right off the bat. We often think of apostles as people who have seen Jesus, or helped others to see him. But the first step of being an apostle, or a disciple of any kind, is to accept that Jesus has already seen us. Jesus knows us. Jesus knows us well enough to know where to send us, and how. Jesus knows us well enough to prepare us when we need to hear a new and uncomfortable truth. Jesus knows us well enough to know exactly the word of comfort we need to hear at the end of the day, whether that day included success, failure, or one more day of the daily grind, getting a few things right and plenty of things wrong. We shouldn't only identify as those who "know Jesus." First, we need to think of ourselves as people Jesus knows.
Prayer: Jesus, thank you for see Nathaniel and Bartholomew (whether they were the same person or not). Thanks for seeing me. Help me to see you today. Amen.
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