Tuesday,
September 29, 2015
Feast of Sts. Michael, Gabriel & Raphael
1st Reading: Dn 7:9-10,13-14 or Rev 12:7-12
Gospel: John 1:47-51
When Jesus saw Nathanael co-ming, he said of him, “Here comes an Israelite, a true one; there is nothing false in him.” Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?” And Jesus said to him, “Before Philip called you, you were under the fig tree and I saw you.”
Nathanael answered, “Master, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” But Jesus replied, “You believe because I said: ‘I saw you under the fig tree.’ But you will see greater things than that.
Truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending u-pon the Son of Man.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Nathanael passed the test of integrity when Jesus said of him: “Here comes an Israelite, a true one; there is no duplicity in him.” Israel was the original name of Jacob, grandson of Abraham. He was duplicitous because he cheated his brother Esau by grabbing from him the blessing of their father Isaac. A father’s blessing was important to the Hebrews because the son getting the blessing would be in the same lineage of the Messiah to come. By stealing his father’s blessing, Jacob grabbed the right to that lineage from Esau. Jesus found the more authentic Israel in Nathanael.
Nathanael knew the story of Jacob (Israel) by heart, for he was a reflective man who often meditated on Scriptures under a fig tree. To the Hebrews, the shade under a fig tree was conducive to meditation. Nathanael must have spent time under a fig tree meditating on Scriptures’ promise of a Messiah. That’s why he was surprised when Jesus addressed him, on their very first meeting, as a true Israelite without any duplicity. To him Jesus was one who knew his inner self and fathomed the depths of his desire and longing for the fulfillment of Yahweh’s promise. “Master, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Nathanael exclaimed. In reply Jesus said that he’d see more signs of who he was with the opening of the heavens and with the angels of God “ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
Nathanael recognized in this statement Jacob’s dream about a stairway resting on the ground with its top reaching to the heavens and God’s messengers going up and down on it. (Gen. 28:12). Nathanael recognized Jesus as that ladder connecting earth and heaven and making it possible for him to ascend to Yahweh.
We find Nathanael’s story very inspiring. The same ladder is available to us. But we won’t be ready to climb that ladder unless, like Nathanael we too pass the test of integrity.— Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com.
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