Bright Wednesday.
Bright Week. No fasting or abstention from foods.
Acts 2:22-36; John 1:35-51.
Read John 1:35-51
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
Today we hear St. John the Evangelist’s account of when Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathanael began to follow Jesus. The passage ends in a bit of a mystery. In verse 48, we hear Jesus say to Nathanael, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” So many attempts have been made to guess why seeing Nathanael under the fig tree was such a big deal. The truth of the matter is that we do not know. All we can say is that Christ exhibited a kind of foreknowledge that so powerfully moved Nathanael to make his confession of faith: “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (Jn. 1:49).
When Philip told Nathanael that they had “found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (Heb. 11:45), Nathanael initially responded skeptically, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” to which Philip simply replied, “Come and see” (Heb. 11:46). Instead of being persuaded by rational arguments from Philip as to why Christ is the Messiah, Nathanael’s faith was stirred in the very depths of his being by a personal encounter with the Lord. Faith is not an intellectual pursuit but rather something experienced.
Faith is a gift from God, a virtue, and a choice we make. This week we continue to remember all those who were baptized at the Paschal Vigil. God granted them the stirrings of faith which moved them to choose to be baptized, but developing and strengthening the virtue of faith will be a lifelong journey. Today, let us remember to pray for their journey and also ask God to increase our own faith. By experiencing God’s saving grace, love, and forgiveness, may we be transformed and allow our faith to stick less in our heads and more in our hearts.