[stephenkhoo]

Scripture Reflections
Thursday, 05 January, 2012, Weekday of Christmas Time
CAPTIVATING THE HEARTS OF MEN FOR CHRIST
SCRIPTURE READINGS: 1 JN 3:11-21; JN 1:43-51

Who is this man? This is the ongoing question that the Church continues to draw out from the meaning of the incarnation. Knowing who Jesus is gives us the key to fullness of life. That is what St John wrote at the end of his gospel, “These are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing this you may have life through his name.” (Jn 20:31) If we truly believe that Jesus is the Light of the World, then we should now be His torches to the world, leading others to come to see Jesus as the Light of their lives.

But how can we bring Jesus to the world? The truth is that today the world is very skeptical of religions and particularly of Christianity because of the negative images and publicity the media has given to the Church. With so many scandals, many are disillusioned with the Church, with Christians and Catholics alike. Furthermore, in a secularized culture where right values are lacking and the world rather hostile, it is quite difficult to believe that God exists when even He does not seem to exist in our Church! There seems to be so much hypocrisy and inconsistency between belief and life, faith and conduct.

Such skepticism is personified in the person of Nathanael. He is typical of the everyday man who has been hurt, wounded and jaded because of disappointments with life and with faith. Hence, when Philip came enthusiastically to recount to him that he had found the Messiah, he received the message with sarcasm and even disdain. In his pride, he could not believe that the Anointed One of God could come from Nazareth. He was prejudiced just knowing that Jesus came from Nazareth.

What is admirable about Philip is that his approach to Nathanael was non-threatening, non-judgmental and respectful. Instead of arguing with Nathanael or even being annoyed by his contemptuous remarks, he simply said, “Come and see.” He did not pressurize him, nor did he try to demolish his position by argumentation and proofs that he was right. No! He simply responded in all sincerity and humility that he had met this Jesus and his life had been transformed by Him. Truly, the best way to bring people to Jesus is not through clever argument and confrontation or a show of rhetorical skills. No one is ever convinced through debate as each one would try to defend his ego. Rather, one is always receptive of another’s testimony of his or her encounter with the Lord. It is this personal sharing of what Christ has done for one and how one’s life has been changed that would bring tears to any person with a human heart, even if the person were an atheist, agnostic or hostile to the faith. The vault of the human heart can only be opened by another who bares his heart to him or to her.

Indeed, Philip has taught us a great lesson. It is not what we say that will bring others to Jesus. It is whether we can touch their hearts, less their minds. Sharing our faith personally, as opposed to intellectually, is the best way to invite others to come to Jesus. A simple sharing or testimony can convert more people and transform hearts than a theological discourse by an erudite theologian! Philip knows, for in coaxing Nathanael to “come and see”, he was simply telling Nathanael, let us not argue. “You come and experience this man for yourself then you will know what I am talking about!”

Of course, to do this, we must first have met Christ ourselves. If we have not met Christ, how could we ever testify to others that Jesus is our life and our light? No one can be an evangelist without first being salted with the Good News. No one can convict others without first being convicted by Christ. No one can tell others about who Jesus is unless he has had a personal encounter with Him. Unfortunately, many of us do not have a real personal knowledge of the Lord. We mask our superficial relationship with the Lord by talking about Jesus, expounding Him in doctrines, discussing about Him in bible study and using all the nice religious clichés to describe Jesus. We substitute a personal knowledge of the Lord with biblical and theological knowledge. This is poignantly pointed out to us when St John wrote, “My children, our love is not to be just words or mere talk, but something real and active; only by this can we be certain that we are children of the truth.”

Of course, in the final analysis, the love of God that St John speaks about can only be verified by our lives. Evidently, if we love God, or rather if we have experienced the love of God, then His love will empower us to love. For how could we claim that we have known His love and have encountered Him when we continue to hate our brothers and sisters or are indifferent towards their feelings, needs and sufferings? If we are insensitive to the pains of our brothers and sisters, hurting them with harsh words, sarcasm, cheating and slandering them, how can we say that God’s love is in us? St John said, “If you refuse to love, you must remain dead; to hate your brother is to be a murderer, and murderers, as you know, do not have eternal life in them.”

That was how Jesus loved Nathanael. When Jesus met Nathanael, the first words that came from His lips were, “There is an Israelite who deserves the name, incapable of deceit.” To be described as true and incapable of deceit is a great tribute to any Jew, for in the psalm, we read, “Blessed is the man whom the Lord imputes no guilt, whose spirit is incapable of deceit.” (Ps 32:2) Jesus was truly affirming and able to recognize the goodness in Nathanael even though externally he might appear to be indifferent, skeptical and even hostile.

And to his surprise, Nathanael asked, “How do you know me?” And Jesus replied, “Before Philip came to call you, I saw you under the fig tree.” The image of the fig tree is that of peace, for it is thought that peace was when a man could remain undisturbed under his own fig-tree. “Each man will sit under his vine and his fig tree, with no one to trouble him.” (Micah 4:4) Obviously, Nathanael, like many of his fellow Jews was awaiting the coming of the Messiah. Like Simeon and the rest before him, he was praying for the fulfillment of God’s promises and the coming of the Messiah.

Hence, when Jesus said that He saw Him under the fig tree, He demonstrated a keen understanding of what Nathanael was going through. He knew the heart of Nathanael. He knew his hunger, thirst and desire. He understood his dreams! No wonder, Nathanael was so taken up by the Lord, for no one knew him as well as Jesus did, and all this within a short conversation. For once, Nathanael could feel that there was someone who could identify with him and knows him so intimately. Indeed, aren’t great friendships always the consequence of finding someone who feels with us and could explicate our human longings, pain and the predicament we are in? Blessed indeed if we could find someone like Jesus to be our friend! And if we could give someone the same kind of understanding especially towards our spouse, children, siblings, friends, colleagues, instead of being so judgmental, they too will be healed of their brokenness and become receptive of our love and friendship as well.

But the greatest thing about today’s gospel is what Jesus told Nathanael, “You believe that just because I said: I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that. I tell you most solemnly, you will see heaven laid open, and above the Son of Man, the angels of God ascending and descending.” Truly, Jesus is telling us as He assured Nathanael that He could even do more for us than just knowing our hearts and feeling with us and supporting us in our aspirations. He could bring us to heaven, to be with His Father. Indeed, only Jesus can bring us to the bosom of His Father. And if we are in the bosom of His Father, then God becomes our bosom friend. How wonderful to have a bosom friend who lives in our hearts and we live in His heart. This would be the most wonderful gift of all. And most of all, we know that just as our friend will never condemn us when we fail in love, neither will God. For this reason, even in our failures, God will never give up loving us. With such thoughts as these, St John wrote, then we will “be able to quieten our conscience in his presence, whatever accusations it may raise against us, because God is greater than our conscience and he knows everything. My dear people, if we cannot be condemned by our own conscience, we need not be afraid in God’s presence.”

In this way, we will be complete in our love for God and for our neighours because we can love ourselves now with all our strengths and weaknesses, the way Jesus accepted Nathanael and the rest of the apostles. In the process, they too, sinners like us, were healed by the Lord’s love and mercy. Let us today claim God’s love for us and His forgiveness and in turn pass His love and mercy to others especially our enemies who have hurt us. When we do this, then we can be certain that we have already, “passed out of death and into life and of this we can be sure because we love our brothers.”