Feast of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle
I’ve been thinking recently about our earthly life and how far it seems to be from the eternal life that Jesus promises to his disciples in scripture. The Bible teaches that Jesus has conquered sin and death; yet, it does not so often look like this is the case. The world is full of disease, violence, war, famine, economic collapse, injustice, and natural disasters. Each of us from time to time experiences hardship; at times life does not seem to be very fair. An inspection of the world around us belies the truth of the Hollywood happy ending where everything is neatly tied up and the ‘good guys’ win. The vision of the heavenly kingdom in the book of Revelation provides a glimpse of what this heavenly life is like and it provides assurance that it is possible for us to attain it.
The reading from the book of Revelation shows a vision of the Church of God in its heavenly glory. It is a vision of the heavenly Jerusalem in which Jesus is enthroned in glory accompanied by his disciples and all those who followed him. This is not a vision of a future event – it is an already existing reality (as is the reality of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead). Nevertheless, you and I live in the world where this reality is not yet fully acknowledged, where the reality of the coming of God’s Kingdom is not yet fully brought to fruition in the world.
What is the point of showing us this? One reason is that it gives us hope that ultimately the strivings of Christians to live as Jesus taught us and the sufferings that we sometimes go through will ultimately not be in vain. They have a point. This realization is reinforced by Jesus’ claim in the gospel reading that Nathanael will witness his glorification: “you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1: 51).
In addition to this assurance that his followers will see Jesus in his glory, the gospel reading provides us with an addition kind of assurance as well. Nathanael is surprised to learn that Jesus has seen him under the fig tree before Phillip called him. We too are known to Jesus even before we seek him. What this means is that we have assurance that we are called by God to follow him and that he will in turn guide our path if we allow him to do so. When we do this, God can use us to make known his Kingdom, as the antiphon of the psalm for today reminds us.
Joel Schickel