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 upon the Son of Man.“
REFLECTION:
The Gospel of John presents Jesus as immediately looking for disciples. In a very simple but powerful way the Evangelist tells us Jesus “FOUND“ Philip! The Master is still searching for other disciples. Can it be YOU?
Nathanael, whom Philip FOUND is brought to Jesus by Philip who repeats the same invitation to the first two disciples “Come and see.“ Nathanael is amazed when Jesus tells him “I saw you under the fig tree!“ Jesus tells him in effect, “I know you through and through!“ Indeed, the one who calls us knows us more than we know ourselves! Jesus, the Master, knows our entire personal histories–both our good points and bad points.
Sometimes we are afraid to become disciples because we feel we are not good enough. But there is no perfect candidate for discipleship. There are only imperfect candidates! The Divine Master is constantly in search for vessels of clay so that when He has FOUND other disciples who also may say: “. . . we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves (2 Cor 4:7).“