You will see greater things than this
Rev 21,9b-14; Ps 144; Jn 1,45-51
24 AUGUST
Reading the Gospel according to John, we can apply his disciples what the Psalm announces of the works of God. Each one announces the others the greatness of their Creator and Lord. Thus, from man to man the news of Jesus spreads and runs fast.
The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world (Ps 19 (18) 2-5).
John the Baptist cries to his disciples that Jesus is the Lamb of God. Two of his disciples follow Jesus. They see where He lives. Andrew meets Simon, his brother, tells him about Jesus and leads him to him. Jesus meets Philip and calls him. Philip meets Nathanael and gives him the news that they found the one of whom Moses wrote in the Law and the Prophets: Jesus, the son of Joseph, of Nazareth. We know that Moses in the Law had announced the sending from God of a prophet equal to him. Everyone should have listened to the prophet. He came from God.
“A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you from among your own kinsmen; to him you shall listen. This is exactly what you requested of the Lord, your God, at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let us not again hear the voice of the Lord, our God, nor see this great fire any more, lest we die.’ And the Lord said to me, ‘This was well said. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kinsmen, and will put my words into his mouth; he shall tell them all that I command him. If any man will not listen to my words which he speaks in my name, I myself will make him answer for it. But if a prophet presumes to speak in my name an oracle that I have not commanded him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, he shall die.’ “If you say to yourselves, ‘How can we recognize an oracle which the Lord has spoken?’, know that, even though a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if his oracle is not fulfilled or verified, it is an oracle which the Lord did not speak. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously, and you shall have no fear of him (Dt 18,15-22).
Nathanael is not able to match the two truths in the same person: one historical and the other scriptural. The scriptural news wants the Messiah to come from Bethlehem. The historical news came from the announcement of Philip. Jesus comes from Nàzareth. If it must not be the Messiah, it could be the great prophet. Nathanael lets himself be led by Jesus. As soon as this sees him, he reveals him his identity. He is a man in whom there is no falsehood. This word was enough to him to remove all his history and Scripture doubts. Jesus is proclaimed by him the true Son of God, true King of Israel and true Christ.
Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” But Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him.” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” And he said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Nathanael needs only one word to confess that Jesus is the Son of God, the King of Israel, that is, the Messiah. We have a whole Scripture, Old and New Testament, a Tradition of two thousand years, an equally long Magisterium, an army of Fathers of the Church and of Theologians, Summae and countless treatises, libraries with shelves long kilometres and miles of books, numberless martyrs and confessors of faith, yet today we are demolishing the whole truth of Christ Jesus. Questions: what is the origin of this spirit of lies and falsehood that has taken possession of our heart and mind? What happened to reach to such a devastation? Are there ways to reverse this path of death?
Mother of God, Angels and Saints, free us from this infernal spirit that obscures the mind.