Daily Catholic Lectio. Fri, 5 Jan 2024. Being known by God

Daily Catholic Lectio

Fri, 5 January 2024

1 John 3:11-21. John 1:43-51

Being known by God

Today, often, we come across the expression ‘social media visibility.’ Visibility is needed not only for firms and businesses but also for individuals. The flex-boards, billboards, cut-outs on the roadside, the videos that we circulate on social media, our WhatsApp status, the name that we write on our books, the name-boards at our houses and tables – all these are for one reason: visibility. We are anxious about how many people know us, how many saw our WhatsApp status, and how many likes we received.

On the flip side, when someone who sees us for the first time says, ‘Oh, you are that!’ we feel excited. When someone who is greater than us in status or power identifies us, we feel honoured.

Moreover, at times, being known by others is more important to us than knowing others.

Today’s gospel reading gives us different perspectives on visibility. It makes us realise that we are visible to the eyes of God or that we are known by God. The reading is centred on Nathanael, who is also known as Bartholomew in the Synoptic Gospels. Tradition tells us that he might have visited India.

Nathanael’s friend Philip comes to him and tells him, ‘We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’ Philip makes a faith statement out of his experience with Jesus. Nathanael retorts, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ When Philip was talking to him about someone who came ‘out of God,’ Nathanael was clinging to someone who came ‘out of Nazareth.’ When Philip’s vision was large, Nathanael’s was short.

Without giving space for argument, Philip tells Nathanael, ‘Come and see (for yourself).’ When Nathanael goes to see Jesus, Jesus says of him, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit.’ Nathanael is taken aback, not because Jesus knew about him but because Jesus induced curiosity in him.

‘How do you know me?’, asks Nathanael. In Greek, it reads, ‘From when you me?’ Jesus says, ‘When you were under the fig tree, I saw you.’ Gregory the Great explains ‘under the fig tree’ as ‘learning the Law or being under the Law;’ Augustine says, ‘Adam and Eve clothed themselves with fig leaves. Nathanael was under this tree of vulnerability.’

Nathanael sees Jesus as someone who came ‘out of Nazareth.’ But Jesus sees Nathanael as someone known to him since the beginning.

Nathanael was known by Jesus more than he knew Jesus.

Though we make a lot of efforts to know God, it is consoling that God knows us better. We are known by God. Paul writes to the Galatians, ‘Now you know God; indeed, you are known by God’ (cf. Gal 4:9).

The Psalmist who sings, ‘O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up’ (cf. Ps 139:1-2), surrenders before the Lord, ‘Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it’ (139:6).

What are the advantages of being known by God? (a) Our self-esteem is raised high; we become valuable in the eyes of God. (b) Our vision gets enlarged; we begin to see as God sees. (c) We become the treasured possession of God; we cling on to God.

When Nathanael knows that he was known by Jesus, he surrenders to him, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God and the king of Israel.’

As we are preoccupied with our visibility before others, let us also think of God’s visibility about us. Social media visibility is temporary, while God’s visibility is eternal.

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As we prepare for the Jubilee A.D. 2025 through this year of learning and prayer (2024), let us pray that we may have a vision of God, to see persons and things in a positive light (Jubilee 2025, bite 1).

Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi

Archdiocese of Madurai

Missionary of Mercy