In Deed and Truth

January 5, 2012

Memorial of Saint John Neumann, Bishop

If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him? Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. 1 John 3:17-18

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." John 1:437-48

Piety

Down in a lowly manger Our humble Christ was born
And God send us salvation, That blessed Christmas morn:
Go, Tell It On The Mountain, Over the hills and everywhere;
Go, Tell It On The Mountain That Jesus Christ is born.

When I am a seeker, I seek both night and day;
I seek the Lord to help me, And He shows me the way:
Go, Tell It On The Mountain, Over the hills and everywhere;
Go, Tell It On The Mountain That Jesus Christ is born.

He made me a watchman Upon the city wall,
And if I am a Christian, I am the least of all.
Go, Tell It On The Mountain, Over the hills and everywhere;
Go, Tell It On The Mountain That Jesus Christ is born.

Study

As Jesus breaks open his adult ministry, the stories of his encounters with the people around him begin. The Good News is the collection of these encounter stories. Today's Gospel encounter is with Phillip and Nathanael.

Like those who have already encountered Jesus, once Phillip has had his close moment with Christ, he wants to shout about it from the highest mountaintop. He first turns to his friend, Nathanael from Cana. These men are with Jesus at the beginning of John's Gospel and will be there right up to the scene of the "last breakfast" of grilled fish on the shores of Lake Tiberias.

Nathanael did not need to see a miraculous cure. The lame did not walk. The deaf did not hear. The lepers were not cured. All that had to occur to this Doubting Nathanael was to enter the presence of the Lord and he knew he was in the company of the Lord.

We are told nothing about the location or the setting for this encounter. We do not know that it happened under the cover of darkness like the lessons with Nicodemus. We do not know that it happened at high noon near the town well like the lessons with the Samaritan woman. We do not know that it happened in the temple where so many conflicts resulted with the Pharisees and scribes. None of that matters. Nathanael was in the presence of the Lord and believed.

That initial encounter was enough to reveal the true divine nature of Jesus to Nathanael. And it set Nathanael on the path to follow Jesus as Messiah and to proclaim out loud for the world to hear the truth that he had come to know.

Action

Where will you encounter the Lord today? On the Metro escalator? On the telephone? In the grocery store?

How much more evidence will we need beyond the mere encounter?

What will you do after the encounter? As we will witness time after time in the Good News role models, they did not keep this encounter to themselves but shared the experience in words, in truth and in deeds. Indeed!