seeing our hearts - january 5 2019

Jesus said something in the gospel which surprised Nathaniel.  He was seen by Jesus sitting under a fig tree.  What is so surprising if Jesus saw somebody under a fig tree? Sitting under a fig tree - this symbolism of John suggests the kind of personality and disposition Nathaniel had. A man who could sit undisturbed under his fig tree is the Jewish symbol for peace.  Therefore here is a man sitting under the fig tree – a man who was at peace, with God and neighbors, a man with no guile in him.  The surprise was not in Jesus seeing Nathaniel, rather it was in Jesus knowing who Nathaniel was.  Jesus was a man who saw the innermost being of others.

If Jesus would meet us now what would he see in our innermost being?  Will he see a person at peace?  Will Jesus see goodwill in our minds, hearts and intentions?  Or will he rather see conflicts, regrets, anger, envy and jealousy?  Christmas is not just the birth of the savior but an encounter, our encounter with the savior - just as Philip, Nathaniel, Andrew and Peter encountered him.  And in this encounter we are also made to confront our innermost dispositions because Jesus sees our hearts and he knows what is happening within us.

Today we celebrate the memorial of St. John Neumann. As a young man he wanted to become a priest but his native Bohemia would not want him because there were so many priests then.  And so he went to the United States, in New York where he was ordained a priest and worked tirelessly for the church, for catholic education and the poor.  Jesus saw the heart of St. John Neuman in the same way he saw the heart of Nathaniel.  Jesus knew its disposition that is why he never gives up on calling him even when everyone else rejected him.