Reflection in Ordinary Time: St. Bart

Icon of Bartholomew
Source: Parish of St. Francis de Sales

Today is the Feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle..sometimes thought of as Nathaniel.  Yes, Nathaniel, the fellow who was a friend of Philip, who introduced him to Jesus.  The fellow who was skeptical that anything (or anyone) good could possibly come from Nazareth.  (See the Gospel of John, Ch. 1, v. 43 - 51.)

This is the only reference to him in the Gospels; he was definitely not an outspoken apostle.  But when Jesus met him, the Lord recognized something special about him: he was a man "without guile"; that is, a person who was without falsehood.  Further, when he asked Jesus how Jesus knew him, the Lord replied, "I saw you while you were under the fig tree..."

Jesus saw Nathanial before Nathaniel was aware of Jesus, and Jesus knew him.  That's what grabbed my attention in this passage today.  Just think about it.  What would it be like to realize that you've been truly seen by Jesus, and truly known -- understood and loved nonetheless -- by Him?  We're told time and again that we are.  That He cares for us as he cares for the tiniest birds.  That He counts every hair on our respective heads.  That He watches over us, neither slumbering nor sleeping.  That He sends angels to care for us in times of trouble so that fire and/or flood won't overtake us, neither will we 'dash our [feet] against a stone'.

But do we really believe it?  Deep down?  Do we know it with -- as the Rev. Canon Arthur Sheffield is known for saying -- our "knowers"?

And if fully grasping the reality of being seen and known by God in Christ, are we able to hold fast to that knowledge so that we can 'go forth in peace to love and serve the Lord'?

Something to ponder on this day honouring the death and life of Nathaniel

known as Bartholomew -- son of Tholomew.

Jesus Christ, to whom the number
Of thy starry host is known,
Many a name, by earth forgotten,
Lives forever round thy throne;
Lights, which earth-born mists have clouded,
There are shining full and clear,
Nobles in the court of heaven,
Nameless, unremembered here.

In the roll of thine apostles
One there stands, Bartholomew,
He for whom today we offer,
Year by year, our praises due;
How he toiled for thee and suffered
No one here can now recall;
All his saintly life is hidden,
All to him that did befall.

Was it he, beneath the fig tree
Seen of thee, and guileless found;
He who saw the good he longed for
Rise from Nazareth’s barren ground;
He who met his risen Savior
On the shore of Galilee;
He to whom the word was spoken,
“Greater things thou yet shall see”?

None can tell us; all is written
In the Lamb’s great book of life,
All the faith, and prayer, and patience,
All the toiling, and the strife;
There are told thy hidden treasures;
Number us, O Christ, with them,
When thou makest up the jewels
Of thy living diadem.

- *Lyrics: Rev. John Ellerton

*Tune: 'Rustington' by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry

May this bless your day.

*Slightly different lyrics, also attributed to Rev. Ellerton, and referencing the tune, 'Everton' by Henry T. Smart, may be found HERE.  Yet another slightly different version prepared for singing along may be found on YouTube HERE -- to the tune, 'Everton'.  The version beginning "King of saints, to whom the number..." appears to have appeared last in Canadian Anglican worship in the text The Book of Common Praise, being the Hymn Book of the Church of England in Canada, annotated ed., 1909 -- hymn #d332.