Feast of Saint Bartholomew, apostle
(Revelation 21:9b-14; John 1:45-51)
Scripture indicates that Jesus worked with a plan to establish
the kingdom of God. He organized his
followers to both represent and develop the kingdom until he returned to complete
the work. The result of Jesus’ blueprint
is the Church with its bishops assuming leadership from the twelve. Today’s readings points to Jesus’ plan and
its fulfilment.
The first reading from the Book of Revelation gives a sneak
preview of the Kingdom of God fully established. It shows the kingdom’s capital
city, the all-new Jerusalem, coming from heaven.
The twelve gates of the city represent the twelve tribes of ancient Israel,
each of which had one of Jesus’ apostles as its head. Today is the feast of one of those leader-apostles,
St. Bartholomew.
Not much is known of Bartholomew. He is thought to be the same person as
Nathaniel in John’s gospel. Today’s
gospel passage shows Nathaniel proclaiming Jesus the “Son of God and “King of
Israel.” The evangelist gives added
credibility to this testimony since he quotes Jesus as saying that Nathaniel
has “no duplicity in him.”
We must take care not to think of the Church as a social
organization. It is not a way to associate
with people of the same interest. It is
the family of God established to facilitate the Kingdom of God, the fulfilment
of creation.
