"Kari ka kag tan-awa"

Ebanghelyo subong nga Adlaw (Juan 1:43-51)

Sang madason nga adlaw, ginpakamaayo ni Jesus nga magkadto sa Galilea. Nakita niya si Felipe kag ginsingganan, "Upod ka sa akon!"

(Si Felipe taga-Betsaida, nga amo man ang banwa sa diin si Andres kag si Pedro nagapuyo.) 

Gani, ginpangita ni Felipe si Natanael, kag ginsugiran sia, "Nakita namon ang tawo nga nahanungod sa iya si Moises nagsulat sa libro sang Kasugoan, kag ang mga propeta nagsulat man nahanungod sa iya. Siya amo si Jesus nga anak ni Jose nga taga-Nazaret." 

Si Natanael nagpamangkot, "May maayo bala nga butang nga makagikan sa Nazareth?" Si Felipe nagsabat , "Kari ka kag tan-awa." 

Sang makita ni Jesus si Natanael nga nagapakadto sa iya nagsiling siya nahanungod kay Natanael, "Yari ang isa ka matuodtuod nga Israelinhon; waay sing limbong sa iya!" 

Si Natanael nagpamangkot sa iya, "Paano mo ako nakilala?" Si Jesus nagsabat, "Nakita ko na ikaw didto sa idalom sang kahoy nga higera, sa wala pa ikaw gintawag ni Felipe." 

Nagsabat si Natanael, "Manunudlo, ikaw amo ang Anak sang Dios! Ikaw amo ang Hari sang Israel!" 

Nagsiling si Jesus, "Nagatuo bala ikaw tungod kay nagsiling ako sa imo nga nakita ko ikaw sang didto ikaw sa idalom sang kahoy nga higera? Dalagku pa gid sini nga mga butang ang imo makita!" 

Kag si Jesus nagsiling sa ila, "Matuod gid, makita ninyo ang langit nga nabuksan kag ang mga anghel sang Dios nga nagasakapanaog sa ibabaw sang Anak sang Tawo!" 

Prayers:

"Heavenly Father, through your Son Jesus Christ, you have opened the way to heaven for us. As you revealed yourself to your beloved Patriarchs and Apostles, so reveal yourself to me that I may glorify you in my daily life. May I always find joy in your presence and never lose sight of the kingdom of heaven." 

*** 

Reflection of the Daily Gospel:

How can one know for certain that Jesus is truly the Son of God and Savior of the world? Philip, a new disciple of Jesus, at first failed to convince his friend Nathaniel that he had found the Messiah. Nathanial was very skeptical. He didn’t like Nazareth and didn’t want to have anything to do with people who came from such a place. How could the Messiah come from a town at the crossroads with gentiles and people of other religions? Perhaps we are like Nathanial. We reject others out of rivalry or prejudice, or we keep them at a distance because we find fault with something about them, whether it be their manners, dress, customs, associations, or whatever we dislike about them and their kind. Rather than argue with his friend, Philip took the wiser strategy of inviting Nathaniel to "come and see" for himself who this Jesus claimed to be. Clever arguments rarely win people to the gospel, but a genuine encounter with the person of Jesus Christ can transform one's life forever. 

Nathaniel was amazed that Jesus already knew him and called him "an Israelite in whom is no guile" (Psalm 32:2). How could Jesus know his heart and his deepest thoughts and desires? Jesus spoke a word to Nathaniel and it set his heart ablaze with wonder! Nathaniel was hungry for knowledge of God. He really wanted to know God personally. God places in every heart a longing and desire to know the One who created us in love for love. That is why Saint Augustine of Hippo, who found God only after many years of wandering in disbelief and darkness, exclaimed in his autobiographical Confessions: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” 

What is the significance of Jesus' revelation of seeing Nathanial under the fig tree? For the Israelites, the fig tree was a symbol of God's blessing and peace. It provided shade from the midday sun and a cool place to retreat and pray. It is very likely that Nathanial had meditated "under the fig tree" on the Messianic prophecies and prayed for their fulfillment in his time. Perhaps he dozed off for a midday nap and dreamed of God's kindgom like Jacob did when he saw a vision of the ladder which united earth with heaven (see Genesis 28:12-17). Nathaniel accepted Jesus as Messiah and Lord because Jesus spoke to the need of his innermost being – the desire to know God personally and to be united with him in his glory. Jesus' response to Nathanial's new faith is the promise that he himself will be the "ladder which unites earth with heaven". God had opened a door for Jacob that brought him and his people into a new relationship with the living God. In Jacob's dream God revealed his angelic host and showed him the throne of heaven and promised Jacob that he and descendants would dwell with the living God. 

Jesus proclaims to Nathanial that he himself is the fulfillment of this promise to the Patriarch Jacob. Jesus is the true ladder or stairway to heaven. In Jesus' incarnation, the divine Son of God taking on human flesh for our sake, we see the union of heaven and earth – God making his dwelling with us and bringing us into the heavenly reality of his kingdom. Jesus' death on the Cross and his Resurrection opens the way for each of us to come into a new relationship with God as his sons and daughters. The Lord Jesus opens the way for each of us to "ascend to heaven" and to bring "heaven to earth" in the daily circumstances of our lives. God's kingdom is present in those who seek him and who do his will. Do you pray as Jesus taught, May your kingdom come and your will be done in earth as it is in heaven?