Message of Abbot Paul - Friday - 5th January 2024

We have all been horrified by news reports of flooding in many parts of the British Isles due to the recent stormy weather bringing torrential rain. Much of Herefordshire has been inaccessible and, driving to Leominster yesterday morning, it was shocking to see the number of abandoned cars in deep pools of muddy water. Roads were like islands crossing wide expanses of ocean. Of course, the county is cross-crossed by many rivers and streams that overflow naturally into fields and onto low-lying roads. Fortunately, we are due for a week or more of cold, sunny weather, the kind of British Winter weather I like most.

 

In yesterday’s Gospel passage we heard how Andrew was the first of the disciples to meet Jesus and to be called by him. Andrew returned from his encounter with Jesus, convinced that he had met with the Messiah. So convinced was he, that next morning he took his brother Simon Peter along to meet Jesus, who changed his name to Cephas, meaning Rock, the rock on which the Church would be built. Today our story of the calling of the Apostles continues in our reading from John, (Jn 1: 43-51), with that of Philip. “After Jesus had decided to leave for Galilee, he met Philip and said, ‘Follow me.’ Philip came from the same town, Bethsaida, as Andrew and Peter.” Philip must have been a friend of theirs and another disciple of John the Baptist. Like Andrew, Philip cannot keep the good news to himself. “Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, the one about whom the prophets wrote: he is Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.’” Nathanael is astounded. Can anything good come out of that place? Philip replies using the very words Jesus had said to Andrew the previous afternoon, “Come and see.” And that is exactly what Nathanael sets out to do. Philip, like Andrew, has taken someone to Jesus. He has shared his faith with joyful enthusiasm. Why can I not do the same? Lord, show me how to share my faith with others, how I can bring them to know and love you.

 

Jesus, however, already knows each person individually, loves them and longs for their conversion and eternal happiness. In fact, he goes out to meet them on the road of life. In the case of Nathanael, Jesus is there on the roadside waiting to meet him and he engages him in conversation. Nathanael is surprised and says, “How do you know me?” “Even before Philip came to call you, I saw you under the fig tree,” replies Jesus rather unconventionally. In John’s Gospel, as you know, the verb to see also means to know and to understand, even to love in a profound way. Jesus sees all those who long to know him, even without realising that this is what they want. Jesus promises Nathanael that he will “see heaven laid open and, above the Son of Man, the angels of God ascending and descending.” This because Nathanael had declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God, the King of Israel.” Just consider the effect our bringing someone to Christ would have on their lives. Lord, help us not to be afraid to share our faith with others. Amen.