Faith and Intellectual Humility!

Monday, August 24, 2026

Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle

Rev 21:9b-14; Jn 1: 45-51

The Feast of St. Bartholomew invites us to blend our faith and knowledge in humility.

It is good to remember that St. Bartholomew, the sixth of the twelve apostles named by Jesus, is also referred to as Nathanael, whom Apostle Philip invited to the Lord through his persuasive words: ‘Come and see.’

Based on today’s Gospel text, we might reduce Nathanael to being a mere doubter or nothing more than a skeptic. However, what comes out of him carries a wonderful lesson for discipleship. 

We may reflect on Nathanael through Jesus’ praise for him. 

1. Jesus praises Nathanael, saying, ‘Here is a true child of Israel.’ Other translations hold: ‘An Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile’; ‘A man without pretense.’ We must note that Jesus thus praises Nathanael after the latter asked Philip regarding the Lord, ‘Can anything good come from Nazareth?’ Jesus condemned the Pharisees and other religious leaders for their hypocrisy. But here, Jesus praises Nathanael for his uprightness. Nathanael’s knowledge of the Scriptures only made him humbler without any arrogance. 

2. Jesus adds another praise for Nathanael when he says, ‘I saw you under the fig tree.’ In ancient Israel, people used the dense shade of fig trees to study scripture or pray in private. Thus, even before meeting Jesus, Nathanael had the habit of going to the fig tree, a quiet place to meditate and pray deeply about God and the scriptural truths. In making this statement, Jesus recognizes both Nathanael’s divine knowledge and praises his searching heart. In other words, Nathanael was already a man of God before he met God in Jesus. 

These two facts about Nathanael coming from the mouth of Jesus himself mean so much to us. Nathanael’s knowledge doubted, ‘Can anything good come from Nazareth?’ But his faith professed without hesitation, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.’

Nathanael demonstrates through his life that knowledge in humility is not only possible but also that both faith and knowledge can beautifully coexist, one complementing the other, without the former contradicting the latter.

Let us pray that our knowledge may always help us draw closer to God. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar