John 1,43-51 – Feria proper of January 5th
Today’s Gospel is a small geography of the human heart. There are streets, names, movements, but in reality we talk about what happens inside a person when he meets God. Jesus does not found a school, he does not explain a doctrine, he does not give a speech: he calls. «Follow me». And in that word there is all the risk of love, because following someone means ceasing to have control of the direction.
Filippo follows and immediately becomes a bridge. Faith never makes us owners of God, but witnesses. Anyone who has encountered something true cannot keep it just for themselves. And then he goes to Nathanael, who seems the prototype of the disenchanted man: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”. He seems to be afraid to hope, because hoping means being disappointed.
Jesus is not scandalized by this closure. He doesn’t discuss, he doesn’t argue, he doesn’t correct. Look. And in that look Nathanael discovers himself known. In conclusion, this is what we are all looking for: a look that understands us. A look that says: “I really see you”.
This is what gives birth to faith. Not when we resolve all the doubts, but when we find someone who stays close to us within the doubts. This is why Jesus promises Nathanael that he will see heaven opened. Not because it will become perfect, but because it will stop closing. The sky opens every time a person lets himself be looked at, lets himself be met, lets himself be loved. And only then do we really begin to see and understand.
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