FAUSTI - The reader is involved in this dialogue, to make him also experience the Word that calls him and leads him, step by step, to see his home and stay at home with his companion. Thus begins the disciple's journey, which will lead him to lay his head on the breast of the Master (13:23-35), to grasp the mystery of God and of man. In the succession of encounters, the evangelist presents a gradual synthesis of the person Who Jesus is. Jesus is the Lamb of God, the Master, the Messiah, the Son of God, the King of Israel, the mysterious Son of man in whom heaven and earth meet each other. Philip receives from Jesus the invitation to follow Him, unlike the previous ones who were already looking for Him. Each vocation is different according to the situation, but the same in destination. Andrew and Philip are often joined in the list of twelve (Acts 1:13). Both of them participate, either consecutively or together, in the episode of the loaves and in the request in favour of the Greeks (6:5-9; 12:22). Andrew and Philip are friends of the same country. Some believe that Philip is the second of the two who have heard John and have lived with Jesus. Only later, in a second meeting, he would have overcome his perplexity and would have decided to follow Him. As always, here too the vocation is marked by the encounter with those who have already met the Lord. Nathanael does not appear on the list of twelve. He can be identified with Bartholomew. In the name of the other three, Philip communicates his discovery: he had seen Jesus of Nazareth - the Son of Joseph whom we know from the prologue to be in reality the Son of God - the One of whom Scripture tells us about. For one who studies Scripture, it is not so easy to recognize that the One of whom it speaks is the man Jesus of Nazareth (7:27). How can the Messiah be so ordinary and common, equal to all flesh? Jesus looks inside Nathanael. He sees him and knows him, without anyone having spoken to Him about him. Jesus makes Nathanael the praise of the righteous, who walks according to the Word of the Lord. In Moses and in the prophets there is much more hidden than Nathanael has a glimpse: the flesh of Jesus shows the glory of the only-begotten Son. Jesus is the Son of man on whom heaven opens (is 63:19), as in Baptism (Mk 1:10); the Spirit descends upon Him and dwells. It is a call to Jacob's vision that sees angels ascending and descending upon Him at Bethel (Gen 28:12) and discovers that this place is tremendous: it is the door to heaven. The covenant with God, which Jacob noticed was threatened, is re-established and given fully in the Son of Man: He will be the New Temple, the Door between God and man, communion between the two. In fact, he, the Word made Flesh, is the dwelling place of God among men and of every man in God. With Him, the true ladder of Jacob, the sky is definitively open. God communicates with man and man with God.
FAUSTI - The reader is involved in this dialogue, to make him also experience the Word that calls him and leads him, step by step, to see his home and stay at home with his companion.
RispondiEliminaThus begins the disciple's journey, which will lead him to lay his head on the breast of the Master (13:23-35), to grasp the mystery of God and of man.
In the succession of encounters, the evangelist presents a gradual synthesis of the person Who Jesus is.
Jesus is the Lamb of God, the Master, the Messiah, the Son of God, the King of Israel, the mysterious Son of man in whom heaven and earth meet each other.
Philip receives from Jesus the invitation to follow Him, unlike the previous ones who were already looking for Him.
Each vocation is different according to the situation, but the same in destination.
Andrew and Philip are often joined in the list of twelve (Acts 1:13). Both of them participate, either consecutively or together, in the episode of the loaves and in the request in favour of the Greeks (6:5-9; 12:22).
Andrew and Philip are friends of the same country.
Some believe that Philip is the second of the two who have heard John and have lived with Jesus. Only later, in a second meeting, he would have overcome his perplexity and would have decided to follow Him. As always, here too the vocation is marked by the encounter with those who have already met the Lord. Nathanael does not appear on the list of twelve. He can be identified with Bartholomew. In the name of the other three, Philip communicates his discovery: he had seen Jesus of Nazareth - the Son of Joseph whom we know from the prologue to be in reality the Son of God - the One of whom Scripture tells us about.
For one who studies Scripture, it is not so easy to recognize that the One of whom it speaks is the man Jesus of Nazareth (7:27).
How can the Messiah be so ordinary and common, equal to all flesh?
Jesus looks inside Nathanael. He sees him and knows him, without anyone having spoken to Him about him. Jesus makes Nathanael the praise of the righteous, who walks according to the Word of the Lord.
In Moses and in the prophets there is much more hidden than Nathanael has
a glimpse: the flesh of Jesus shows the glory of the only-begotten Son.
Jesus is the Son of man on whom heaven opens (is 63:19), as in Baptism (Mk 1:10); the Spirit descends upon Him and dwells. It is a call to Jacob's vision that sees angels ascending and descending upon Him at Bethel (Gen 28:12) and discovers that this place is tremendous: it is the door to heaven.
The covenant with God, which Jacob noticed was threatened, is re-established and given fully in the Son of Man: He will be the New Temple, the Door between God and man, communion between the two. In fact, he, the Word made Flesh, is the dwelling place of God among men and of every man in God. With Him, the true ladder of Jacob, the sky is definitively open.
God communicates with man and man with God.