5 January

Some of us may have been quite judgmental others just by looking at them or hearing about them. Sometimes what we see or hear could have been coloured with prejudiced eyes and ears, and unless we are open to the promptings of God's spirit, we may fail to discover and appreciate another person's character, talent and capabilities.

In today's Gospel, Nathanael did not initially have a good impression of Jesus or Nazareth. Hearing that Jesus was from Nazareth, he asked, "What good can come out of Nazareth?" He said this because Nazareth was a small, insignificant place, and to the Jews, it seemed unlikely that the Messiah would come from there. Nathanael was not despising Jesus or even Nazareth for that matter, but he was just being frank and straightforward, and Jesus recognised that in Nathanael when He said that Nathanael was incapable of deceit. Not only that, Jesus saw that Nathanael was sincere and that he awaited for the coming of the Messiah, since Nathanael was found "under the fig tree," at prayer and open to the Lord. Eventually, Nathanael was humble and open enough to recognise Jesus as the Son of God and the King of Israel.

What about us? Would we be able to see or hear without prejudice? We may have had not quite a good impression of someone initially, because of what we may heard about the person or where the person came from. Let us pray that, like Nathanael, we would eventually see the good in others, just as Jesus sees the good in each of us.