We sometimes hear the words "don't judge a book by its cover." What this basically means is that we cannot judge the quality or character of someone or something 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, we come across St Bartholomew (also known as Nathaniel) who was from Cana in Galilee. From the Gospel, it appears as if St Bartholomew did not initially have a good impression of Jesus or Nazareth. When he heard that Jesus was from Nazareth, he asked, "What good can come out of Nazareth?" St Bartholomew said this not because he despised Jesus or even Nazareth, but because Nazareth was a small, insignificant place, and to the Jews, it seemed unlikely that the Messiah would come from there. St Bartholomew was just being frank and straightforward, and Jesus recognised that in St Bartholomew when He said that St Bartholomew was incapable of deceit. Not only that, Jesus saw more in St Bartholomew; He saw that he was sincere and that he awaited for the coming of the Messiah, since St Bartholomew was found "under the fig tree," at prayer and open to the Lord. Eventually, St Bartholomew was humble and open enough to recognise Jesus as the Son of God and the King of Israel.
Some of us too may have been like St Bartholomew at some point of our lives. 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 St Bartholomew, we would eventually see the good in others and "don't judge a book by its cover," just as Jesus sees the good in each of us.
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