January 5th (Children's Homily): Nathaniel and the Fig Tree

Dear Readers,

I don't normally post my homilies for the St. Aloysious School Masses held each Friday at our parish...but I was rather proud of this one. The next time you come upon the story of Nathaniel and the fig tree, here are some thoughts that might help you better appreciate that passage.

As always, your feedback is welcome at jms48@fuse.net.

Have a great weekend!

Fr. Jim

Beneath the Fig Tree
(Object: A pack of Fig Newtons)

When I was your age,
about all I knew about figs
was contained inside a Fig Newton.

They weren’t near as good as Oreos,
but Fig Newtons did made a better desert for a school day lunch
than an apple or a bannana.

Why because they’re sweet.
Figs, right off the tree, are 60% sugar.

Why am I talking about figs today?
Well, the gospel reading mentions a fig tree.

It says that Jesus spotted a man named Nathaniel
resting beneath a fig tree.

When Nathaniel got up and came walking over to Jesus,
Jesus looked at him said something to the effect of,
“Nathaniel, you’re a good man.
I want you to follow me.”

Nathaniel says,
“How do you know me?”

Jesus says, “I saw you under the fig tree.”

Now, at first glance, this doesn’t make much sense does it?

This story never made much sense to me but, you know what?
When something confuses you
or when something doesn’t make much sense,
what’s that mean?

Well, it means that God wants you to dig a little deeper.
And that means there’s usually a neat surprise waiting for you.

For instance,
I wanted to know what was really going on in this conversation
between Jesus and Nathaniel.

Here’s what I found out.

Back in Jesus’ day,
date trees were like GatorAid.

Fig trees were like Wheaties…
they were the breakfast of champions.

In the country of Greece,
where the first Olympic games were held,
it was against the law to export figs to other countries.
This was because the Greeks wanted to keep all their figs
for their athletes alone
in order to ensure a good outcome at the Olympic Games.

What’s this have to do with Jesus and Nathaniel?
I’m not sure, but it might mean that Nathaniel
was an athlete-in-training,
that he ate a lot of figs,
that he was strong and competitive
and maybe this story is telling us that
Christ he wants his follows to be like the fig-eaters,
that is,athletes,
people who will give him their best, their very best.

That’s one thing this story about Nathaniel and the fig tree
might be telling us.

Here’s another.

Some people say that figs contain enough energy and vitamins
that human beings could like on figs alone.

Maybe Nathaniel hung out in a fig orchard
thinking that’s all he needed to do in life.

But Jesus called him to follow him and,
in doing so, taught him that, God supplies all that we need
and if we but follow Christ with a willing heart,
we’ll have everything we need to live.

We won’t be living on figs,
we’ll be living on love…God’s love.