Jesus’ conversation with Nathanael is one of the more
enigmatic dialogues in John’s Gospel. We
need a bit of first century rabbinic tradition to get it. They are: the meaning of the name Nathanael,
what Jesus meant by a true Israelite, what it meant to be under the fig tree, and
the significance of angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. In the end, you will see that Philip had a
very special friend named Nathanael whom some of your friends may resemble and
they are worth the humbling effort of an invitation to come to the house of
God.
First, the
name Nathanael means “gift of God”. So,
the first thing that we need to know about Nathanael is that by his namesake he
was to be a blessing to others. This is
significant because God’s promise to Abraham was to bless him and his
descendants so that they would be a blessing to the nations. Israel was blessed not for its own sake, but
rather to be a blessing. Such became
Nathanael as an Apostle.
Second, a true Israelite in John’s Gospel is a true
Jew. Jesus refers to Nathanael as “a
true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit.”
This is the only time in John’s Gospel where someone of Jewish descent
is called “an Israelite” rather than one of “the Jews”. John used the term, “the Jews” to refer to
the corrupted religious and political establishment in Jerusalem as well as the
power hungry and power wielding leadership of the synagogues spread throughout
the nation and the Roman Empire. On the
other hand, Jesus saying that Nathanael, the one who is a blessing from God, is
a true Israelite means that Nathanael was a true Jew sincerely searching for
and living for God and his kingdom.
Third, what does under the fig tree mean? When Nathanael, the blessing from God who is
sincere about searching for and living for God and his kingdom, asks Jesus how
he knows who he is, Jesus tells him that before Philip called Nathanael, before
Philip summonsed Nathanael to come and follow Jesus, Jesus saw him under the
fig tree. “Sitting under one’s own vine
and fig tree” was a common phrase in ancient Israel. It symbolized well-being or shalom due to the
blessings of God.
The prophet Micah used this phrase when speaking
about the coming kingdom of God. “In the last days the mountain of
the LORD's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be
raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, ‘Come, let us
go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will
teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from
Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong
nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their
spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor
will they train for war anymore. Every
man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will
make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken. All the nations may walk in the name of their
gods; we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever. "In that day," declares the LORD, ‘I
will gather the lame; I will assemble the exiles and those I have brought to
grief. I will make the lame a remnant,
those driven away a strong nation. The LORD will rule over them in Mount Zion
from that day and forever’” (Jn. 4:1-7).
By using this symbolic phrase,
Jesus indicated to Nathanael that he knew this deep desire of Nathanael’s for
the Lord to come and establish his kingdom and that Philip’s calling Nathanael
to come to Jesus was its fulfillment.
Nathanael hears this as Truth and responds immediately with the
confession, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” He knows that Jesus is the Christ, the
Messiah, the Son of the living God come to fulfill God’s promise to Israel to
establish his kingdom. Nathanael, the blessing from God who is sincere about searching
for and living for God and his kingdom, has now found himself in the presence
of the Messiah.
The fourth image is that of angels ascending and
descending on the Son of Man alludes to the dream the patriarch Jacob had while
fleeing from his brother Esau. In this
dream Jacob saw a ladder from earth to heaven with the angels of God going up
and coming down on it. Above the ladder
stood the LORD God who made to him the promise that he had made to both Abraham
and Isaac. When Jacob woke up he thought
the place was the house of God and the gate to heaven. So, he names the place Bethel meaning the
house of God for he had met there his Lord, his God, the God of his
father.
So, with this allusion to Jacob’s dream Jesus is
telling Nathanael that it is not such a great thing that he believes Jesus to
be the Messiah. Rather, Nathanael is
going to see, is going to know that Jesus is God with us. Jesus is Bethel, the house of God. Jesus is the gate to God. Jesus is the LORD God himself with his people. Nathanael, the blessing from God who is
sincere about searching for and living for God and his kingdom and who has now
found himself in the presence of the Messiah is going to see in no uncertain
terms that Jesus is the LORD God become human flesh and the way to God himself.
I wish to point out that that Jesus did not call
Nathanael. Philip did. It is safe to assume that Nathanael was a
friend of Philip’s and that Philip, knowing the heart of his friend, did of his
own initiative invite Nathanael to come and meet Jesus, the house of God, whom
Philip knew was the fulfilment of Nathanael’s hope. Philip had a relationship with Jesus and he
knew that it was a relationship for which Nathanael himself was longing. With a bit of initial reluctance Nathanael indeed
came and saw and was known by Jesus and believed. Jesus is the house of God and Nathanael had
entered in. Jesus is the gate to heaven
and Nathanael entered in not of his own initiative but by trusting the word of
his friend.
Let me close with this. You folks have been built to be the household
of God. Paul writes: “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens
with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together
and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in
which God lives by his Spirit” (Eph. 2:19-22).
You are the temple in which God
lives. In you all is the gateway to God. I am reasonably sure that you all have people
in your lives whom you know who like Nathanael are searching for God and who
just might on the strength of their trust in you come here and here come to see
Jesus and find in him the Truth and the Life and the Way they have been seeking. They may hem and haw and it may take 1,000 attempts,
but what’s there to lose. They may even
pull a Nathanael and say, “Church, can anything good come from the
church?” Let’s face it. They are right in saying that. The Church even this church over the years
has blown it completely and radically.
Yet, on the hand you know Jesus is here and on the other you know people
who truly are searching for the Truth.
It doesn’t take a Darwin to see the missing link. Invite them and I will boldly say that it is
likely come to meet the Jesus whom you love and know to be here. Amen.
P.S. Nathanael is only mentioned in John’s
Gospel. In the other Gospel’s he goes by
the name of Bartholomew. St. Bartholomew
took the Gospel to India and then established the church in Armenia. Tradition has it that the Armenian king,
Polymius, became a Christian and in jealousy his pagan brother, Astyages,
ordered Bartholomew’s execution. He was
skinned alive and crucified head down.
