Jesus’
conversation with Nathanael is one of the more enigmatic conversations in
John’s Gospel. There’s some “hidden
code” in the conversation that needs to be cracked. To our 21st Century ears this
moment of Jesus’ calling Nathanael just seems like Jesus has spoken to the
heart of a young dreamer. Yet, if we
lived back in Jesus’ day we find that this conversation is loaded with
symbolism that would have spoken deeply to the hopes of faithful Israelites at
that time. The name “Nathanael” has a
deeper meaning as does the term “true Israelite”. It is significant that Nathanael is sitting “under
the fig tree”. And the strangest thing
of all, what was Jesus getting at by mentioning a vision of “angels ascending
and descending upon the Son of Man”? So,
lets put on our secret decoder rings and get to the bottom of this mystery.
First, the name Nathanael means “gift of
God”. So, the first thing that we need
to know about Nathanael is not that he was God’s gift to women, but rather 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’s categorically negative and seemingly
sarcastic use of the term “the Jews” has sparked anti-Semitism over the years
so we need to be careful with how we hear it and use it. John did not mean to describe all Jewish people
with it. Rather, 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 who were spread throughout the nation and the Roman Empire. In this conversation with Nathanael Jesus was saying
that Nathanael, the one who is a blessing from God, was a true Israelite. He was a true Jew for he was sincerely
searching for and living for God and his kingdom rather than a power-corrupted
religious authority.
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 him, before Philip summonsed Nathanael to come and follow
Jesus, Jesus saw him under the fig tree.
“Sitting under one’s own fig tree” was a common phrase in ancient
Israel. It symbolized well-being or
shalom due to the blessings of God.
We
came across it in our reading from Micah.
Micah speaking of the last days pictures peoples from the nations coming
to Jerusalem to the Temple to learn the ways of the God of Israel so that there
may be peace. In that day God will
settle all disputes. There will be justice
and equity. Micah says, “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.” Sitting under your
own vine and fig tree was an image of what it was to be at materially comfortable
and to have peace-filled leisure.
By using this prophetically symbolic phrase, Jesus indicated
to Nathanael that he knew Nathanael had a deep desire for the Lord to come and
establish his kingdom and he wants Nathanael to know that in coming him, to Jesus,
is where Nathanael would find 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 of the 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. 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.
In
closing there’s on last thing to be noted here in the calling of Nathanael:
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 who is the house of God. Philip just simply
knew that Jesus was the fulfilment of Nathanael’s hope. Philip had a relationship with Jesus and he
knew that it was a relationship that Nathanael was longing for. Nathanael, with a bit of initial reluctance,
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 good friend.
Friends,
here this wonderful news. Jesus, by the
powerful, fellowship building work of the Holy Spirit, has built us together to
be the house 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). We are the temple in which God lives. Among us is the gateway to God. I am reasonably sure that we all have people
in our lives whom we know are searching for God and who just might on the
strength of their trust in our friendship come here and here come to see Jesus and
find in him the Truth and the Life and the Way they have been seeking because
life as it is ain’t cutting it. 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. Yet, we know
Jesus is here and we know people who truly are searching for the Truth. Be like Philip. Invite your friend. Amen.
P.S. In case anybody is wondering, 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. Bartholomew was skinned alive
and crucified head down. Tradition has
it that Philip and Nathanael traveled together on several missionary journeys
and in Heiropolis in Turkey were crucified upside-down together, but Philip’s
preaching from the cross led the crowd to take Nathanael down, but Philip
refused and died.
