Episode 21 - Can anything good come out of Nazareth?
John 1:46-51
46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
We pick up this story where Phillip has found Nathaniel and proclaims that he and some others have identified the Messiah, and it is Jesus from Nazareth, son of Joseph. A claim like this would naturally evoke responses marked by cynicism or doubt. But, so far, we’ve not seen that. John the Baptist pointed his disciples to Jesus and they quickly came to believe that he was the long-foretold Messiah. Jesus invited Phillip to follow him. Phillip did follow him and soon after is telling Nathaniel “we’ve found the one spoken of by Moses and the prophets.” How can these people so quickly come to this understanding and acceptance of this claim? Now, just when we are expecting this trend to continue, we finally encounter a response of doubt. Nathaniel’s question is based upon his own bias, isn’t it? He says, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Before meeting Jesus, Nathaniel is predisposed to doubt that Jesus could possibly be the Messiah based upon his prejudice against Nazareth.
What is Phillip’s response to Nathaniel’s doubt? He says, “Come and see (horao).” Sound familiar?
Nathaniel agrees to go investigate this for himself and before he can start interrogating Jesus, Jesus says, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” That’s not only an unusual way to begin a conversation but a bold one. Jesus is claiming to know something about Nathaniel’s personality and even his innermost thoughts and motivations. It leads Nathaniel to the expected response, “How do you know me?” In other words, “How can you possibly know this about me?” I could probably create multiple podcast episodes on Jesus’ response and background information printed in academic commentaries. But, for brevity and focus upon what I think is most important. Jesus reveals that he has an intimate, detailed knowledge of Nathaniel and his whereabouts, actions, and thoughts. Whatever might be said about the significance of the fig tree, the important thing is that it flips the switch in Nathaniel’s mind and understanding. All of his doubt and skepticism is immediately and entirely dispelled. That is evident in his response, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
Now we have a response to the response. Jesus says, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” Ask yourself what led to Nathaniel’s belief according to Jesus’ statement. It was based upon what Jesus (the Word) said to Nathaniel, wasn’t it? Jesus is highlighting Nathaniel’s belief or faith, based upon what Jesus had said. That, in turn, would enable Nathaniel to “see” greater things.
Now Jesus is going to give him specific detail about what Nathaniel will see. He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” It seems to me that in this promise to Nathaniel, Jesus is making reference to at least two different passages of which Nathaniel would be familiar. First, back in Genesis 28:10-17, Jacob had a dream of angels ascending and descending between earth and heaven. Jacob was the grandson of Abraham to whom God had called and made a covenant with. Jacob, through deceit, inherits the covenant blessing. In the narrative, he is a man who God leads to faith despite his own shortcomings. God later renames him Israel. Nathaniel is a descendent of him. But, according to Jesus, he is a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit. Nathaniel, while revealing his human bias and limitations, hears Jesus’ words and believes in him. Jesus is now telling him that because of this, he will see (and perceive) divinely revealed things consistent with what God had done with Jacob.
The other passage has to do with the angels ascending and descending upon the “Son of man.” This is likely Jesus referring to Daniel 7:13-14 which says, “I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
14 And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.
This is Jesus claiming to be the Son of man and that he is affirming Nathaniel’s assertion that Jesus is “The Son of God and King of Israel.”
My friends, we are all like Nathaniel in that we have our biases and our doubts. But, throughout the Scriptures, God is calling people to believe what He says. Our eyes can “see” things. But, our biases and the deceit of our human condition us to not perceive and accept the truth of what God wants us to see. We need to learn to listen to Jesus and allow him to help us see what we cannot with just our eyes and our own mind.