John 1: 43-51 – Christmastide, January 5th (Audio Bible, Spoken Word)
43 ¶ The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.
44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
48 Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
49 Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.
50 Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.
51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
Today, Jesus has decided to walk to Galilee. There is a wonderful sense of lively movement as Jesus moves from place to place during his ministry, as one rounding up the sheep of Israel. Jesus finds Philip and he gives Philip his vocation, saying to him: Follow me. Through Jesus’ lifetime, we read in the Bible of great crowds flocking to Jesus, and of great processional events, as well as the constant travelling with Jesus of his closest companions. There is movement, direction, purposiveness, through which the disciples grow closer and closer to Jesus, their living faith always developing as Jesus fits them to become shepherds of men.
Just as Andrew was moved to find Simon and tell him the good news, so Philip now rushes to find Nathaniel (also called Bartholomew) to tell him that they have found the one to whom the whole of Old Testament history points, whom the Old Law anticipates and eagerly longs for.
Nathaniel’s response is perhaps of a kind of jocular incredulity. Can any good come out of Nazareth?! There is a serious point behind this saying: the Jewish people had read in Scripture that Jesus must come from Bethlehem, the city of David. Cf. Micah:
But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. (Micah 5:2)
Nazareth, on the other hand, is of Galilee of the Gentiles – theologically dubious country. It may be that Nathaniel is giving vent to local rivalries here, or the Gospel may be voicing the possible thoughts of some of Judea. Of course, Nathaniel is himself of the region of Galilee.
In response to Nathaniel, Philip does not argue or explain, but rather says: Come and see. It is by actually encountering Jesus, by finding ourselves in Jesus’ presence, that the truth is revealed and our fellowship with Jesus begins. So it is with Nathaniel, who seems to be the first to confess that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God.
This moment is tinged with prophecy. Jesus greets Nathaniel with warmth, hailing him as an honest man, and a true Israelite. By saying that he saw Nathaniel sitting under a fig tree, Jesus seems to propose Nathaniel as a type of the people of Israel. Jesus recalls, among other passages of Scripture, Micah 4: 4:
4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
And Jesus recalls Zechariah 3: 10:
10 In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree.
Nathaniel may well have been incredulous hearing of Jesus from Philip, but now that he has met Jesus he is very open to the new truth. Accordingly, Jesus, recalling the prophecy of Daniel, tells him that far, far greater than what he has seen so far will be revealed.
13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. (Daniel 7: 13-14)
Saint Augustine concludes his teaching on prayer by returning to its centre: the movement of the Holy Spirit within the believer. The true object of all prayer is the vision of God — the ‘life of happiness’ in which body and soul, made incorruptible, will behold the divine goodness for ever. Every other request is secondary and derives its meaning from this one desire. Without it, even good things lose their worth; with it, nothing is lacking [ … ]
The parable teaches us that we must be ready, because we do not know when Christ will come to us, for the final account of our lives. This is a warning, edging our lives with the unpredictable. One positive effect of this parable is that it helps us to remain alert to the present moment. While it is easy to allow our thoughts to drift from where we are here and now, to recall the past, to worry or hope for the future, or to slip into daydreams and fantasy altogether, it is when we bring our attention to this very moment of time that we find sharpness, significance, and vibrancy in our life. We may realise just how extraordinary this great gift of life truly is, and feel empowered to live well and offer ourselves wholly to God. When we are attentive to this moment in time we may walk with Jesus [ … ]
When our hearts are pure, our vision becomes clear. We are able to recognize God’s hand at work, His love in action, and His guidance in our lives. We see the beauty of His creation, the divine purpose in every circumstance, and the ways in which God is leading us on the path of righteousness [ … ]
