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)