43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.“Come and see,” said Philip.47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”50 Jesus said, “You believe[h] because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” 51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you,[i] you[j] will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’[k] the Son of Man.” John 1 NIV
I never really paid much attention to this passage before now. It was important, of course, that Christ had gathered followers, but the depth to what was happening in these verses meant little to me. I read them, hurrying on to the "deeper" sections of the Gospels.
At the opening here we see that Christ came across another person, Phillip, and asked him to join Him. This is the same invitation to become a student of Christ as we saw in our last Deeper John post. This was the common approach of teachers, and it was expected that any teacher would gather about him a body of talmidim. (Mack)
Phillip jumps onto the bandwagon, leaving only to go find Nathaniel. Upon finding Nathaniel, he tells him that the Messiah is found! Nathaniel is not impressed at all by the knowledge that Jesus comes from Nazareth--but it is intriguing that Phillip wisely does not argue with him, but requests he come and see for himself. A technique that would be beneficial for us to remember; it is never wise to try and force someone to believe something. It is better to challenge the person's thinking and make them answer questions and look for answers.
The shunning of anything good coming from Nazareth was because of the location. The town Sepphoris was nearby which held Roman soldiers. It should have--this was the site Herod Anipas chose for his capital, the "ornament of all Galilee". The town of Nazareth was well known for the splash over decadence and sin of being so close to a large group of Gentiles. (Mack; BiblePlaces )
Understandable, then, that Nathaniel held the place in some amount of contempt. Jay Mack makes the pun that it would be like saying the Messiah came from Sin City (Las Vegas). Pretty hysterical thought, really.
An interesting side note: I keep finding that God does this. He calls people, leaders, out of the same places that have been cursed. For example, the Tower of Babel as located in the plains of Shinar, and, as we know, the people were punished for being sinful against God, something that could take me at least two blog posts to explain well. The people were scattered, a sinful place fell. Abram[ham] was called from Ur, which was in the plains of Shinar. God is so awesome.
So here the Messiah comes from a fallen town, that no glory of the town might cling to Him.
Next, Nathaniel meets Christ. I have always thought what He said was strange: “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” What does that mean? It makes sense in the full context, the full conversation
When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”50 Jesus said, “You believe[h] because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” 51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you,[i] you[j] will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’[k] the Son of Man.
Jews then and now are to memorize large amounts of Scripture. More so then, as few would be able to afford a book, and if they did, it would be unlikely that they took it outside with them. Especially the Word. Vear points out that He does not greet Nathaniel by name, but calls him an Israelite--the first to be called Israel, of course, was Jacob; and that Jacob left home because of one act of deceit; now stands a descendant of Jacob and one with no deceit. p 97-98.
Jay Mack(JN) suggests that Nathaniel had been meditating on Gen 28 NIV, where Jacob fell asleep at Beersheba, and saw the angels going up and down stairs to Heaven. Jesus says He saw Nathaniel while he sat under a fig tree; tradition said that if a man meditated on the Word under a fig tree, he would have a better understanding of it, and because of this some rabbis taught under fig trees. How could Christ have guessed that that was where Nathaniel had been? There is a whole world out there! And how could He guess what he had been studying on?
Christ also makes a huge point. He uses Nathaniel's latest meditation on the angels coming up and down on the stairs of Heaven, but He makes a huge point. He says that the angels of God will ascend and descend on the Son of Man (Himself!) , because:( Vear 97-98)
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jn 14 NIV
Since Christ knew where he had been, what he had been doing, Nathaniel could hardly think anything but that Christ was who He was.
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