Thursday,
1/5/12
Toda’s
Gospel tells the story of how a man named Nathaniel became a disciple of Jesus.
In telling us this story St. John had more in mind than just giving us the
facts of how the man was called. He told us this story because it contains lessons
for us. So, let’s go back over it to find what those lessons are.
Philip
sought out his friend Nathaniel to give him wonderful news. Phillip said, “We
have found the one Moses and the prophets spoke about. It is Jesus of
Nazareth.” To that Nathaniel replied, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
Now,
Nathaniel was wrong about that: something wonderful had come out of Nazareth.
What are we to learn from Nathaniel’s hasty dismissal of the possibility that
good could come from Nazareth? This story might be telling us not to underrate
or sell short people just because they are close and familiar to us.
Nathaniel
let Phillip bring him before Jesus who said, “Here is a true child of Israel,
there is no duplicity in him.”
Those words of Jesus have a hidden connection with Jacob in the Old
Testament. Jacob was also known as Israel, and on two occasions he showed great
duplicity. The first time was when he tricked his near-blind father into giving
him the eldest son’s portion, when he was only the second son. The other time
was when he tricked his father-in-law into giving him a great number of
sheep.
Apart
from that Old Testament reference, the story tells us that Jesus prizes honest
straight-forward behavior. The story pleads with me to be honest. It has me
checking myself for ways in which I am not completely honest.
Nathaniel
asked Jesus, “How do you know me?” And Jesus said “Before Phillip called you, I
saw you under the fig tree.”
That
made an immense impression on Nathaniel. He blurted out, “Rabbi, you are the
Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”
Nathaniel’s
strong response to Jesus saying he saw him under the fig tree makes us think
that Nathaniel had thought that he was alone with God under that fig tree.
Jesus had to be God to know what Nathaniel was saying under that tree.
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