Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!

 

 The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, "Follow Me."  Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote -- Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."  And Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"  Philip said to him, "Come and see."  Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!"  Nathanael said to Him, "How do You know Me?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."  Nathanael answered and said to Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God!  You are the King of Israel!"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe?  You will see greater things than these."  And He said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

 

- John 1:43-51 

 

Yesterday we read that, on the second day of Jesus' ministry given in the Gospel of John,  John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold!  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!  This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.'  I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water."  And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.  I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'  And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."  Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples.  And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!"  The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.  Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, "What do you seek?"  They said to Him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), "where are You staying?"  He said to them, "Come and see."  They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).  One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.  He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the Christ).  And he brought him to Jesus.  Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah.  You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone).

 

 The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, "Follow Me."  Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote -- Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."  In yesterday's reading, John the Baptist guided his disciples to Jesus, whom he called "the Lamb of God" (see above).  Those were Andrew and Simon Peter.  There was also an unnamed disciple (Andrew was "one of the two who heard John speak") who some patristic commentaries say was John the author of the Gospel.  It was a common literary device for a writer not to give his own name (see Luke 24:13).  In today's reading, we're given the fourth day of Christ's ministry, and two more disciples are called by Jesus:  Philip and Nathanael.   Philip introduces Jesus as "Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets wrote."   By the end of the reading, they both see Christ as the true Light, the One that the Old Testament revealed and pointed to, the Old Testament being a lesser light.  My study Bible says this parallels the establishment of the lesser and greater lights governing the night and the day respectively on the fourth day of creation given in Genesis 1:14-19.

And Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"  Philip said to him, "Come and see."  Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!"  My study Bible says that no deceit means both having a pure heart and also being straightforward with others.  

Nathanael said to Him, "How do You know Me?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."  Nathanael answered and said to Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God!  You are the King of Israel!"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe?  You will see greater things than these."  My study Bible comments that what exactly occurred under the fig tree is not stated here.  It says that St. John Chrysostom teaches this was the meeting place of Philip and Nathanael, and that Jesus was praising Nathanael for being very diligent and careful in his search for the Messiah.  It is Christ's foreknowledge and His ability to see into Nathanael's heart which stir him to this confession of faith.

 

 And He said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."  My study Bible explains that the title Son of Man is a title of the Messiah that had a level of mystery in its meaning, and indicated a man of heavenly origin who would usher in the Kingdom of God (Daniel 7:13-14).  In an Old Testament prophecy, Jacob dreamed of a ladder connecting earth to heaven, upon which the angels of God were ascending and descending (Genesis 28:12-15).  Jesus is that "ladder" who unites earth to heaven, and therefore is this Son of Man.

The search for the Messiah was a deeply significant issue for the whole of the Jewish people at the time of Christ. Expectations were high for a Messiah who would be a great king, delivering Israel from the Romans and re-establishing the throne and kingdom of David.  When Jesus uses the term "Son of Man" in today's reading, He is knowingly using the term from Daniel's prophesy, and indicating His divine and human origins.  Moreover, the reference to the angels descending and ascending is also an image well-known to these disciples, as it comes from the ladder which Jacob saw, which reached from earth to heaven and upon which the angels of God were ascending and descending, and above which stood the LORD who spoke to Jacob (Genesis 28:12-15).  When Nathanael (also known to us as Bartholomew) asks Philip, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" he's not really making a comment about Nazareth and what kind of place it is.  He's asking because there are no prophecies that reveal Nazareth as a birthplace for the expected Christ, the Messiah.  There will be at least one future scathing reference to Galilee in John's Gospel, that of the response of his fellow Council members to Nicodemus in John 7:51-52, in which they mistakenly claim that no prophet has arisen from Galilee.  What we can conclude from these observations is that, both for the Jews of Christ's time, and for the followers of Christ both then and now, the question remains of the greatest significance:  Who is Jesus?  My study Bible has a lengthy article on what is called Christology; that is the focus and knowledge of Christ Himself.  Who is He?  Who is the Son of Man?  And clearly, John's Gospel lays out right in the beginning that He is the Logos, the Word, and that "the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made."  And He is also the Light:  "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it" (see John 1:1-5).  In this sense, Jesus becomes the centerpiece of history, because He is not only God, He also "became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14).  And here He is, in today's reading, choosing disciples, speaking to Nathanael with whom He has a mysterious encounter and to whom it has apparently been made clear that Jesus knows him thoroughly, even before meeting.  From the earliest centuries of Christianity, Christ as both fully human and fully divine has been of crucial significance, precisely because it meant that human nature was deified -- and therefore whatever aspect of our lives needs healing has been touched by God made flesh.  What this means, to quote my study Bible, is that Christ "energizes" human nature with divine energy, so that human nature is redeemed from sin and death and brought into union with God.  The Nicene Creed was the definitive understanding of Christ produced in the early centuries of the Church.  What the Incarnation means is that we may participate in Christ's life; we are united with Him in baptism and may experience His Incarnation in our lives.  So that, as my study Bible indicates, as the Son of God became human, we in turn may participate in God.  All of the sacraments of the Church point to this central reality.  So let us consider Nathanael under the fig tree, appropriate as a symbol of Israel, and think about the meeting with Christ.  For it is there in these encounters the Church is born, so that in our own meeting with Him faith may grow and develop in us.