Rev Gav
Who was Nathanael?
The story of Nathanael is hugely symbolic but is also an important part of John’s invitation for us to meet Jesus.
The Gospel of John is a bit different to the other three gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke — in that it is full of intentional symbolism. It is a gospel that when you dig deeper, reveals mysteries, and sometimes it leaves you hanging and asking more questions than it provides answers! This week, the gospel reading is about a guy called Nathanael, and it is a passage that, over the centuries, has left scholars asking, “Who was he, why was he mentioned, and what was he doing under a fig tree?”
The story about Nathanael frames the end of the first Chapter, which is an introduction or ‘prologue’ to the rest of the gospel. This story comes just after Jesus has called his first disciples, and before John embarks on his discourse of the seven signs — the first being the wedding at Cana in Galilee. Therefore, think of this story about Nathanael as the dramatic ending of ‘Act One’ of the book.
Nathanael was not one of the ‘twelve’ disciples which points to his inclusion in the story as representing something special, and he is widely interpreted as being symbolic of the nation of Israel. The calling of the disciples is not for individuals but for a whole nation, and Jesus longs for the nation to respond, as Nathanael does, to his invitation. If you look at the whole first Chapter of John’s gospel, it begins with Christ entering the world and it ends with Christ being hailed by Israel as the Son of God and King of Israel.
Note the use of the term ‘Israel’ which is another name for the biblical character Jacob and the term ‘Israelite’ which means ‘son of Jacob’. Jesus says of Nathanael, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” and Nathanael responds, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
We do not know who Nathanael was, but it is not too much of a stretch to surmise that he was a scholar of some kind, and that there was significance about what he was reading or studying when he was spiritually ‘seen’ by Jesus. Certainly, Philip in the story mentions that Jesus is the one, “… about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote …” and sitting under a fig tree was associated with reading and studying the scriptures. Perhaps Nathanael was reading about Jacob, because not only was Jacob (Israel) mentioned, but there are also parallels with the story of Jacob found in the book of Genesis, Chapter 28.
In Genesis 28, Jacob is bestowed the name Israel for being faithful to God and not following other Gods, and Jesus says, of Nathanael words to the effect of, “Here is a Son of Israel who doesn’t follow other Gods.” Jacob also had a dream about angels ascending and descending — connecting heaven and earth — on a holy place where God is present, and Jacob even calls it Bethel, meaning ‘the house of God’. Jesus uses the same phrase telling his disciples that they will see angels ascending and descending on himself. In other words, Jesus is saying that he is the place where the connection between heaven and earth takes place and that if you want to see heaven and earth collide then look at Jesus.
The story of Nathanael is full of symbolism, but there is also a faith lesson for us. Nathanael heard about Jesus and the story could have ended there, but no, he went from to hearing about Jesus to actually meeting Jesus. In the same way, the readers of John’s gospel ‘hear’ about Jesus but John is writing so that we, like Nathanael, might also encounter Jesus. The whole of John’s gospel is an invitation to meet Jesus.
Nathanael had free will and could have refused to meet Jesus and, like Nathanael, we can choose to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the King of Israel. If we wait until we ‘feel’ like believing then we may never make that step! When we say, “Lord Jesus, I choose to believe in you, to trust in you, and to give my life to you,” we step, as the biblical writers put it, from death to life and our lives are never the same again.
Making the choice to follow Jesus is a bit like standing at the edge of a swimming pool and saying to someone in the water, “I wish I could experience the weightlessness that you do, but I could never experience that!” From the perspective of the person on dry land, weightlessness seems an impossibility, for the air is thin and the ground is hard, yet, from the perspective of the person in the water, weightlessness is very possible and very real. The difference between the two is that one chose to get in the water!
When we choose to follow, trust, and adhere to Christ, and when we give our lives to God, we step into everlasting, perpetual, and fullness of life. Like the disciples, we begin to see the greater things of God, and join in with God to bring heaven and earth together. Heaven touches our own lives and we come to know the forgiveness, peace, mercy, joy, and above all, love of God.
The question is will we, like Nathanael, respond to the invitation.
Amen.
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Thinking of Jesus as being like Jacob's ladder, our connection to heaven, is a helpful analogy.
Funny thing, as often as I have heard this story, it never clicked that Nathaniel was not a disciple!