NATHANAEL AND CHRIST

NATHANAEL

John 1:45-51

 

            There is practically no question that Nathanael and Bartholomew are identical. Matthew, Mark and Luke refer to Bartholomew, but do not mention Nathanael. On the other hand, John speaks of Nathanael, but never mentions Bartholomew. The synoptists, in dealing with Bartholomew, place him in relation with Philip. John puts Nathanael in relation with Philip. It may be said quite truthfully there is no proof that the two are identical, and further, that the view was not advanced until the ninth century.

          In our study of Nathanael we confine ourselves to the one account which we have read in John 1:43-51. He is also referred to again in the final chapter of John, as one of the group of seven who saw this special manifestation or unveiling of our Lord, as He appeared on that memorable occasion (John 21).

          The utmost revelation of the man and our Lord's method with Him is found in the account in the first chapter. In attempting to see the man, our work is really simple, because we have a characterization of him directly from the lips of our Lord Himself. When Philip found him and brought him to Jesus, we are told that our Lord saw him, and then said, not to him directly, but to the group standing around Him: "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!"

          Almost certainly Andrew and his brother, Simon; John, with perhaps his brother James, and Philip were present, and possibly others who are nameless.

          We have no history of Nathanael, no account of who his father and his mother were. We do know that he was a resident of Cana, but at this point he appears himself, and at once his account is revealed in these words of our Lord. In that original sentence there are two things, but closely linked together. The first was that he was "an Israelite indeed"; and the second that in him there was "no guile." Now as this is read, we become conscious at once of an Old Testament background of a remarkable kind. Let it at once be said that in the course of the account we find our Lord making two references to the Old Testament, and they were both concerned with Jacob. His name does not appear, but the references are none the less self-evident.

          The first is found in this very description of the man by contrast. The second is found when presently Jesus said: "Ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man."

          The first of these references was to Jacob in his character and specially his action when he was returning home, after an absence of long years, and a wealthy man; and received the name Israel. The second reference went further back to the hour when Jacob was leaving home, a wanderer and an exile through his own deception, and was given a vision of angels ascending and descending.

          This arresting fact leads to the supposition, which is not more than a suggestion that this man Nathanael had been especially interested in the account of Jacob, and possibly had but recently been reading it and pondering on its significance. Our Lord then when He met with him, took that account as the background of His words concerning him, and His words to him.

          Let us consider, then, the estimate of the man revealed in the words of Jesus. We are first arrested by the term "Israelite." We might pause over it, quite naturally, thinking of it as referring to the fact that he was a Hebrew, and one of God's elect nation. But there is surely significance in the fact that he was described by this particular word. If we go back to the account to which we have referred, we find that the name Israel was given to Jacob on the night when God, in human form, wrestled with him, and he became through his defeat, a man, in a new sense, ruled by God. It is interesting in this connection to remember how constantly in the Old Testament the Hebrew people are designated the children of Israel. The real significance of the name is discovered by dividing it, Isra, El; the significance of which is, as we have already intimated, ruled by God. This was the name given to the man, Jacob, which meant the supplanter, the heel-catcher, when he had found the secret of strength in his mastery by God. Thus God had crippled him to crown him, had broken him to make him, and had mastered him to give him majesty.

          An Israelite, then, in the full significance of the term, was one living under the authority of God. By the use of this term our Lord described Nathanael and that with emphasis when He said, "an Israelite indeed." From the development of the account we learn that Nathanael had but recently been under the fig-tree, for our Lord said to him: "Before Philip called thee, when thou west under the fig-tree, I saw thee."

          The fig tree was often the natural summer arbor of the Easterner, the place into which one could go and find beneath its spreading leaves, both quietness and retirement. In such a place Nathanael had but recently been; and unquestionably he had been there for devotional purposes. It is possible that our Lord's reference to the fact was to some special experience through which he had passed, although, of course we cannot be sure about that. It may be he had been under the fig tree reading the account of Jacob as the result of the preaching of John the herald of Jesus. All that being speculative, it nevertheless is clear that our Lord's description of him was that of his being a man fulfilling the purpose of God when He named Jacob Israel. "Behold an Israelite indeed."

          It is of vital interest to our articles in the methods of Jesus to notice this remarkable recognition on His part of the truth concerning this man. He did not speak of him as a sinner, though undoubtedly such he was; but recognized his fidelity to whatever light he had possessed, and the fact that he was living the life of submission to the will of God.

          That declaration our Lord then carried further as He said: "In whom is no guile."

          Can it be possible to escape from the conviction that in this statement there was the memory of Jacob himself? I think we may dare to suggest for a moment, a change in the word which will not be of the nature of translation but exposition; and render the statement of Jesus thus: "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no Jacob"; no guile, no trickery, no double dealing in deceit. All that had been the account of Jacob before the night of wrestling, and indeed after it. It was a long time before he entered into full experience of all that was meant by his name. Seeing Nathanael, our Lord declared that he was a man who fulfilled the ideal without any qualification.

          Nathanael, then, was a man sincere, straight-forward, transparent, all of which our Lord summarized in the phrase, "no guile." The word rendered "guile" is in itself a very arresting one. Peter employed it twice in his first letter, once when he said of the Lord Himself: "When He was reviled, reviled not again, Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth"; and once in his charge to those to whom he wrote: "He that would love life, And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips that they speak no guile."

          This was the word, then, our Lord employed when referring to Nathanael.

          We pause for one moment to notice the incidental evidences of the accuracy of that estimate. When Philip told Nathanael that they had found the One of Whom Moses and the prophets had written, the guilelessness of Nathanael is revealed in his immediate question, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46) This was the language of simple honesty. Nathanael did not belong to Nazareth, but to Cana, which was near enough to Nazareth for him to be perfectly familiar with the conditions obtaining there. A popular conception of the meaning of Nathanael is that he was speaking somewhat disrespectfully of Nazareth. Nathanael was not a Judean, and therefore would not share the common Judean contempt for Galilee, and perhaps especially for Nazareth. Living as near to it as he did, he was familiar with the facts concerning it. The most recent investigation has shown that it was a center of corruption. It stood on the hillside, at the foot of which there ran the great highways along which Roman soldiers marched, and merchantmen were travelling. It was a convenient stopping-place for the night, and it was notoriously rotten to the core. That is what Nathanael meant, and the guilelessness of the man is seen in this question, facing the truth, and expressing the wonder: “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?"

          The utmost proof, however, of his guilelessness is found in what he said when Jesus made the declaration: "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile."

          Nathanael said: "Whence knowest Thou me?"

          A tacit admission, without any mock modesty, that the thing was true concerning him. His problem was revealed in that question. Admitting the truth of the statement, what perplexed him was how Jesus knew the fact.

          As we look at this man the question naturally arises as to whether he needed Christ at all. A man, to whom, if we may use the very inadequate word, Jesus could pay so high a compliment, appears as though he did not need anything more, anything, which Christ could bestow upon him. The answer to that question will be discovered as we watch the method of Christ with him. It was Philip's testimony that led this man to come to the Lord. Philip had answered his question as to whether any good thing could come out of Nazareth by the simple words, "Come and see." As he approached, our Lord flung upon him the light, which revealed him to those who stood listening. Nathanael knew the accuracy of the statement, and admitted it. When he expressed his wonder at how the Lord knew, Jesus uttered the word that showed His knowledge was not local and circumscribed or dependent upon the testimony of others, and He said to him: "Before Philip called thee, when thou west under the fig-tree, I saw thee."

          Thus Nathanael discovered that he stood in the presence of Someone Who knew him with a knowledge that was superior to all merely earthly understanding.

          The fig tree was the place of retirement, and no one of his earthly acquaintance or of the company then standing around had been with Nathanael there. It is almost certain that he had gone there to escape from the eyes of men. It was there that the Lord had seen him. Thus Nathanael found that the knowledge of Christ was a particular one, completely beyond that of any other that he had ever known. This conviction brought from him the cry: "Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel."

          Said Jesus, "Before Philip . . . I saw thee." Jesus is always ahead of Philip. He is ever before us, when we go seeking some other person. It is of the very genius of Christianity that this thing is done. Our own conviction becomes an urge to reach others. Let it never be forgotten that before we arrive, Christ is there.

          In this connection it is important for us to be reminded that it is there, where human eyes are not watching, and we are away from all human investigation, that our Lord takes His measurements. Christ is not measuring us as we are gathering together in a church assembly. There we are all behaving! Good behavior in public may be hypocrisy. When we are alone, under the fig tree, we are not thinking of behavior, but are simply being. Dwight Lyman Moody once said in his own characteristic way, quite suddenly, "What is character, anyhow?" Knowing that he had something in his own mind, someone said, "Well, what is it?" And immediately he replied, "Character is what a man is in the dark." When the blinds are drawn, and nobody is watching, or when the mask is off, then the man is seen for what he really is. "When thou west under the fig-tree, I saw thee."

          Then the truth was evident concerning thee, and thou wert seen as an Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile.

          The effect of all this upon Nathanael is revealed in those words already quoted: "Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel."

          Jesus had called him "Israelite," and he replied, "Thou art the King of Israel"; and that to Nathanael meant something far more, and so he said, "Thou art the Son of God." It is evident that Christ had completely captured this man.

          But He had not yet done with him. When he made the great affirmation revealing his surrender, our Lord replied: "Because I said unto thee, I saw thee underneath the fig-tree, believes thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these . . . Verily, verily I say unto you, Ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man."

          In these words our Lord had gone back to the account of Jacob, and the account of how he had dreamed that he had seen a ladder, with Jehovah standing by his side, while angels ascended and descended. He saw them ascending from their sphere of earthly ministry, and descending from the sphere of their heavenly responsibility. They were seen as going up with their reports, and returning to their service. Now, said our Lord to Nathanael, thou shalt see the dream of Jacob in the long ago translated into spiritual reality. Whatever was suggested in the dream was to be fulfilled in Him. The thing, which Nathanael had been considering under the fig tree, with all its mystery, was to come to full realization through the Person of our Lord.

          Nathanael had expressed his faith as the result of his first contact with Christ. Now the Lord lit the lamp of hope for him as He told him that there were greater experiences yet in store. The vision, which had come to Jacob, was confirmed to Nathanael in Christ. He, the Son of man, would be the Channel of prayer as typified in the ascending angels, and the Channel of answers as suggested by the descending angels. After the dream, when Jacob awoke, he had said: "Lo, God is in the place, and I knew it not."

          This was to be ratified in the experience of Nathanael through his Lord. In Him he should discover the nearness of God, even though he had been ignorant of it.

          In the old account, Jacob had added to the words already "This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."

          All that was to be fulfilled in and through the Lord.

          A little later on in His ministry, He said to a woman: "The hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father . . . the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such doth the Father seek to be His worshippers."

          Where the Christ is, there is the House of God. His presence is the place of Divine revelation, and Divine subduing.

          What wondrous things Jesus had thus said to Nathanael. Though no record declares it in so many words, there can be no doubt that added to the faith of Nathanael, there now came the hope and confidence of fulfillment, and this created in his heart his love for the Lord, and his loyalty to Him. If perhaps we are right in considering that Bartholomew and Nathanael are identical, we remember that he was one of the men whom Jesus chose to be an apostle. Moreover, in that final scene where his name appears at the shore of Tiberias, as he watched the Master interested in fishing, and preparing for the physical necessities of the tired toilers, and heard Him enforcing His claims, and commissioning His own to the caring of His sheep and His lambs, he saw in a measure the fulfillment of the claims made in this first interview.

          We ask what this account really has to say to us, and to whom it makes special appeal? We may have friends in whom there is to be found much that is beautiful, but there is still a lack. Our business is to say to them, as Philip said to Nathanael, "Come and see." Come for yourselves. We do this, knowing when we bring them, that He has perfect knowledge of them. A man can be singularly alone in a great city, in the midst of thronging multitudes. In bringing any such man to Christ we are bringing him to One Who knows him individually, and in loneliness, and in entire separation from the crowd. In this sense it is correct to say He does not deal with humanity in what we call mass movements. He deals with them one by one. The preacher examines his congregation. Christ gathers it, and knows everyone who crosses the threshold of the sanctuary. Oh, the comfort of it! Oh, the terror of it! Let those two sentences suffice.

          The account of Nathanael teaches us first that Christ fulfills all that is most excellent in man. In Him, an Israelite finds his King. A questioning soul finds the One Who is able to answer his questions. A devout soul finds the Son of God.

          This contact also brings correction and enlargement. Nathanael had said with perfect guilelessness: "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?"

          I think before his pilgrimage to earth had ended, he could have said, No good thing has came from anywhere except from Nazareth, because it was from Nazareth He came.

          Finally, the words of Jesus to Nathanael show that the Incarnation of the Son of God is the basis of communion between man and God. Nathanael had said, "Thou art the Son of God." In close connection Jesus had named Himself, "the Son of man."

"So heaven comes down our souls to greet, And glory crowns the mercy-seat."

          He is the Son of man, close to my humanity. He is the Son of God, eternally related to Deity. Christ ever comes to enlarge the vision, to fulfill ambitions, to crowd the life with the gifts and the graces of the ascending and the descending angels.