The Gospel of John: John 1.43-51

Read and meditate on John 1.48.
Nathanael is taken aback by Jesus’ remark. We note that he doesn’t deny it. He is guileless, and he probably knows it. But he wants to know how Jesus knows this. He’ll have to get used to disappointment.

⁴⁸Nathanael said, “How do You know me?” He
replied, “I saw you underneath the tree,
the fig tree, where you sat when Philip called
you.”
- John 1.48

Reflect
1.  Nathanael is so like us! We have to know how mysteries can be true! What is it about us that we, in the presence of mystery, ask how rather than skip the desire for rational explanations and go right to wonder and worship? Complete this prayer: Lord, though I might like to know how about a great many things, teach me that You are…

2.  Nathanael does not address Jesus, whether by name or title. He will in a bit. First, he wants an answer to his question. But that answer will not be forthcoming (recall God’s response to Job). Coming to know Jesus as Teacher, Son of God, and King of Israel involves a process. Some people travel it quickly, like Nathanael. Others require a bit more time. What about the people in your Personal Mission Field? Where are they in the process of coming to know Jesus? Lord, help me to get to know the people You’ve sent me to so that…

3.  How would you categorize Jesus’ answer to Nathanael? Was He being merely coy? Flip? Evasive? Of course not. What then? What was Jesus saying by answering Nathanael this way? Does He ever answer your requests like this? Explain. Lord, help me to know how to discern Your answers when…

4.  Do you ever wonder what Nathanael was doing under that fig tree? Augustine will offer a suggestion, and I believe it has merit (see on). But let’s consider that fig tree: Low tree, big broad leaves against the hot sun, luscious fruit ready to hand. Maybe a good place for mid-day prayer and meditation? Could Nathanael have been meditating on Genesis 28.10ff? Lord, when you see me “under the fig tree” what do You see in my mind?

5.  Here is yet another important theme in John’s gospel: knowing. Jesus knows all men (Jn. 2.24), and He wants all men to know Him (Jn. 17.3). From what we see in the exchange between Jesus and Nathanael, what does it mean to say that God knows us? What’s involved in our knowing Him? Bring together into one your prayers from questions 1-4.

Summary
“You know from what the first sinners, Adam and Eve, made themselves aprons. When they had sinned, they made themselves aprons from fig leaves and covered their shameful parts, because it was by sinning that they caused themselves to feel shame about them. So if the first sinners made themselves aprons, the couple from whom we derive our origins, in whom we had gotten lost so that he would come to seek and to save what had gotten lost—if they made them out of fig leaves to cover their shameful parts, what else could it mean, ‘When you were under the fig tree I saw you,’ but ‘You would not have come to the cleanser of sin unless he had first seen you in the shadow of sin’? In order for us to see, we have been seen; in order for us to love, we have been loved.” Augustine (ca. 354-430 AD)

“In order for us to see, we have been seen; in order for us to love, we have been loved.” What comfort to know that Jesus sees us and knows us and welcomes us, declaring us to be without guile or deceit because we are in Him! How does knowing this affect the way you go out into your Personal Mission Field today?

Closing Prayer
Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You hold me by my right hand.
You will guide me with Your counsel,
And afterward receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but You?
And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.
My flesh and my heart fail;
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish;
You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry.
But it is good for me to draw near to God;
I have put my trust in the Lord God,
That I may declare all Your works.

Psalm 73.23-28

Psalm 73.21-26 (Ellacombe: Hosanna, Loud Hosanna)
When my poor, sad, embittered heart was pierced within by grace,
I saw how beastly was the part I chose before Your face.
But I am ever with You, Lord, You hold me by the hand,
And guide me daily by Your Word; in glory I e’er shall stand.

Then what have I in heav’n above but You, my God and Lord?
And on this earth what shall I love besides You and Your Word?
My flesh and heart shall surely fail, and death my soul release;
Your strength for me will e’er avail, and grant eternal peace.

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series IV a and b: John, edited by Joel C. Elowsky, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006. Verse translation of John by T. M. Moore.