Seeing Angels Gen 28:10-18; John 1:43-51
Introduction https://youtube.com/watch?v=wu5X_PZys84&si=yjiQ09sH4k0CDIhb
Today’s Gospel story, unlike the remarkable miracles (walking on water, feeding the 5, 000) and famous teachings of Jesus (Sermon on the Mount), is virtually unknown to many believers. “Who after all is Nathanael and how does he fit into the Gospels?” He appears to be one of the Twelve, and the best guess is that he is “Bartholomew”. More potently for us, Nathanael is a New Testament fulfilment of Jacob but in a way that challenges us our vision of the centrality of Jesus in the cosmic plan of God.
An Unflattering Introduction
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 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.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
Immediately after calling Andrew and Peter, Jesus heads further into Galilee and calls Philip, as in all the other call stories in the Gospels, he follows and immediately becomes a witness of Jesus. There is a deep pattern here, as in the freshness of my conversion several old friends came to Jesus.(The sad thing is that many Christians lose their non-believing contacts and opportunities for witness as time goes on.) As a new convert Philip doesn’t hold back, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” “We have found…Jesus” is inaccurate, the deeper truth is that God always takes the initiative in seeking and finding us (Luke 19:10; John 6:44-45). It is true however that Israel’s Law and the prophets bore infallible witness to the identity of Jesus as the long-anticipated Messiah of God (cf. John 2:17, 22; 7:37-39; 12:15-16; 20:9; Acts 24:14; 28:23; Rom 3:21). Which is why to bypass the Old Testament is to deprive yourself of the fulness of the revelation of Christ. Nathanael’s comment, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (cf. John 7:41, 52) is to the point. Not yet having the revelation that Jesus had come down from heaven (John 3:31; 8:32), Nathanael was stuck in the negative “prophet from one’s own country” mentality (Matt 13:54–57; Luke 4:24; John 4:44).
It is contextually relevant to see Nathanael’s pessimism repeated in our own spiritual perception of our location in Bassendean. I remember Alison saying (the minister hereabout 12 years ago) that we were a parish none of the Evangelical clergy would be interested in. She was right at the time, but times change. Whilst Basso is no longer a working-class suburb and seems to have shrugged off the scandal of Rolf Harris, we need the help of the Spirit of God to elevate our eyes to the future he has prepared for us in Christ.
Nathanael and Jacob
Although the Old Testament text in the lectionary originally contained a different reading, the background for Jesus’ evaluation of the character of Nathanael is clearly the story of Jacob.
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?”
Whilst Jacob was famously a trickster (Gen 27:35; 30:37-40), Jesus naming Nathanael as a man free from “deceit” (a word used for bait for fish) contrasts him with his ancestor as a man of truth (cf. Ex 18:21). We read of Jesus in the next chapter of John, that he “he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.” (2:24-25).
So much for Nathanael, but what would the Lord say about your character, what does Jesus see in tou? Are you a straight person, as trustworthy on the inside as on the outside, or are you someone whose image before others is moulded by a desire for social approval (being liked) or material reward? It is a dreadful burden to need to be needed/accepted. It always leads to corruption (Hab 2:4a). The stark difference between Nathanael and Jacob isn’t due to a family of origin problem [though the absence of any biblical reference to Rebekah’s death indicates a subsequent divine judgment on her influence on Jacob], but that Nathanael’s life is a preparation for his testimony to the advent of Messiah. Nathanael’s blunt, “How do you know me?”, is an accurate reply to Jesus precise testimony about his guilelessness (cf. deception always works through flattery) which avoids all false humility,
Seeing Greater Things
Christ deals with us in proportion to how we deal with him, for scripture says, “To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd/tortuous/perverse.” (Ps 18:26). If we are not straight with God, we cannot expect him to be straight with us, at least, that will be how we will experience him. One of my models of prayer is the great German Reformer Martin Luther, a rather uncouth or rude man (https://jackasstheology.com/2019/03/25/martin-luthers-potty-mouth/ but whose wise counsel for a developing a life of prayer is to read the Bible and to speak God’s words after, back to, him.
“Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”
In response to Christ’s supernatural knowledge Nathanael bursts out with high praise, “Rabbi/Teacher, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” By this confession, [one on a par with the more famous declaration of Peter before Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”” (Matt 16:16),] Nathanael recognises Jesus as the promised Messiah. Few other witnesses in John’s Gospel reach such heights (John 1:29-34 (the Baptist); 4:42 (Samaritans); 6:66-69 (Peter); 11:27 (Martha) cf. 20:28 Thomas). But according to Jesus, Nat’s faithful testimony, [one which accompanied the risk of faith, for though as the embodiment of God Christ is “more than a miracle” he had done no public miracles as yet,] is followed by promises of even “greater things”. This expression is used in the Bible only here, and in John’s Gospel “greater” particularly points to the supremacy of the Father (10:29) and the “greater works” the disciples will accomplish in the power of the ascended glorified Lord once he returns to the Father in heaven (14:12). The more we are faithful to the witness of the Spirit of Christ brings into our lives, the further he will go on revealing Jesus to us. In the last few weeks, the Lord has been sharing some things with me for this year, and I am taking appropriate steps believing they will indeed come to pass.
Jesus continues,
51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Jesus literally says “Amen, amen I say to you”, a solemn pronouncement unique to him in Scripture, [used 25times in John’s Gospel and] it is equivalent to “thus says the LORD” found 1s00’s of times in the Old Testament prophets. It means that whatever word Jesus speaks will most certainly come to pass [He is after all the Word of God Incarnate.]. In addition to this certitude of fulfilment, the “you” here is plural (https://www.billmounce.com/monday-with-mounce/when-%E2%80%9Cyou%E2%80%9D-not-%E2%80%9Cyou%E2%80%9D-john-1-51). Not only will Nathanael see the promise, but all disciples shall “see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
This is so because Jesus knows himself to be the fulfilment of Jacob’s ancient dream, he is the link between heaven and earth, between the realm of God and the world of humanity. As the eternal Word of God through whom all things were made we know [from earlier in this chapter (1:1-18)] he has come down from above to be the stairway or ladder on whom the angels must travel (normally invisibly) to access our world. As Paul later puts it “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5). This is the revelation that the “true Israelite” and his companions will receive. More than this, Jesus himself is Bethel, he, not the Temple nor even heaven, is the dwelling place of the Father (John 1:14; 2:19-21; 4:20-24; 7:37-39; 14:2, 23). Many Christians struggle to see heaven as a real place, my counsel is to forget about the celestial architecture and focus on the one who will receive you into the eternal habitations (Luke 16:9). Since Jesus is indeed greater than Jacob (4:12) it is Nathanael, as a model of discipleship, who is the new Jacob. Or, more broadly any faithful disciple of Christ.
Forgetting Jesus
If Jesus is Bethel, the true and complete “house of God”, he is also Jacob’s “gate of heaven” (Gen 28:17). He later says, “I am the door of the sheep.” (John 10:7). When we get to the culmination of the story of Christ in Scripture the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem will never be closed (Rev 21:21, 25). How then has the Church of God made this glorious truth so unavailable and unattractive to a lost and hurting humanity. We have, to quote Jesus, hid the light of our lamp “under a basket” (Matt 5:14) and buried our God-given talent in the ground
(Matt 25:24-25). We must repent of such bad practices and our story holds the key to how.
Whereas Jacob anointed a pillar of stone (Gen 28:18) to memorialise his visionary experience, we have received the full and final revelation that Jesus as Christ=Messiah=Anointed One of God. And in him we are all anointed (1 John 2:20, 27 etc.). This is what makes him the attraction point for all the holy beings of the universe with whom we care gathered here today. Week by week Anglicans confess in our liturgies, “with all the company of heaven, we proclaim your great and glorious name, for ever praising you and saying: All: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. [Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.] Do we actually believe this is really happening?? We are always in the presence of Jesus and his heavenly host! When Jacob “woke from his sleep” he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”” (Gen 28:16). Jesus our King is surrounded by angels….and we do not know it (cf. 1 Cor 11:10)!
In the wisdom of God, the name and personality of Nathanael passes into oblivion. But what remains is his testimony to Jesus, “Rabbi/Teacher, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Speaking personally and realistically, I have no interest in the perpetuation of my name, but I am interested in the continuation of my testimony to Jesus in as far as it is accurate to his grace and glory. Many years ago, I was surprised by what a much older Anglican priest (Rev. John Abraham) said to me after a service, “You are a seer, it’s all over you!” Since then, this testimony has proven increasingly true; and I have learned more and more to be like the man who said “I have but one passion: It is He, it is He alone. [The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ.”]” Zinzendorf is best remembered for the revival that broke out in Europe in the mid-18th century, but the name of Jesus has forever been immortalised by his God and Father. If, like Nathanael, all the disciples of Jesus are visionaries, we too must follow him, bringing others to him, and pray, praise and prophesy of his fame.
Bassendean is like a village, and whilst a natural “village mentality” is introspective, in the hands of the Lord the strong village bonds of local identity and nurturing are exactly what people need in an age where information overload [social media] is magnifying personal distance. The key that will increasingly release the power of the kingdom of God in our midst is the confidence to be, like Nathanael, ordinary people who need not pretend about the struggles and sufferings of life but trust in Jesus as “Son of God and King of Israel/God’s covenant people”. Our Lord is wonderful enough to bring something glorious even out of an Anglican congregation in Bassendean!