In Jesus … what you can become.  John 1.42-51

Love believes the best about others.  Jesus couldn’t help but believe the best about others; it was just who he was.  Sure, he could be honest about how he found them, but he could always see them redeemed . . . he would look at someone and see their potential, and their purpose.  When Andrew brought Simon to Jesus, he renamed him ‘Peter, the rock’ because he believed in him; and he knew once Peter became who he was born to be, he would be ‘the rock’.  Yes, this Peter, would be the first outspoken mouthpiece and strong leader in the Christian church of Jerusalem.  (Interesting to note that it was years later before it would happen, and the Lord would be gone from the earth when Peter would actually realize his potential, but he would indeed!)

Look over John’s shoulder as he writes:

“Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus. Looking intently at Simon, Jesus said, “Your name is Simon, son of John—but you will be called Cephas” (which means “Peter”). [Peter also means  “rock”] John 1.42

Beginning back in verse 19, John has carefully ordered the events of Jesus’ first week of ministry—beginning with the first day, when the Jews came out to question John the Baptist about what he was doing, including why he was baptizing.  Then Jesus passed by and John the Baptist announced him as the ‘Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’, and two of his disciples became followers of Jesus on that day.  And then . . .

“The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Come, follow me.” Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter’s hometown.

Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”  “Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”  “Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied.

>Notice with me that Philip does not argue with Nathanael – about whether or not anything good could come from Nazareth, which any good God-fearing Jew probably could not believe, (that anything good could come out of Nazareth), as there was a Roman army garrison there, meant to keep the Jews ‘in line’ . . . not to mention, the ‘back woods’ nature of the Nazarenes … ‘I mean, really, a Messiah, from Nazareth?  Oh, no!’

“As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.”  “How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.”

Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!”  Jesus asked him, “Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.”

I love that Jesus saw who Peter was meant to become, and he gave him that name – rock!  And then, Nathanael . . . Jesus saw him under the fig tree . . . the fig tree, which always stood for peace for the Jewish people.  But there was something much more that Jesus communicated to the heart of Nathanael here; once again, it seems that Jesus saw far beyond where Nathanael was, to what he could become – that which Nathanael only carried in his heart, and yet—here was Jesus, seeming to know him.

And to Nathanael, that was life!  When Jesus was able to look around a ‘corner that he could not see’ with his physical eyes, Nathanael knew … he knew that Jesus saw him under the fig tree – probably an indication that he was having his ‘quiet time’ with God. But Nathanael knew that Jesus really knew his heart, and to him that meant everything—enough to drop whatever else he was doing, and follow Jesus.  He seemed to know that in Jesus . . . he would become.

Grace to you,

Christine