In
our house, we are fans of a good detective mystery. My wife and I enjoy Nordic
Noir box-sets, but for family-viewing we take in Sherlock or Father Brown
or Death in Paradise, depending on
the mood. There are the tiny clues, so easily-overlooked. Once they are
assembled, there is the tension of living with a lack of clarity, the truth of
the matter hidden—until that moment of revelation, the sudden dawning of what
had taken place, as blindingly obvious now as it had been opaque before. An
epiphany.
All
that said, let us turn to our reading from the Gospel.
I
want to ask the question, what was
Nathanael doing under the fig tree where Jesus saw him?
What was he doing there?
That,
you see, is the question that has got under my skin. That is bugging me. And to
answer that question, we must play the detective.
The
first piece of evidence I want to consider is this: we meet Nathanael in the
first chapter of John’s Gospel, and then he does not appear by name again until
the last chapter, where we discover that he came from Cana (John 21:2).
The
second piece of evidence I want to consider is this: to paraphrase the
conversation between them, Jesus says to Nathanael, there is nothing deceitful
about your character but nonetheless you will see what the deceitful Jacob saw
in a dream when he ran away from home having greatly angered his brother (Genesis 28:10-22).
The
third piece of evidence I want to consider is this: immediately following on
from this encounter, John tells us that Jesus and his new disciples attended a
wedding in Cana, at which Jesus performed the first of his signs—turning water
into wine—thus revealing his glory (John 2:1-12).
Here,
then, is my hunch:
that
whatever Nathanael was doing under that fig tree (and whether he was already
known to Philip, or simply caught-up in the slipstream of Jesus’ call and
Philip’s response) he was there—as opposed to anywhere else—because he had run
away from home;
that
Jesus speaks into his fearful heart in such a way that connects where Nathanael
finds himself in that moment with the big story of God’s faithfulness we read
in Scripture;
that
as a result, Nathanael was empowered to follow Jesus back to Cana and be
reconciled with his family; and that in this context, the initial encounter
between Nathanael and Jesus is ratified or finds a fulfilment.
That
is my hunch. And yes, it is based on circumstantial evidence alone. There is
nothing I can do to prove or disprove it. It would not stand up in court, and there
is no reason to take it as gospel. Yet I find it compelling; a tantalising
personal story hidden within the bigger picture. One that would be in keeping
with the person of Jesus as encountered by countless men, women, and children
since.
If
I were to ask you what have been your ‘Aha!’ moments, when Jesus opened-up your
life through opening-up Scripture, I wonder what you would say?
Do
you have a favourite story from the Bible, one of which you can say, ‘This is
where it began for me’ or ‘This is where the whole Jesus thing first made sense’
or ‘This is where that story became my story’? A story you return to over
and over.
Or
can you speak of a more recent example, where, reading or listening to a story
from the Bible, your life took a new direction; you set off on the latest
adventure of faith?
I
know that this happens, because I have heard the stories of asylum-seekers who
met Jesus reading the Gospels. I have heard the stories of people who became
Christians attending a Confirmation service; or who heard a call to be ordained
at an Ordination service. And I also know that this happens because of the
times it has happened to me, such as the time that I heard, with Abraham, the
call to set out from where we lived and go to the place God would show us.
What
about you?
