St Michael & All Angels

Lectionary readings: Genesis 28:10-17 and John 1:47-51

When John wrote his Gospel, he was an elderly man, bishop of Ephesus. The other Gospels were already in circulation, and he wrote because, reliable though they were, the full story hadn’t been told. To be fair, John himself ends saying that the world isn’t big enough to hold all the books that would be needed if the full story was told, but there were nonetheless some things he needed to add. One of the things this twinkly old gentleman adds is a great deal of playfulness on Jesus’ part. Another is that, whereas Mark and Matthew and Luke focus on scribes and Pharisees who essentially troll Jesus, John presents us with several characters who can hold their own in conversation with Jesus, something Jesus seems to really appreciate.

One such encounter is that between Jesus and Nathanael. Now, Nathanael has just been told by Philip that he, and Andrew, and Peter, think they have found the promised Messiah, Jesus, from Nazareth. And Nathanael responds, ‘Can anything good come from Nazareth?’ to which Philip replies, ‘Come and see.’

Nathanael does; and as he approaches, Jesus turns to those with him and says, of Nathanael, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit’ to which Nathanael responds, ‘Err, have we met?’

Jesus answers him, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ And this is where the playfulness starts. You see, Jesus is throwing out an image that would be familiar to Nathanael. To sit under your own fig tree is, in the Hebrew scriptures, a symbol of living in peace. Of its various references, the key ones are from the prophets Micah—‘but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken’—and Zechariah—‘you shall invite each other to come under your vine and fig tree’.

In Micah chapter 4, a vision is presented of the peoples going up the mountain of the Lord to be taught by him his ways and to walk in his paths, and of instruction going forth from the Lord from Jerusalem to the surrounding nations. It is, in other words, a vision of ascending to and descending from God. A divine staircase.

Moreover, this leads on to chapter 5, in which we find first a promise of a ruler over Israel, from Bethlehem (a playful nod by John to Jesus’ birth, that addresses Nathanael’s misgivings about Nazareth), whose origin is from ancient days; and then a vision concerning the remnant of Jacob, through whom God will judge the nations, removing the means of violence, and idolatry.

Then, in Zechariah chapter 3, we have a vision of Joshua the high priest (in the second temple, the one built after the return from exile; it was later desecrated by the Greeks; the temple in Jesus’ time was the third temple, which was, in turn, destroyed by the Romans). Joshua is accused by Satan, but vindicated by the Lord, rescued as from death, restored, dressed in bright apparel. He is promised that he will rule the Lord’s house; and is given the promise that the Lord will send a servant, imagined as ‘the Branch,’ through whom God will remove the guilt of the nation in a single day, on which ‘you shall invite each other to come under your vine and fig tree’. In chapter 6, the Branch is revealed to be Joshua, and is crowned as royal ruler placed by the Lord on his throne.  (Joshua and Jesus are the same name, in Hebrew and in Greek; and Joshua the high priest is a ‘type’ who pre-figures Jesus.)

When Jesus says, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you’ and Nathanael responds, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ Jesus is saying, ‘Micah chapter 4! Zechariah chapter 3!’ and Nathanael is responding, ‘Micah chapter 5! Zechariah chapter 6!’ (It may even be that, prompted by the branches overhead, Nathanael had been contemplating this very passage of scripture as he sat under the fig tree.)

Jesus goes on, this is only the beginning. ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’ The playfulness continues. Jesus is clearly referencing Jacob’s dream, in Genesis 28:10-17, in which the house of God is identified, and God promises to bless all the families of the earth in Jacob and his offspring. But he is also still in Micah. Moreover, the Son of Man is a term Jesus takes from two other prophets, Daniel and Ezekiel where (especially in Daniel chapter 7) it refers to a faithful and restored community. That is, ‘Son of Man’ is coterminous with ‘remnant of Jacob’...but—yet more playfulness—whereas Jacob (whose name means ‘to seize by the heal) was a trickster, Nathaniel (whose name means, ‘God has given’) is ‘truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit’.

In short, in this playful and personalised exchange, Jesus is inviting Nathanael to be part of the remnant, constituted around Jesus himself, in whom both Jacob’s dream and Micah’s vision will be (at least partially) fulfilled. Inviting him to be an ‘angel’—a messenger for God, a go-between between the nations of earth and the house of the God of Jacob.

But what has any of this to say to us?

Firstly, be like Jesus, and Nathanael. Get to know the Old Testament. Meditate on it. Soak your bones in it. Familiarise yourself with the promises of God you find there, and especially any promises that speak to your spirit in such a way that you respond, ‘Yes, I want to be part of the people who see those days!’ Find Jesus in those pages, the Word hidden in the word, waiting to become flesh.

Then pray them, hold on to them; even when, especially when, the gap between what we see in the world around us and what God wills to be done is a gulf. When, like Jacob, we are running away. Pray for that day when all will sit under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid. Intercede for justice, for cessation of hostility, for the flourishing of dignity in a society where each has as each needs; pray against fear, against fear of the other, of scarcity, of whatever makes us afraid and causes people to act from a place of fear rather than a place of security.

And then, share, invite others into the story. Philip invited Nathanael to ‘Come and see,’ and then Jesus invited Nathanael to ‘see greater things than these,’ to ‘see heaven opened...’ It is an ongoing thing, an unfolding reality we inhabit together. In those ‘putting the world to rights’ conversations everyone seems to love so much, take opportunities to share God’s wisdom, to be an angel carrying concerns to God and messages from God.

And when you have done all that, keep doing it. Don’t give up. We meet Nathanael in the very first chapter of John’s Gospel, and he is there in the last chapter also (John 21:2), still witnessing to an open heaven.