Daily Office Readings for Saturday of the Last Week after the Epiphany: Year 1:
Morning, Psalms 30 and 32; Evening, Psalms 42 and 43;
Deuteronomy 7:17-26; Titus 3:1-15; John 1:43-51:
“Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’” (John 1: 49)
When I think of the people called by Jesus to follow him I have missed Philip. I remember James and John; and Simon Peter and Andrew; and I remember Levi being called from the tax booth. But I somehow missed Philip. Then Philip goes and invites Nathanael. So when I miss Philip, I also miss Nathanael.
We know from verses just before this one that Nathanael and Jesus pondered about one another. Nathanael pondered if any good could come out of Nazareth. And Jesus pondered about Nathanael being a man in whom there is no deceit. So we know that in spite of Nazareth being the Sodom and Gomorrah of their day, Jesus, who is God incarnate, comes to them from there. And we know that Nathanael is a good man because Jesus has said so. He is a man without deceit. So what is it about Nathanael?
I ponder about what Nathanael was experiencing when he was under the fig tree before Philip called him. The moment that Jesus mentioned that he saw him before Philip called him; that he was with him under the fig tree. It must have been something special. It was so life changing that Nathanael said to Jesus, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” What was going on with Nathanael? Was he crying? Was he contemplating suicide? Was he visited by God with great joy? We don’t know. What we do know is that Nathanael experienced a life-change of some sort. And because Jesus knows what was going on in his life, he sees Jesus not just as Rabbi, but as Son of God, as King of Israel.
Where are the holy experiences in our lives, our secrete lives, under our own fig tree where Jesus sees us and then lets us know that we have been seen as he did Nathanael? How do we become as appreciated by Jesus as Nathanael was? I believe we already are.
I believe that when Jesus/God sends us to someone God also prepares that someone to receive us. And not always does the person we are sent to, or who is sent to us, made aware of it. Many times God speaks to us through us. So we need to be careful. Who was the Philip that God sent to you about Jesus? What was the holy time and place (fig tree) of your life? Name the person. Name the place. Name the time. To do so is healing. We all have those Nathanael- fig tree moments. It doesn’t mean that we are pure, but it does mean that Jesus sees us at those life-changing moments and only you and Jesus know what’s happening.
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and to serve, and to teach others to love and to serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
Let us pray: (The Collect for Saturdays BCP p. 99)
Almighty God, who after the creation of the world rested from all your works and sanctified a day of rest for all your creatures: Grant that we, putting away all earthly anxieties, may be duly prepared for the service of your sanctuary, and that our rest here upon earth may be a preparation for the eternal rest promised to your people in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
onewhoponders 