How Did Nathan Know?
Epiphany 2 - January 15th
John 1:43-51
† IN His Name! †
Grace to you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord, Jesus Christ!
A great Confession, often overlooked!
Matt 16:16
But how did he know?
In the gospels, there are a number of confessions about who Jesus was. The best known probably, is when Peter confesses in Matthew 16, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Also well known, is the great scene in the upper room, where Jesus asks Thomas to put his hand in His side, his fingers in the His wounds, and Thomas replies, My Lord, and my God!.
There is one confession that often goes overlooked, the one in today’s Gospel reading. Perhaps it is overlooked because it is not Peter who utters the words, or one of the inner circle of apostles. It definitely does not have the dramatic power of Thomas’ confession in the Upper room, or Peter’s confession.
Yet here it is, at the very beginning of the ministry of Jesus, an apostle, declaring Jesus to be the Son of God. Declaring Him to be the King of Israel. Acknowledging Jesus as his Master.
Every time I come across this passage, I wonder about how Nathaniel knew that Jesus was the Messiah, how he could make that decision, after hearing Jesus speak only 24 words. Peter had several years of observing Jesus, and according to Jesus, the Father revealed it to Him, even then. Thomas had a crucified Jesus, standing, alive, yet with all the wounds easily visible, easily touchable.
So how did Nathaniel know? How did he, after spending just a few minutes with Jesus, know He was the one whom would save the world from sin?
1. Jesus decided to go
a. With a goal in mind…
b. To call those who would follow
I think we have to start that morning, as Jesus, our lesson tells us, gets up, and heads to the Galilee. I would draw out for you, form the text, two verbs. The first , found in verse 43, is that Jesus decides to go to Galilee. That verb desire is one which notes a specific outcome. We see the past tense of the verb in Hebrews 2:4
4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. Hebrews 2:4 (ESV)
That phrase, “according to his will” is the same word as the word translated here as decision, except that on is in past tense. But it shows the point that I am making, that in “deciding”to go to Galilee, Jesus had something in mind for the day. We see the word again used in 1 Cor 12:18,
18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 1 Corinthians 12:18 (ESV)
You see the concept there again, in the word “chose”. God planned how the church would work together, as they chose. In the same way, Jesus, in calling His apostles, planned out who he would call, and how they would work together. He set out that morning, to add Phillip and Nathaniel to his group of men, who would fish for men.
Their hearts were ready, made ready by the Holy Spirit, though we shall see, that they may not have realized, how God had already moved in their lives, getting them ready to meet their Lord, the Messiah.
2. Who? found who?
So Jesus goes out, and finds Phillip. He asks him to “follow me”. When Jesus asks this, there is a commitment implied. You see, he’s not asking him to follow him over to Outpost for lunch, or down to Starbucks for a triple espresso latte cappuccino with cream and three cherries. He asking Phillip to become a disciple, more like what we would call an apprentice these days.
Phillip goes out, and finds his friend Nathan, and tells him, “we’ve found him, the one whom Moses in the Law and the prophets tell us about!” The way this is phrased, is important. Phillip uses the plural – first person form of the verb. He is telling Nathaniel that Nathaniel and he have found the One whom they have looked. The Messiah, the one that Israel had waited centuries for, the one whom that it was promised would restore Israel, would forgive sins, would reign in peace.
A couple of years ago, the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series in 87 years. It was funny listening to all the stories the next day on Sports Talk radio stations, as they had people from all around the country, telling of how long they, and their parents and grandparents had waited for that day. It didn’t matter if you were 95, like one caller, or 12, like another. The Red Sox fans had waited so long for that victory. It was overwhelming to them. One news report showed a cemetery, that had Red Sox t-shirts placed over about 1/3 of the headstones!
Yet the Messiah coming was so much more, not just one century, since the occupations that Jeremiah and Isaiah witnessed, Israel had longed for its freedom; since Solomon’s sons split the kingdom they had waited for such a king; and the kingdom he would bring. Since the time of the judges, they had waited for someone who would bring justice to the people. Since Aaron, they had waited for the ultimate high priest, whose offering for the forgiveness of sins, would be acceptable, and never had to be repeated. Since the days of Moses, they waited for such a prophet, who would speak for mankind, and bring the new covenant.
Phillip says – Nate – the Messiah is here, the one you and I have been waiting for! As Nathan gets excited about this, Phillip identifies Jesus, as being from Nazareth. Nathaniel throws on the breaks, and asks, you gotta be kidding me, can anything good come from Nazareth? That little place? That slum? His reaction is honest, and instantaneous, and probably is why Jesus will say he is a man who is not deceitful. Biased perhaps, but he doesn’t pretend he thinks other than he does. He states it out clearly.
Imagine if I told you the next president of the United States was coming from Borrego Springs, or even from Anza. What would your reaction be?
Phillip gives one of the best answers possible. He doesn’t debate Nathaniel, he does judge him or get defensive, but he does the one thing that cannot be countered. He says, come and see. In Phillip, we see one of the great simple outlines for evangelism, one of the great ways to invite people to know Jesus.
Tell the person that we have found what we need,
And invite them, to come and see.
Then let God take care of the rest. He will move in their hearts, he will prepare them to hear His call.
3. Nathan’s call
a. Not sure of details, but there is some loaded meaning there
i. Moral character?
So Nathan starts on the way. Probably still shaking his head a bit, asking himself, Nazareth? Nazareth? Nah… Nazareth?
We see the rest of the story there, in the gospel, as Jesus notes that Nathaniel is a man of his word, even if his word is, different. He shoots straight-forward, even if it means offending this Messiah. Nazareth?
I love the realism in this story. Nathaniel is not dragged kicking and screaming to Jesus, but he goes with a lot of doubt. Nazareth? He might even be one of the apostles, who when the resurrected Jesus, gives the great commission, is noted as still doubting…
Yet he meets Jesus, and very few words are exchanged, as Jesus notes that He saw Nathan sitting under a tree. And then it comes, the good confession,
"Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"
What was happening, while Nathaniel was under that tree, pastors love to speculate about, was he praying? Was he meditating on the Law? Was he sleeping and having a vision?
Don’t know – wish I did. But Nathaniel did, and he proclaims,
"Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"
Nathan’s Confession
b. Master –
c. Son of God
d. King of Israel
In one feel swoop, Nathaniel’s doubt change to instant faith. His doubt of the origin from Nazareth, is replaced by the undeniable proclamation, that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, the King of Israel, so long awaited for. The one of whom the prophets promised,
Zephaniah 3:15 (ESV) 15 The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil.
In acknowledging that Jesus was the Messiah, the King of Israel, he realizes that Jesus is the one who will remove all condemnation from us, thought Nathaniel doesn’t yet realize this will be by suffering on the cross. In acknowledging that Jesus is the Son of God, no enemy can ever prosper against what Jesus does for Nathaniel, and those like him. Not satan, nor sin, not even death can move against him. Again, he while acknowledging this, I do not think, that he realizes this victory we be won at the cross.
You know, I asked a question to start this sermon – how did Nathaniel know? How could he have known that Jesus is the one whom He described? After all, he doubted.
In Peter’s confession, that is so similar, Jesus indicates that it is God the Father who reveals such. That the Holy Spirit prepares the heart, and that the Word of God gives us the grace we need, to believe, to have faith to trust. The Holy Spirit even sends people like Phillip, to guide us Nathaniel’s to Him. Where then, we too can share with others the invitation to come, and see.
While it is not obvious how this happened to Nathaniel- we see that he did know. He did come to believe, he became a man of faith.
So may each of us, and many more, who we invite to simply, come and see…..
