Who Are You? Who Knows You?

Within every human being there is a desire to know and to be known. After the basic physical needs for food, shelter and safety, American psychologist Abraham Maslow argued that the third most basic human need was for a sense of social belonging. 

Nathanael has never met Jesus until this encounter and was introduced by his friend Philip. The meeting would prove very significant for this first-century Jewish man:

When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, ‘Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.’
‘How do you know me?’ Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, ‘I saw you while you were still under the fig-tree before Philip called you.’
Then Nathanael declared, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.’
Jesus said, ‘You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig-tree. You will see greater things than that.’ He then added, ‘Very truly I tell you, you will see “heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on” the Son of Man.’

Jesus did not wait to be introduced to Nathanael. Instead, he declared to this unknown man that he was a true Israelite of good and honest character.

How did Jesus know anything about Nathanael, let alone his moral character? Nathanael had the same question! At this point, the conversation became even more extraordinary. Rather than back down from his initial claim to know about Nathanael's inner life, Jesus added more detail, claiming to have in some sense seen him sitting under a fig tree earlier in the day.

Jesus of Nazareth claimed to be able to see things about people of which he had no natural knowledge. As we shall see in future posts, this encounter with Nathanael would not be the last time that Jesus would show such insight.

Nathanael (his name means 'God has given') was clearly amazed at Jesus's words. We saw earlier that Nathanael was initially sceptical about Jesus. He didn't believe that the Jewish Messiah could come from such an un-glamorous backwater as the small town of Nazareth.

Now, just a few hours later, Nathanael is full of faith in Jesus. The titles he uses for him - Son of God, King of Israel - clearly indicate that Nathanael believes that Jesus is the Messiah, the One sent by God to rescue and save Israel.

Jesus does not discourage such extravagant language; rather, he adds to it. For those of us not familiar with the Jewish background to the story of Jesus, we may miss the point of what follows. The reference to the angels ascending and descending is a direct quote from the first book in the Bible, describing events over a thousand years before Jesus was born. One of the founders of the Jewish race was a man called Jacob. One night, Jacob had a dream of a staircase that reached to heaven. God was on the top of the staircase and angels were going up and down it between heaven and earth. In the dream, God made a promise that through Jacob's descendants, all the people on earth would experience the blessing of God.

If you've ever had a vivid dream and woken up talking, you may appreciate Jacob's words; he was so amazed at the spiritual reality of the dream that, when he woke, he said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven."

By referring to that dream, Jesus is saying to his followers that he himself is the "staircase to heaven." Jesus bridges the gap between God and human beings. Jesus brings the presence of God to people. Jesus is the house of God - the place where God lives and can be seen.

The term Son of Man was also a Jewish one, referring to the divine person who would come and rescue God's people. You can see its earlier use in the Jewish bible here.

Nathanael moved from sceptic to believer through an encounter with Jesus. How are you on your journey of faith? What would need to move you further to a point of calling Jesus the Son of God?

You can read the passage we've looked at today here.






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