The text opens with Nathanael coming towards Jesus who looked up and exclaimed, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” (47)
What a commendation that is. A person with no deceit, a person who is honest, genuine and straightforward — a great character.
In my last two blogs I commented about how apt the texts were in the light of the upcoming election with all the lies, half-truths and derogatory remarks being made with no thought to the harm such accusations cause. One only needs to look at the Haitian community to see the harm caused by lies told for political gain. I think this opening phrase is also very apt for this particular time.
I want to look a little more at Nathanael. It is assumed that Nathanael in John’s gospel is the Bartholomew of the synoptics. The scriptures give no direct link, but the comparison of the lists of apostles has led to that understanding. It is often thought that Nathanael is the given name while Bartholomew was the surname.
Today, I want to ponder only on this first encounter with Jesus. To do so, I want to back up a little and set the text in context. Nathanael was invited to come and see Jesus by his friend Philip. It is clear they were both versed in the scriptures, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and about whom the prophets wrote — Jesus of Nazareth” (45)
“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” (46) was the response. It is here I want to pause and dwell for a moment. It is quite a response showing blatantly the prejudice against people from Nazareth. Nazareth was a tiny place; Nathanael was from Cana and was likely emphasizing a commonly held view.
So where do such prejudices come from? They are deeply ingrained and often held without people realizing they hold them. Prejudices come from our family, our upbringing, our social circle, our culture and, more recently, from social media.
Often, it is easy to see where a prejudice is coming from in others. I read or hear something, I recognize the bias and refuse to accept it until I check it out — especially those opinions on social media!
However, most of the prejudice we hold are unconscious. Others are needed to open our eyes to them and reveal them for the bias they hold. That is exactly what happened to Nathanael. He was challenged by his friend, Philip, “Come and see.” (46).
A short sentence, but a profound one and a very important one. Those few words issue a challenge — don’t remain with your prejudice, Nathanael but come and check it out. I don’t know what went on in Nathanael’s mind and heart, the text offers no detail or insight.
Facing our prejudices is often like that, a short phrase or action challenges and everything changes. It is like a veil has fallen away. There is no going back — I’m sure, like me, you can look back and see times when this has happened in your lives. These are significant moments.
Everything changed for Nathanael, he laid aside the deep-seated prejudice and went to meet Jesus. And was met by that wonderful phrase, “an Israelite in whom there is no deceit”.
Nathanael was honest, open and straightforward. He had received the challenge to his innate prejudice, accepted the challenge and moved beyond it revealing the character of the person he was. Character matters!
