I’m going to ‘try’ to start posting some of my ‘stuff’ on here again!! 🙂

This was written for and given at the Lynnville UMC on January 19, 2003, and any ‘dates’ mention correspond to That time… The Scripture verses are from John 1: 43-51…

 

In the latter part of 1964, mom and dad made the deal to purchase our twenty-three acre farm north of Edwardsville, and we moved in just before Christmas. The previous owner had apparently been selling off some of the dirt from the big hill in the back pasture, and part of the deal included leveling off and dressing up that area. Over the course of the rest of that winter one of our new neighbors made a point of stopping in and introducing himself. (Actually, he made quite a nuisance of himself, over time, but he did eventually hire me to work for him.) One of the things we learned from him was that, along with the equipment he used on his farm, he had an assortment of very old heavy construction equipment, and it was he who was going to do the work on that hillside once the weather and ground warmed up and dried out.

So it was that on an early spring day I was standing down close to the barn, next to two of the new fences we had already put up that winter, watching him move dirt with the old cable-operated Cat D7 that he had used to ditch and drain the swamp-land that he now farmed. Suddenly, I felt my stomach tighten-up as a very strange thought filled my mind.

Now, keep in mind that until we moved to that farm, none of us had ever met our neighbor. And though I was certainly familiar with all types of construction equipment, even at that age, I doubt that I had ever seen one quite that old up close until that day.  Not only that, but those fences that I was standing next to did not exist until we built them that winter. And yet at some time in the past, while still living in Hartford, I had dreamed that very scene! There was the crawler on the side of the hill with him on it, pushing dirt, as seen through the wire fence from exactly the position I was standing in. A cold chill ran up and down my spine!

If this had been the only time something like this had happened, I would have just chalked it up to an over-active imagination and let it go at that. The thing was, it had happened before, and it happened in later years. And while many of those occurrences were just vague feelings of ‘déjà vu’, some were much stronger feelings of actually having ‘experienced’ the situation before! But this one was the clearest and the only one I still remember, probably because it had a Caterpillar in it.

As I got older, these experiences either stopped or reached the point were I believed I probably HAD actually seen something like that at some point in time. But a few years ago, I woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat from a dream that I had a very vivid memory of! We were driving down a gravel road very near a body of water that was flooding, and I somehow got the car wheels into it and was sucked in! This picture haunted me for some time, and even though I knew it had only been a dream, I couldn’t shake the feeling of fear and danger that it had created in me.

Some time later, we chanced to take an outing towards Hannibal, and as we crossed the bridge we noted the Mississippi River being up quite a bit. After returning to the Illinois side, I thought I might drive around and see how close I could get to the river and check it out. We explored until we found ourselves driving down a gravel road running along the river. Suddenly, that great empty yawning feeling of fear gripped me as I recognized parts of my dream! Without thinking a moment more about it, I stopped and turned around right in the middle of the road and got out of there! Now, I don’t know that anything would have happened had I continued on towards the river, but I do know that that lingering fear of danger left me after that day.

Now, I have to tell you that I do not believe that anybody but God can see into the future! And I’m sure that someday all of this will be explained to us. But still, the ‘other-world’-ly feeling that we get from stories like this can help us to understand a little of how Nathanael felt in today’s verses.

As we join our story today, John has been telling of Jesus’ experience with John the Baptist and how Jesus called Andrew to follow Him. Andrew then went to his brother Simon and told him all about Jesus. When brought to Him, Jesus said’ “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter). (Both Cephas, which is Aramaic, and Peter, which is Greek, mean rock.) The next day, Jesus leaves for Galilee and calls Philip to follow Him. Philip, in turn, runs to tell his friend, Nathaniel. Now, in the list of disciples in the other Gospels, Philip and Bartholomew are listed together, while here in John, we find Philip and Nathanael paired up. Since Bartholomew is not mentioned in the fourth Gospel and Nathanael is not mentioned in the synoptic Gospels, Nathanael would seem to be none other than Bartholomew. One of the possible reasons given for this is that Bartholomew is not a proper name; it signifies the son of Ptolomy… Nathanael might have been his own name.

In any case, Nathanael’s first words to Philip were, “Can any good come out of Nazareth?”  ‘Barnes’ Notes’ tell us that…

The character of Nazareth was proverbially bad. To be a Galilean or a Nazarene was an expression of decided contempt. Nathanael asked, therefore, whether it was possible that the Messiah should come from a place proverbially wicked. This mode of judging is not uncommon. It is not by examining evidence, but by prejudice. Many persons fill their minds with prejudice against religion, and then refuse any evidence to the contrary. They refuse to examine the subject, for they have set it down that it CANNOT be true.

Philip, however, had the best possible answer for Nathanael… “Come and see!” Again quoting from ‘Barnes’ Notes’…

 (Philip) did not sit down to REASON with (Nathanael), or speculate about the possibility that a good thing could come from Nazareth… he asked him to go and examine for himself… to see the Lord Jesus, to hear him converse, to lay aside his prejudice, and to judge from a fair and candid personal inquiry.

In these few verses we find four examples of people finding Christ. In the first, He is pointed out as the Messiah by a teacher (John the Baptist) and the students follow…Then, one of them runs home and gets his brother to come with him, and he is called. Next, in today’s verses, Philip is called directly by Jesus… after which he hurries to tell his friend. ‘The Wycliffe Bible Commentary’ states that, “Philip vindicated Jesus’ confidence in him as a disciple by finding Nathanael and breathing to him conviction that Jesus of Nazareth was the long-awaited One who fulfilled the predictions of Moses and the prophets. One may witness to the Lord even if his understanding is incomplete or even faulty.” In other words, even though Philip was a brand-new convert, whose knowledge of the Lord was in its infancy, he was still able to convince his friend to come meet Jesus.

When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.” Jesus’ statement about Nathanael reveals that Nathanael was an honest man. The Greek word for false is also translated as “guile”, (which) means “deceit, cunning, and falsehood.” Nathanael was void of such characteristics. The ‘Life Application Commentary’ says that, “Jesus’ direct, intimate knowledge of him must have taken Nathanael by surprise. He was not offended, just intensely curious.” So Nathanael asks, “How do you know me?” And it is in Jesus’ answer that we begin to find clues to who He really is!

“I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” The ‘Life Application Commentary says that it is, “Here (that) Jesus unveiled his omniscience to Nathanael. Jesus had been aware of Nathanael’s exact location before Philip called him. According to Jewish tradition, the expression “to sit under the fig tree” was a euphemism for meditating on the Scriptures. Thus, Jesus had seen Nathanael studying the Scriptures before Philip had called him to come and see Jesus.

          “The early disciples of Jesus were well versed in the Scriptures. Life in the small towns of Israel revolved around the synagogue, where the Old Testament was constantly read, taught, and argued. Unlike many of the studied religious leaders of the day, these simple men understood the Scriptures, and knew what to look for. So when the Messiah came, they recognized him!” Also, ‘Barnes’ Notes’ point out that, “It is clear, from the narrative, that Jesus did not mean to say that he was bodily present with Nathanael and saw him… but he knew his thoughts… his desires, his secret feelings and wishes.”

Jesus was impressed with how quickly Nathanael grasped the full impact of the situation. “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that. I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Jesus knew about Nathanael before the two ever met. Jesus also knows what we are really like. And that can be disturbing to some. An honest person will feel comfortable with the thought that Jesus knows him or her through and through. A dishonest person will feel uncomfortable. We can’t pretend to be something we’re not because God knows who we really are and what we think at every moment!

This is the part that frightens us… that Jesus sees what is done in secret… He sees us when we little think of it… He sees us in our private devotions, hears our prayers, and marks our meditations… and He sees us during all of those times when we are NOT doing any of those things!

In a made-for-TV movie some years ago, an ex-preacher, played by William Shatner, made a last-minute decision to ‘look’ at all of the demons that had taken over the airplane that they were on, even though they were only seconds away from being saved. When he looked, the door behind him was blown open and he was sucked out to his death, just as the sun rose and drove the demons back into where they had come from. I mention this only because of what his ‘wife’ said afterwards when asked why he did it. “It was a last act of faith,” she said. “You see, if there really were demons, then there must also be a God!” Perhaps that’s why we sometimes get nervous when we hear stories like the ones I told at the beginning… they take us into the world of the occult, which many believe brings us closer to the world of Satan. And if Satan is somehow proved to us, then God must also be real… and not everyone is ready for that kind of reality!

Many people have conditioned themselves to believe in God and Christ only on an ethereal level, that is, they are only real to us in our minds… and that is part of what faith is. But there is so much more. Nathanael and Philip and Andrew all had the opportunity to touch the living Lord… to listen to His words… to be a part of His ministry! He was REAL! Today, two-thousand years later, we have lost touch with some of that reality. And when we are confronted with it, it frightens us, much as it might have frightened Nathanael! But… Christ is just as alive today as He was when He told Nathanael that He had seen him under the fig tree! God is just as real as when He appeared before Moses in the burning bush! And when we are confronted with that reality, it frightens us… because we are forced to consider just how prepared we really are!

Are you prepared for the reality of meeting Jesus? Will He say, “Here is an honest person who has served me well”, or will He not know you? The time for reality is NOW!