Nathanael said to him, “Can any good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46 [NASB])
Consider a child who walks to school. The parents of that
child tell him which route to take. Most times that route prescribed by the
parents is for the safety of the child. The route instructed by the parents
tells the child which streets to walk past and which to walk through as he goes. Often, the path the parents dictate makes the him walk longer. What causes
parents or society to tell a child he can walk down one street but not another?
The parents want the child to avoid these streets because he could be unsafe. Consider
now, the reasons the parents want their child to bypass certain streets are not
because of physical safety, but because of prejudice. Possibly one set of
streets has people of another race or religion living or working on it. Why would
anyone want to raise prejudiced children? Let’s examine what we learn from Jesus’
discernment of the heart of Nathanael.
In John 1, John testified he was not the Christ. (vs. 20) As
He continued to speak to the priests and Levites from Jerusalem, he identified
himself as the “voice crying in the wilderness” of which Isaiah prophesied.
John believed in the Christ and proclaimed Him. He identified Him as greater
than himself, and at Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River, he proclaimed Jesus as
the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (vs. 29) John’s heart
was true to the Messiah before he met Him.
What makes a person able to believe and testify to Jesus
being the Christ, the Messiah? What makes that person unprejudiced against
Jesus? What keeps people from believing? John believed without seeing Jesus
that the Messiah had arrived. Then when he saw Jesus, he proclaimed this Man is
the one of whom he preached. He said, “This is the Son of God.” (vs. 34) Jesus,
after His baptism, walked around the Sea of Galilee calling men to follow Him. First,
two of John’s disciples followed Him, one of whom was Andrew, Simon Peter’s
brother. Next, Jesus found Philip and told him, “Follow Me.” (vs. 43) Philip
found Nathanael and told him he had found the One about whom Moses and the
Prophets wrote. He identified this One as Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
(vs. 45)
Nathanael’s reaction is often the reaction of people who
express prejudice. In verse forty-six, he said, “Can any good thing come out of
Nazareth?” Nathanael had not seen or met Jesus yet and already held Him in
contempt because of where His parents raised Him. He did not want to believe a
man from Nazareth could be the Messiah and so already had bias against Jesus.
Why did Nathanael hold Nazareth in contempt? What was the basis for his
prejudice? Is there ever any right reason to be prejudiced?
Nazareth was in the lower region of Galilee on the southwest
side of the Sea of Galilee. It was not on a major trade route and had few
inhabitants. Bible scholars consider it may have had 500 people living in it
during the first century. Nazareth was not a sophisticated or glamourous place.
It wasn’t from where the Jews expected the Messiah to come. In answer to the
questions posited, Nathanael held Nazareth in contempt because of its size and
location. It wasn’t near Jerusalem or in Judah. He based his prejudice on place
and what he’d learned from people in his own social sphere. Nathanael did not
have a just reason for prejudice against Jesus. He had never met Him. No person
can give a good reason for prejudice. God did not make one people with a
particular skin color who lived in a preferred place and tell them to rule over
the others. He did not make one race, nation, tribe, or tongue and call them
very, very good, while all the others He called very good. God created man and
woman in His image and declared them very good, then told them to have dominion
over the animals and plants, not over other people.
Consider Nathanael’s response to Jesus when he meets Him. When
Jesus saw Nathanael coming to meet Him, He said of him, “Behold, an Israelite
indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” (vs 47) Before Nathanael met Jesus, Jesus
knew his heart. Jesus showed lack of prejudice against Nathanael and told him
the truth of his heart. Nathanael had no deceit, in Greek, dolos. This means Nathanael did not try
to trap Jesus or others with his own ideas but sought the truth for himself. He
did not stand back and spout contempt but went to meet Jesus for himself. Jesus
confronted Nathanael with the truth of his heart, that he wanted to know the
truth about Him. He answered Nathanael’s question about how He knew him in
verse forty-eight. Jesus said, “Before Philip called you, when you were under
the fig tree, I saw you.” He said, “I saw you.” He discerned clearly who Nathanael
truly was in his heart and spirit. Nathanael’s response to Jesus’ understanding
of himself caused him to proclaim his newly understood certainty of who Jesus
is. With the blinds of societal prejudice removed from his mind’s eyes, he
declared, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.” (vs 49)
What made Nathanael able to trust Jesus as the Messiah, the
Son of God? Jesus’ revealed truth. What caused him not to view Jesus with
prejudice? Jesus’ revealed truth. What keeps people from believing in Jesus?
Prejudice, lack of truth. Jesus disclosed the true heart of Nathanael, the
heart God created. The heart God created for each person is to love Him above
everything else we hold dear and to love other people just as we love
ourselves. (Matthew 22:36-40) Nathanael’s society caused him to learn prejudice
against other people, particularly the people of Nazareth. Such prejudice is
not part of God’s original creation but comes from sin. When Jesus disclosed the
truth of Nathanael’s heart as He discerned it, the blinds that shuttered truth
and love from his heart, mind, and spirit, fell away. This revelation allowed
Nathanael to recognize the truth of Jesus, that He is the Messiah, the Son of
God.
Jesus’ gift to Nathanael was sight, truth, and salvation.
That’s His gift to every person. Jesus wants each person to receive true sight
so he or she can recognize the prejudice-sin-into which Satan tricks them into believing.
He wants us to know the truth. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the Way, the
Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
Consider again the parents giving instructions to their
child about which way to walk to and from school. Ponder what could happen if a
parent allowed a child to walk another way home so he or she walked through
neighborhoods unlike his or her own and in which his or her physical safety was not a
concern. That child would learn about people different from them socially and
culturally. He or she would recognize the sameness of each person as God created them.
That child would learn every person wants to be loved, to have a home, to live
with family, and to have food, clothes, and drink. Each person wants to feel safe
and truly to be heard and seen. If that child could walk the streets of people from
different cultures and histories, he or she would learn to love more, understand
better, see clearly, and care globally about all people, nations, tribes, and
tongues. He or she would learn how to love as God wants him or her to love, without
prejudice. Your child and you could hear and meet a man from Nazareth who came
to be the Way and give each person salvation.
What roads do you avoid?
What paths in your
heart have you closed?
What are you allowing
to keep you from knowing Jesus, the Truth, the Light, and the Way?
Jesus sees and knows each of us before we even meet Him. He
is ready to tell us the truth and remake us into His own image through God’s
grace-offered salvation.
Will you declare Jesus
the Son of God just as Nathanael did?
Will
you choose sight and salvation,
or
prejudice and perdition?
Lord, You’ve done it again; You’ve shown me
truth and I don’t want to face what I am and have done. Yes, Lord, I have been
prejudiced against people. I have chosen to side against them rather than stand
for them. It’s easier that way. But Lord, now I am in the corner facing my sins
regarding this. I recognize I am a sinner and truly sorry for the way I have thought
about and interacted with and against people. Lord, You’ve shown me truth and I
can hardly bare it. Yet, You tell me You will forgive me this. Lord, I am
unworthy of Your forgiveness. I deserve punishment, yet You offer me grace; You
offer me salvation from these, my sins. Lord, thank you. Thank you for loving
me so much that You kept calling to me and showing me You already provided for
the condemnation I deserve. Thank you for forgiving and saving me, Lord. I
accept Your gift of salvation, forgiveness, and eternal life with You. I am
unworthy, but You are almighty, faithful, and loving. Oh Lord, here’s my life,
make it Yours completely. Thank you for giving me sight into the truth of myself
and providing the Way. Amen.
