John 1:35-51

John 1:35-51 (HCSB) ³⁵ Again the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples. ³⁶ When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look! The Lamb of God!” ³⁷ The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus. ³⁸ When Jesus turned and noticed them following Him, He asked them, “What are you looking for?” They said to Him, “ Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are You staying?” ³⁹ “Come and you’ll see,” He replied. So they went and saw where He was staying, and they stayed with Him that day. It was about 10 in the morning. ⁴⁰ Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed Him. ⁴¹ He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which means “Anointed One”), ⁴² and he brought [Simon] to Jesus. When Jesus saw him, He said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which means “Rock”). ⁴³ The next day He decided to leave for Galilee. Jesus found Philip and told him, “Follow Me!” ⁴⁴ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. ⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law (and so did the prophets): Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth!” ⁴⁶ “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael asked him. “Come and see,” Philip answered. ⁴⁷ Then Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him and said about him, “Here is a true Israelite; no deceit is in him.” ⁴⁸ “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” Jesus answered. ⁴⁹ “Rabbi,” Nathanael replied, “You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” ⁵⁰ Jesus responded to him, “Do you believe [only] because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” ⁵¹ Then He said, “ I assure you: You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

I recently saw a movie depiction of this scene which showed Nathanael worshiping God under the tree. The picture was that the reason Jesus saw Him under the tree was that he was communing with God - thus indicating that he was “a true Israelite; no deceit is in him.” Whether this was the case or not, it was clear that God had revealed to Jesus who Nathanael was and where he was. This is another reminder that God knows us and knows where we are.

The cool thing here is that Jesus does not see that this insight is that amazing. He seems surprised that this little bit of knowledge is enough to convince Nathanael of His Messiah-ship. Jesus says “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”