Today’s Daily Lesson comes from John chapter 1 verses 45 through 48:
45Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ 46Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’ 47When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ 48Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’
The fig tree is symbolic. It is the place of hiding, the place of anxiety, and of fear, and shame. It is the place where Adam and Eve, our primordial parents, first hid after the fall — behind fig leaves in the garden.
Nathanael’s sarcasm — “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” — is a sign of evasion. It is a coverup. He is in hiding.
Jesus sees through the evasion. He looks past the sarcasm. He has glimpsed and grabbed hold of the heart.
A good counselor, or pastor, or spiritual advisor, or good guide, or friend can do this also. They can see past the snideness and put ons and all the other deflections we use as humans to hide, and get right to the core of who we are without the fig leaves we cut and contrive.
They can get right at our shame and vulnerability and make us feel — perhaps for the first time ever — truly accepted.
Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.
No comments:
Post a Comment