JULY 19 - Jesus One on One: Nathanael

On Sunday, July 19 we looked at Jesus' encounter with Nathanael in John 1:43-51.

To go a little deeper, here are some thoughts by various writers across the years on the character Nathanael.

JOHN WESLEY. [Nathanael] appears to have been a man of an excellent spirit; not hasty of belief, and yet open to conviction, and willing to receive the truth, from whencesoever it came....What is implied in our Lord's character of him? "In whom is no guile." It may include all that is contained in that advice, -- "Still let thy heart be true to God, thy words to it, thy actions to them both."

RAY STEDMAN. Jesus could read people instantly and accurately in a way no one else could. And when he saw Nathanael coming to him, he read the character of Nathanael like a book: "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false." There was no deceitfulness in Nathanael, no tendency to hide or be devious. Nathanael's immediate response was, "How do you know me?" Clearly, Nathanael felt that Jesus had hit the nail on the head. He was a man who worked diligently at building both a reputation and the consistent inner reality of integrity and honesty.

WILLIAM BARCLAY. It was not so much that Jesus had seen him under the fig tree that surprised Nathanael; it was the fact that Jesus had read the thoughts of his inmost heart....Nathanael stands for the Israelite whose heart was cleansed of pride and prejudice and who saw in Jesus the one who satisfied the longing of his waiting, seeking heart.

AUGUSTINE (354-430 AD). Nathanael, remembering he had been under the fig tree where the Lord had not been, recognized the divinity in him and answered, "You are the Son of God, you are the king of Israel." Though he was under the fig tree, he did not become a withered fig tree; he acknowledged Christ.