In the Father and Son, the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.
Welcome to Coptic Orthodox Answer Deep Dive where we aim to dive deeper into certain subjects. We are looking at the Gospel of John. So far, we've seen how John 1 parallels Genesis 1 where in Genesis 1 there are seven days where God witnesses to Himself that He is the Creator. So, in John 1, it is the same.
Last time we saw, in verse 19, the first day of this witness when some Jews came to ask John the Baptist who he was and he said that he was not the Messiah and the Messiah was still to come. Neither was he the prophet or Elijah, etc. And in verse 29 was day #2 where he points towards God and says: this is the Lamb of God who holds the sin of the world or takes away the sin of the world. And we're about to jump into days #3 and 4 in this specific episode of Deep Dive.
Verse 35, it says:
'' 35 Again, the next day [which is day #3], John stood with two of his disciples. 36 And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, ''Behold the Lamb of God!'' 37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.'' (John 1:35-37)
So, for the second time in a row, St. John the Baptist proclaims that this Messiah is the Lamb of God. And here, we have the two disciples of John the Baptist that followed Christ rather than staying with John the Baptist. And here, St. John the beloved wants to emphasize how the movement of John the Baptist should not be there anymore, but any of his disciples should now follow Christ who is the Messiah, Jesus Himself, the Son of God. And this had much importance and we have seen this throughout the last Bible studies.
Then it says, in verse 38:
'' 38 Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, ''What do you seek?'' They said to Him, ''Rabbi'' (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), ''where are You staying?'' '' (John 1:38)
So here, since St. John is talking about the divinity of Christ, he's writing to Hebrews and he's writing to Gentiles as well. So, although he's writing in Greek mainly, when he uses the word rabbi, he translates it into teacher for all of his audience to understand what he's talking about, right? Here, the word rabbi was not only specific to priests, so it was normal for him to use it for Christ Himself.
And says, at verse 39:
'' 39 [And] He said to them, ''Come and see.'' They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour) [which means about 4 pm]. 40 One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, ''We have found the Messiah'' (which is translated, the Christ) [so again, he translates in both languages].'' (John 1:39-41)
And they say that, most probably, that the second disciple was John the beloved himself, because he was a partner with Andrew at work, right?, being fishermen both of them. So, chances are both of them were there at the same time. And it was very common for St. John to keep himself anonymous from his own Gospel.
So, and important point to consider spiritually here is that St. John the beloved and St. Andrew were seeking the truth and they knew, they understood that the truth is a person. So, when they heard the testimony of St. John the Baptist that their Christ, Jesus, He is the Messiah, they left John the Baptist and they followed Him. And that's why God turned around and said: What do you seek? and then, they asked Him: Where are you staying, Rabbi?, right? So, they sought Him.
And that is very important for us, because often, we seek not God Himself, but we seek things from God. We deal with God as if He's some sort of vending machine or He is Santa Claus where we seek things from Him. And our prayers are mainly about asking for things, whether they're important or not.
But we never really consider having a deep relationship, an intimate relationship with Him. And that in itself is not right. We ought to imitate St. John the beloved and St. Andrew in seeking Christ who is the truth. And here, St. Andrew, when he heard and followed and stayed with Christ (so, he was intimate with Him), he started to understanding that He was the Messiah.
Obviously, getting to know that He was the Messiah is a process in the same way that I, when I take my retreat with God, when I follow Him, this relationship is built bit by bit. It's a process when I... and He gets to become my own personal God. So, as St. Andrew brings St. Peter to Jesus, it says, in verse 42:
'' 42 And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, ''You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas'' (which is translated, A Stone).'' (John 1:42)
So, St. John Chrysostom notices that there's two names. The first one is in the present where Christ says to Simon: You are the son of Jonah. So, He wants to demonstrate to him that He has a higher power, a supernatural power. And based on that truth that He knows the name of his father, He also proclaims that He will change his name and his name will be called Cephas. He will be a rock. He will be a stone, as we know what this means that... that the Church will be built on that faith of St. Peter. But based on Him being correct in the present, He also will be correct in the future.
So, on this, St. Cyril says:
''For not having needed a single word, nor even sought to learn who or whence the man came to Him; He says of what father he was born, and what was his own name, and permits him to be no more called Simon, already exercising lordship and power over him, as being His: but changes it to Peter from petra...'' (St. Cyril of Alexandria)
So here, St. Cyril discusses how Christ has shown lordship, authority, and He's exercising power over Simon and He's doing this by changing his name. And that is very important, because once He does that, He accepts Simon as His own disciple, and therefore, He calls him Peter.
The change of name also has a different meaning where my identity is now different. It's now changed. So, we see this practice in the Church all the time when we see a priest or a bishop or a monk or a nun being ordained, the names are changed, because the person has become a different person, a different being: he's now solely focused on Christ. He's sanctified, consecrated.
And that's also for every Christian. And that's why, at the day of baptism, there's usually a baptismal name and has to do or has to be related to a name of a saint, meaning that now, you were called so and so, now you are called Peter or called John, James, Andrew, regardless. You are called by the name of a saint, because now you're a christ, you're also consecrated to Him. And therefore, we ought to live our lives in that manner, being holy, consecrated to God, being filled with the Holy Spirit, and therefore, being His and only His.
Now, in verse 43, it says:
'' 43 The following day [which is day #4] Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, ''Follow Me.'' 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ''We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.'' (John 1:43-45)
Here, Nathanael is also known as Bartholomew. In the synoptic Gospels, meaning Matthew, Mark and Luke, he is named Bartholomew. And Bartholomew was always coupled with Philip when Matthew, Mark and Luke would write the names of the twelve disciples. But John calls him Nathanael. So in other words, Nathanael and Bartholomew are the same person.
There's also something else worth noting here. Notice how, at the end of the verse, St. John calls Jesus the son of Joseph. Here, obviously, does not mean that St. John disagrees with the Virgin Birth. That's not the case at all. But here, St. John uses the Jewish legal way of describing Christ, so he says He comes from the lineage of Joseph, in other words.
Obviously, we cannot call Joseph the father of Jesus, because he is not. Christ, the Messiah, has only one father who is God the Father. We call St. Mary God's mother, because she bore Him in her womb and that's okay, because she is the God bearer. But we do not call St. Joseph the father of Christ.
Now, as we continue reading, it says in verse 46:
'' 46 And Nathanael said to him, ''Can anything good come out of Nazareth?'' Philip said to him, ''Come and see.'' 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, ''Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!'' 48 Nathanael said to Him, ''How do You know me?'' Jesus answered and said to him, ''Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.'' 49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, ''Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!'' '' (John 1:46-49)
So, we saw, in day 3, that, again, John the Baptist pointed to Christ and said that this is the Lamb of God, so he too... he's witnessing to Him once more. And then, in turn, Andrew, in day 3, proclaimed Christ as the Messiah, so he's witnessing that He is the Messiah. The same with day 4 here, Nathanael proclaims and says: Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel! So, again, he's witnessing that Christ Himself is the Messiah.
The first point to consider here is how Nathanael talks about Nazareth. He says: Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Why does he say that? Because Nazareth was not mentioned once in the Old Testament. Therefore, it has no political weight. It has no historical weight. So, in his mind, he asks himself: How is it that a messiah or a prophet can come out of that city?
But more importantly, we see here, in verse 47, how Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him and said to him: Behold, an Israelite indeed in whom is no deceit! And then, Nathanael asks: How do You know me? and He says: When you were under the fig tree, I saw you, and then Nathanael responds: You are the Son of God!, right? You are the King of Israel!
So here, the same type of witness that we saw with Simon, the son of Jonah, who is to be called Peter, this supernatural knowledge of God is again shown here with Nathanael. And it's very obvious that Nathanael, when he was under the fig tree, he had some deep spiritual experience. It's not described what this experience was. He probably felt God very close to him. It was a very intimate experience which he had. And therefore, when Christ told him: I saw you while you were under the tree, Nathanael clicked. He understood, right? And he said: Rabbi, You are the Son of God!
Another theory about this is that, potentially, Nathanael heard John the Baptist discussing the Messiah that is to come and he went and he was praying under the fig tree and he was pondering these things in his mind and he was praying, maybe, potentially, that he would love to see the Messiah. And... and as he's praying this, Philip comes and sees him and calls him and tells him: we have found the Messiah. And therefore, he goes and follows Philip. And then, as Christ says to him: I have seen you under the fig tree, he proclaims Him as the Messiah right away.
Another point to extract here from the text is how Nazareth was potentially a stumbling block for Nathanael. But Philip didn't care much about arguing. He told him simply: Come and see. And Nathanael went and saw. And because he saw, he tasted God, and then he told Him: Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!
So, his belief came through an encounter with God. 'Cause God is a person. Unfortunately, we don't do this much today. Many people do not care about knowing God, but they care about knowing about God, like I said earlier, or we just, you know, argue. You know, we do a lot of apologetics or whatever it is that we do, was He a historical figure or not, and so on and so forth.
And we do all of these things, but these are not the things that help much. They do help, because they guide people in the right direction, but what really helps is to stand in front of God and to pray, to go to the liturgy, to open my Bible and read, to encounter God. And by doing so, He becomes more and more real. Regardless whether we are Christian or not, right?, this is one of the most important ways in which we ought to approach God and in which God reveals Himself to us.
Now prior to moving on to verse 50 onwards, there is a historical context that is very crucial for us to understand. At the time, the Jews considered the Messiah as someone that will bring them from under the Roman authority, someone like King David, for example, that would lead them into war and would liberate them and free them and make them a nation once again. And because of this, they had a lowly understanding of who the Messiah was. But Christ wanted to fix that in Nathanael. So He says, in verse 50:
'' 50 Jesus answered and said to him, ''Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these.'' 51 And He said to him, ''Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.'' '' (John 1:50-51)
Of course, this is a reference to the ladder of Jacob in Genesis 28:12, where Jacob was sleeping on the rock, and then he saw, in his dream, this ladder connecting heaven and earth and the angels ascending and descending upon it. So here, this is a symbol of the reconciliation between heaven and earth, between God and humanity.
So, Christ wanted to tell Nathanael that you misunderstand who the Messiah is. His job or His role is much bigger and more important than you think. I am here about to reconcile heaven and earth through the cross and the resurrection. This is who the Messiah ought to be.
Remember: Know your faith, live your faith, and teach your faith. And glory be to God forever and ever. Amen.
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Remember: Know your faith, live your faith, and teach your faith.