By Conrad Gempf
The Gospels have a lot of stories about disciples who were called when they were out fishing. Another was in the middle of collecting taxes. But John 1:43-51 is about a time that Jesus called a guy who was doing nothin’. His name was Nathanael and the story revolves around the time that Jesus saw him hanging around under a fig tree. I once heard a preacher (Roger Pierce was his name) call this the story of Nathaniel and the Three Nothin’s.
Nothin’ Good
The first nothin’ is when the disciple Philip initially tells Nathanael about Jesus. Nathanael scoffed: “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?”
Maybe we all have districts or cities we think of like that. I grew up near New York City, so I always imagine Nathaniel saying the name “Nazareth” with the same sort of disdain New Yorkers use when they say “New Joysey.” We don’t expect nothin’—nothin’ good, anyway.
Nothin’ Bad
The second nothin’ comes from what Jesus says to Nathanael: “Behold an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael probably thought this was just love-bombing, empty flattery to get on his good side. His reply is like a New Yorker’s “What do you know about it?”
But, of course, Jesus really does know Nathanael, and sees him inside and out, his doubts as well as his potential for faith. Jesus then tells him something Nathanael knows that there is no way Jesus could possibly know. “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
The fact that Philip had called Nathanael may have been evident by their walking together or something; but Jesus also tells Nathanael that the call came under the fig tree. “Oh, I can see you, Philip,” Jesus is saying. “And I see nothin’ bad.”
Nothin’ Yet
The third nothin’ comes when Nathanael is convinced that Philip is right about Jesus, and he confesses Jesus as his teacher, king, and Son of God. Jesus says, “Do you believe because I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” Had Jesus been from New York, he might have said “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”
I know that sometimes you—well, all of us—feel a little like Nathanael did. We’re sitting alone under a fig tree (or wherever). When we’re told that there’s something wonderful out there, our experience so far has left us all cynical and makes us scoff, too. Nothin’ good ever happens…
Jesus understands the feeling. He sees your past and he sees your future. And Jesus loves you, wants to forgive you, and can see a new you, with nothin’ bad in you. Nothin’ he can’t fix.
We know Nathanael and the rest of the disciples were in for quite a ride. It didn’t always look to them like anything good would come out of it.
Jesus attracted a lot of crowds, but not everyone stuck around. And he made some very powerful enemies. Sometimes, the disciples will have worried that Jesus would be killed; and maybe they would be, too. Sometimes, they will have thought it was all futile and nothing he or they said made a bit of difference anywhere.
That happens to us, too.
But I’ll bet Jesus is looking at you and smiling, saying, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”