Lectionary Reflection—14 January
43-44The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. When he got there, he ran across Philip and said, “Come, follow me.” (Philip’s hometown was Bethsaida, the same as Andrew and Peter.)
45-46Philip went and found Nathanael and told him, “We’ve found the One Moses wrote of in the Law, the One preached by the prophets. It’s Jesus, Joseph’s son, the one from Nazareth!” Nathanael said, “Nazareth? You’ve got to be kidding me!”
But Philip said, “Come see for yourself.”
47When Jesus saw him coming he said, “There’s a real Israelite, not a false bone in his body.”
48Nathanael said, “Where’d you get that idea? You don’t know me.”
Jesus answered, “One day, long before Philip called you here, I saw you under the fig tree.”
49Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi! You’re the Son of God, the King of Israel!”
50-51Jesus said, “You’ve become a believer simply because I say I saw you one day sitting under the fig tree? You haven’t seen anything yet! Before this is over you’re going to see heaven open and God’s angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again.”
Other Readings:
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Jacob was up first thing in the morning. He still couldn’t believe the dream he’d had. “This is a sacred place,” he said to himself. “Yahweh’s here … this place is the Entrance to Heaven.” Jacob shook at the thought of it. He took the stone he’d used for a pillow the night before and set it up as a memorial. He poured oil over the stone and dedicated it to Yahweh, naming it “God’s House.”
In the story (Genesis 25-28), Jacob had been running from his brother, Esau, and finally crashed for the night in the small town of Luz. During the night he dreamt of a ladder connecting the very spot he slept to God’s Realm. In his dream, Jacob saw the messengers of God — angels — using the ladder to go between the two realms. When he woke up Jacob dedicated the place as Bethel, meaning “House of God.”
Of course, in Jesus’ day the House of God was the Temple in Jerusalem. It was the place where God’s presence would reside hovering above the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25.17-22). It’s the place where God’s Realm and our realm overlapped and interlocked. It was the place where the high priest would bring sacrifices for the sins of the nation once a year (Leviticus 16; cf. Hebrews 9).
Before this, the House of God was the Tabernacle — the sacred “Tent of Meeting” that accompanied the people of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness. This was the place where Moses met Yahweh “face to face” (Exodus 33.7-11).
All of this is in the backstory of Jesus’ statement to Nathanael. Jesus is telling his followers something very special here (the word translated “you” is actually plural). He’s making a declaration about the House of God. Just like we saw from Jacob’s dream, the House of God was the place where one would enter into God’s Realm. Jesus is telling us that that’s going to change.
John has already hinted at this at the beginning of his Gospel. He wrote —
The Word became flesh
and made his home among us.
We have seen his glory,
glory like that of a father’s only son,
full of grace and truth.
The Greek word translated “home” is σκηνόω (skēnoō) and it means “to pitch tent, encamp; to tabernacle, dwell in a tent; to dwell, have one’s abode.” This should take us back to the tabernacle in the wilderness. The implication here is that the creator God, the God of Israel, Yahweh, used to meet people in the “Tent of Meeting,” the Tabernacle, when Israel wandered in the wilderness during the Exodus (Exodus 33.7-11). That same God is now dwelling, encamping, among people, not in a tent or Temple but in Jesus of Nazareth.
In other words, access to Yahweh, the creator God, would no longer be confined to a certain geographical location. Nor would access only be allowed for an extremely small group of people (the high priests of Israel). Nor would this access be only during certain times and seasons.
No, Jesus was telling us (and John was hinting at this from the beginning of his story) that access to Yahweh was going to change and change in a very dramatic way. This change would create a change in one’s worldview, too. Jesus was saying that access to Yahweh would be accomplished because of Jesus — the “Son of Man.”
This is the first time in John’s Gospel that this phrase is used. For some people it’s a troubling phrase for different reasons. Some see in it a patriarchal bias against women. “Why can’t it be ‘Child of Humanity’?” they ask. And while there may be some truth to this accusation, I don’t think that was the point.
Other Bible translations have tried to address this, too. The Common English Bible, the Bible I use as my primary text,3 translates the phrase as the “Human One.” While I think this translation addresses the phrase better from Greek,4 it still misses the point.
Jesus chose this title very carefully. And make no mistake, it is a title. The use of this title would have conjured up a lot of images for the Jews of Jesus’ day. Most notably would be a character from the stories of Daniel.
9-10“As I was watching all this,
“Thrones were set in place
and The Old ne sat down.
His robes were white as snow,
his hair was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire,
its wheels blazing.
A river of fire
poured out of the throne.
Thousands upon thousands served him,
tens of thousands attended him.
The courtroom was called to order,
and the books were opened.
...
13-14“I saw a human form, a son of man,
arriving in a whirl of clouds.
He came to The Old One
and was presented to him.
The son of man, was given power to rule — all the glory of royalty.
Everyone — race, color, and creed — had to serve him.
His rule would be forever, never ending.
His kingly rule would never be replaced.
This is what Jesus meant by using the phrase “Son of Man.” He’s telling his followers (and John’s telling his readers) that he’s the one Daniel was meaning. He’s saying, “I’m the one Daniel spoke about, the one he saw in his dream. I’m the one who will be given ‘power to rule’ and my rule will be ‘forever’ and will ‘never be replaced.’ And because of the work I’ll complete, everyone will once more have access to God just like Jacob saw in his dream.”
And this is an important point. Too often, Christian people continue to see people as “fallen.” That sin and death still rule. That people are still condemned because of Adam’s sin. Yet Paul wrote:
Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone.… So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus the Christ our Lord.
All of this is tied up together in Jesus’ words to Nathanael. Jesus is telling us all that the battle’s been won. That he’s the victor. Because of Jesus, “God’s wonderful grace rules.” There are no “sh!thole countries” under “God’s wonderful grace.” No matter where one lives, everyone has been given a “right standing with God resulting in eternal life” because of “God’s wonderful grace.”
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In the Love of the Three in One,
Br. Jack+, LC
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1. Scripture quotations marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
2. Scripture quotations marked (CEB) are taken from The Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible.
3. While I normally use the Common English Bible as my primary text (see the Copyright page), I’ll be using The Message as my primary text for the next several months in honor of my Mother.
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