1st Sunday of Lent (February 22). Seen and known

Prayerfully Read John 1:43-51
43The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee.  He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’  44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  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.’  49Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God!  You are the King of Israel!’  50Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?  You will see greater things than these.’  51And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’
 
Prayerfully Wonder
Nathanael was a either a skeptic or over-cautious.  He knew people who’d been led astray by wanna-be-messiahs, and wasn’t going to one of them.  So when Philip claimed, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth,” his guard went up.  He mocked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  Philip didn’t know about that.  But he did know that he’d been summoned to follow Jesus.  Instead of wasting time to convince the skeptical, cautious Nathanael, he invited: “Come and see.”  The same as Jesus’ invitation to John’s two disciples who followed him. [1]
 
Nathanael accepted and went to see.  As soon as he saw him, Jesus said, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!”  He came to see Jesus and discovered that Jesus saw him first, saw the true Nathanael.  In surprise he asked, “Where did you come to know me?”  He’d never met Jesus before, never so much as heard of him until Philip came looking for him.
 
Jesus answered him.  Under the fig tree, hiding under the leaves, rather like Adam and Eve who hid under leaves from the fig tree after their act of disobedience.  And, just as God saw through their shame to their naked self, so too Jesus saw through Nathanael’s shelter to his naked and true self.  What he saw was good—an Israelite with no deceit.  Nathanael’s skepticism and caution dropped away and he knew Jesus.  He worshipped.
 
Jesus sees you today, your true self.  What might he say of you and what might be your response?
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord, help me follow Philip’s example.  Instead of arguing in order to win another to you, may I too invite them to come and see.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Rest in being seen and known.
[1] John 1:35-39.