Sometimes I wonder about my plodding through passages of scripture, taking so long to mull over things said in scripture which I don’t understand. I feel this week I had some insight into some verses I’ve always puzzled over, not quite getting what lay under their meaning. Just taking time (days) to go back and ponder has brought a number of things to my mind. Here I share some thoughts with you again.
Jesus found Philip and called him to follow Him. Philip found Nathanael, saying, we’ve found the Messiah, Jesus from Nazareth!
Nathanael, knowing the bad reputation of Nazareth, was not so sure anyone good could come from there, and their promised Messiah had to be a good man. Nevertheless, he went with Philip to see this Jesus.
When “Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, (He) said of him, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!’”
Nathanael had a reputation too. He was probably known as one who scrupulously kept the Law of Moses; he was blameless. No one could point a finger of accusation at Nathanael as one who cheated on the keeping of the Law. On the contrary, I imagine that people would have said ‘no way’, if someone accused Nathanael of some wrong-doing; they wouldn’t believe it because they knew him; they knew he was above reproach.
And he also may have held others to that same high standard. Yet, I think he truly hungered after God; this motivated him to keep the Laws of God. I think his heart yearned for the true God, as we often pick up from the psalmist’s heart cries. He kept the Laws of God out of pure motives: to please God. But he still felt the inadequacy of it all. He still longed for the something more the Law couldn’t provide.
So when Nathanael asked Jesus how He knew him, incredulous that Jesus should know Nathanael’s reputation as a guileless man, I think he was blown away by an answer he never expected: “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
Here was Nathanael, a true hearted follower of God, who kept the Law scrupulously; he was known as a blameless man. In my sanctified imagination, for this is all conjecture, I see him as a man who sought out a quiet, private place to pray to the God he loved and served; his prayer “closet”, if you will; his place of meeting with God.
The fig tree was Nathanael’s Beth-el: the house of God (Genesis 28:11-16).  Like Jacob of old who was met by God, the angels of God climbing up and down the ladder which stood on the earth where he was, ascending up to heaven where God spoke to Jacob; Nathanael met with God at his own private Beth-el. I imagine he longed for a revelation of God, like Jacob had.
Unlike Jacob, who was a deceiver, and in fact, whose name meant usurper, thief; Nathanael was pure hearted. Deceit was not found in him. The fig tree was the place where Nathanael met with God and poured out his heart in worship, adoration and supplication.
Nathanael’s fig tree was his Beth-el; no one else knew about it…except Jesus. How could He know that? He must be God! Only God would know his secret place of prayer, where he poured out his heart to Him.
“Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.” Nathanael’s doubts about who Jesus was were dissipated in a moment, like vapor in the sunlight. In that moment he was convinced Jesus was the Messiah promised for long centuries. He was ready to follow Him to the ends of the earth. His heart’s cries were being answered in the Person before him.
Nathanael, you haven’t seen anything yet. If you think knowing your deepest heart’s secrets is amazing, just wait. Remember Jacob’s ladder? The way to heaven, the way to God, the Way of God; I’m It, and you are going to be in for an amazing journey.
When we, too, seek after the Lord with all our hearts, listening hard for His voice, ready to do His will in a moment, as I believe Nathanael was, God will show us greater things than we have yet known…the very Presence of God working His works among us, through us. We will see “the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

I sit in another “bedroom office” in my son’s home in California. I will be here for 3 weeks. Randy is back home in West Virginia, after traveling the last two weekends, participating in first a men’s retreat in Maryland and then a youth retreat in New Jersey. We have prayed much for, and Randy has put countless hours of study into preparing for, these weekend ministries. We believe God has used Randy in the lives of these men and young people, and the churches to which he preached, accomplishing what He wanted to accomplish in their lives during these short times of teaching and preaching. Beginning and carrying on His work in His people. We count it a privilege to be co-laborers with God in His vineyard.
Now Randy and our WV staff are gearing up big time for our summer home repair ministry. Our interns are arriving and training has begun in earnest! The first week of June volunteers begin arriving to serve with their families or youth groups, working to give the people of eastern McDowell County a better life, physically and spiritually.

Your prayers and ongoing financial support are like the fuel which keeps Mustard Seeds and Mountains chugging along! Continue to hold us up in prayer. If you’d like specific prayer requests contact me at Jacque@mustardseeds.org. Consider, in these economic hard times, financially supporting the ministry!

As I’ve been reading through the book of John I keep coming upon gems and want to share them with you. I was reading yet in chapter one and ran into Nathanael. Fascinating fellow. Then as I was writing about him, my thoughts took me down another path, one I didn’t see until I was on top of it. But I recognized it after a bit. I’d been down this path before. I’ve been learning and am always convicted….

Read on.

I wish I knew more about Nathanael. We are given a glimpse of him, but only a tiny glimpse shrouded in mystery. Jesus and Nathanael knew what Jesus’ words meant when He said He saw Nathanael under the fig tree, but we have to surmise their meaning (John 1: 43-51).

Jesus left Judea, where John the Baptizer had baptized Him, and where he had garnered a few disciples, and headed back to Galilee. This was His home country, up north of Jerusalem (yes, Jesus was a northerner).

Philip was from Bethsaida, the home town of Andrew and Peter, located near the Sea of Galilee, and when Jesus found Philip, He called him to follow Him. Jesus found Philip and then Philip found Nathanael, telling him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” I’m sure Philip was excited. To be certain they had found the promised Deliverer, the Savior of Israel, the Messiah; this was good news indeed!

Nathanael is somewhat skeptical, however, knowing the reputation of the city of Nazareth, a gentile stronghold. Where there were gentiles who didn’t worship the True God, there was all manner of evil goings-on, contrary to the teachings of the Law of Moses. It was not the best “neighborhood” to live in or come from. Because of their proximity to unbelieving gentiles, Nazarene Jews were looked down on. Hence, Nathanael’s comment, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

Yet here was Philip, convinced he’s found the Messiah, the One promised from God. So he invites Nathanael to “Come and see”. See for yourself before you judge.

This is actually a good practice, to judge by the life and character of a person, rather than the reputation of the place he comes from. Many a godly man and woman have come from less than commendable backgrounds. They may have had to endure the censure and rejection of “good Christian” people, pressing on in their walk with the Lord in spite of, rather than because of, the Christian community. How tragic.

This should not be but I fear is the case all too often. We have our “Nazareth’s” today, in every community, and Christian people often avoid those who live there. People don’t want “that kind” messing up their comfortable ways, dirtying the carpet of the church, breaking anything. We’ve seen this when it comes to opening the doors of the “church”, meaning the church building, to the rapscallions in the neighborhood, the unwashed and unchurched children living in close proximity to the church building. God forbid they should trample the hallowed halls of “God’s house” in order to share the good news of Jesus Christ with them. Sometimes I wonder what god some people worship in their zeal to protect his property.

This should not be! If Sunday school and VBS are only for the children of church-goers (and I believe they should have this benefit), not for those “outside” the church, then we have failed in our understanding of the gospel! We have failed to understand the God of the gospel. We’ve even lost the spirit in which the Sunday School movement got its start (google Robert Raikes and the Sunday School Movement).

And when those whose lives were once in shambles, whose reputations were sullied by their way of life; when these repent and turn in faith to Christ and enter the sacred halls of our church, do we open our arms in loving embrace, to nurture them in the faith and love of God? Or do we hold them at arm’s length, waiting for them to “prove” themselves by adopting our brand of “Christian” lifestyle before we welcome them into the family of God?

God has chosen, not the wise and cultured according to the world, not the powerful and well respected; but God has chosen rather the foolish, the poor, the outcasts, the rejects of the world to show to the world the strength and wisdom of God (I Cor. 1:26-29). These are those who recognized themselves for what they were and received the gospel of God with humble hearts; so the glory, and power and honor would go to the one God….He will share His glory with no other.

So “what good can come from the 'hood'? ” as a community developer in an urban setting used to say? Oh my! When God redeems a man, and he is wholly committed to Christ…the world has not yet seen what can be done, as another man of God once said.

Did good come out of Nazareth? Was it possible for a man of God to arise from the dung heap of humanity? You and I have salvation today, if indeed you have trusted that same Jesus as your Lord and Savior, because something good did come from Nazareth.

And we can be the agents of other “good” coming from the rejects of our cities and neighborhoods—pick out the worst in your community—if we are willing to go to them with the life-changing good news of Jesus Christ…of Nazareth. If we are willing to soil our hands to love, in Jesus’ name, those whom the world despises…but whom God loves; if we will extend ourselves to proclaim to the unlovely the matchless grace of Jesus, we will see “the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man”, as Jesus said.

It may not be easy, but it will be the right thing. Eternally right.