Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction:
This guy is Philip’s clostest companion, Nathanael or Bartholomew.
In John’s gospel he is always referred to as Nathanael.
Bartholomew is a Hebrew surname that means “son of Tolmai”.
Nathanael means “God has given”.
In the synoptic gospels (Matt, Mark, and Luke) and the book of Acts there are no details of Nathanael’s background and each only mention him once and that is when listing the 12 disciples.
John’s Gospel tells of Nathanael in just two passages:
John 1 where his call is recorded
John 21:2 where he is names as one of those who returned to Galilee and went fishing with Peter after Jesus’ resurrection and before His ascension.
Nathanael is from Cana a small town in Galilee, the place where Jesus performed His first miracle, changing water into wine.
Cana eas very close to Jesus’ hometown, Nazareth.
Nathanael was brought to Jesus immediately after Philip was sought and called by Christ.
Philip brought his best buddy to Jesus beacuse he wanted him to get in on meeting and knowing the Messiah.
These guys were close friends and we see this reflected in every list of the disciples their names are linked.
Apparently they were friends throughout the years and were always side by side, not as brothers but as close friends.
His call happened after the call of Peter, James, John, Andrew and Philip.
Where Philip, his best friend, brought him to Christ.
Philip and Nathanael’s relationship is not disclosed.
We don’t know if they were close due to business, family, or just a social relationship.
But we do know they are close and Philip knew his friend would be interested in getting to know the long-awaited Messiah.
He could not wait to share the news with him.
So immediately Philip sought him out.
Nathanael was found iby Philip in the same place where Philip was found by Jesus.
How Nathanael came to Jesus gives us a lot of insight about his character.
Prayer: Lord may we be challenged by Nathanael’s genuine heart to know you more, may that desire be ever present in our lives.
His love of Scripture
One striking fact about Nathanael that comes from how Philip announced to him that he found the Messiah:
The truth of scripture mattered to Nathanael and Philip knew that and that his friend would be intrigued by the news of Jesus.
Jesus was the one prophesied by Moses and the prophets in scripture.
When Philip told Nathanael about the Messiah he did so from the standpoint of the OT prophecy.
Nathanael new the OT prophecies.
This shows these men were students of the word and studied together.
In all likelihood they came to the wilderness together to hear John the Baptist.
They had shared interest in the fulfillment of the OT prophecy.
Philip knew the news of Jesus would excite his friend because of this shared search and interest.
We know this from how Philip spoke of Jesus fulfilling the OT prophecies, because that would peak his interest.
Philip didn’t tell him Jesus had a wonderful plan for his life, or that he found the man who would fix his marriage and personal problems and give your life meaning.
He went to him and told him that he found who they had been searching for!
Nathanael was an eager student of the OT was seeking divine truth!
All the apostles, with the exception of Judas Iscariot, were true seekers after divine truth before they met Jesus.
They were already being drawn by the spirit of God.
Their hearts were opened to the truth and hungry to know it.
They were sincere in their love for God and their desire to know the truth and receive the Messiah.
These men were very different from the religious establishment at that time which was dominated by hypocrisy and piety.
The disciples were the real thing.
Philip and Nathanael most likely spent long house over studying scripture together, searching the Law and the prophets to discern the truth about the coming of the Messiah.
The fact that they were well trained in scripture explains why they were so quick to respond to Jesus.
They knew what to look for and when they met Him there was no denying it.
In Nathanael’s case this would become especially evident.
He had a clear understanding of scripture and recognized the fulfillment when he saw it.
Philip told him:
“It is Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph”.
Jesus was a common name - Y’shua in its Aramaic form.
It is the same as Joshua in the OT.
It meant “Yahweh is salvation” - for He will save His people from their sins
There must have been a certain amount of surprise in Philip’s voice like he was saying “You will never believe this, but Jesus, son of Joseph, the carpenter’s son from Nazareth is the Messiah!”
Talk about an exciting moment for these friends
Next we see
His Prejudice
verse 46 shows more of Nathanael’s character.
Yes he was a student of scripture and searched for true knowledge of God, he had strong spiritual interests and had been faithful, diligent and honest in his devotion to the Word of God; he was human.
He had certain prejudices.
Here is where we see that coming through:
He might have quoted Micah 5:2
He could have responded saying “But Philip, Messiah is identified with Jerusalem, because He’s going to reign in Jerusalem”.
But he did not say that instead the depth of his prejudice came through in the words he chose:
“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
This was not a rational nor a Biblical objection; it was based on sheer emotion and bigotry.
It reveals what contempt Nathanael had for the whole town of Nazareth.
But the thing is he was from Cana and this was not such a prestigious town either.
Cana was off the beaten track, Nazareth was at the crossroads.
To travel from the Mediterranean to Galilee you had to travel through Nazareth.
One of the main routes going north and south between Jerusalem and Lebanon passed through Nazareth.
No one ever passed through Cana, Cana was a sidetrip from everything.
So the lack of anything attractive coming from Nazareth does not exmplain his prejudice.
Maybe it was some civic rivalry between Nazareth and Cana.
Nazareth was a rough towm.
The culture was larely unrefined and uneducated.
(It is still much the same today).
Nazareth is not a picturesque place, although it has a nice setting on the slopes of the hills of Galilee.
It is not a memorable town and even less so in Jesus’ time.
The Judeans looked down on the Galileans but even the Galileans looked down on the Nazarenes.
Nathanael came from an even more lowly village was echoing the general contempt for Nazareth that the Galileans had.
We are looking at this because God takes pleasure in using the common, weak, and lowly things of this world to confound the wise and powerful.
He even calls people from the most despised locations.
He can take a flawed person who is blinded by prejudice and He can change that person into someone used to transform the world.
It was not even in Nathanael’s mind that the Messiah could come from a place like Nazareth.
It was evil, corupt and populated with sinful people.
He didn’t think anything good could come from there.
Prejudice is ugly.
Generalizations based on feelings of superiority can be spiritually debilitating.
Prejudice cuts people off from the truth.
Much of the nation of Israel rejected their Messiah because of prejudice.
They did not believe their Messiah should come out of Nazareth, either.
They mocked the apostles because they came from Galilee.
Prejudice skewed their view of the Messiah.
The people of Israel were preudiced against Him as a Galilean and a Nazarene.
They also were prejudiced against him because he was an uneducated person outside of their religious estabilishment.
And then also about his message.
They refused to hear Him because they were cultural and religious bigots.
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