“Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” “Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied.
John 1:46
All through Scripture the expectation is that each one will introduce someone else, as in the case of Philip. Jesus calls him. Philip tells Nathanael. So it should be with you, us, everyone. We will see what happens in John 4 when it goes wrong and the ones who should, don’t.
Philip tells Nathanael we have found “the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about!” His name is Jesus (salvation), the son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Here is John reinforcing his theme, who is this Messiah?
Nathanael’s response is interesting. Can any good thing come from Nazareth? Nazareth didn’t have a very good reputation. It was a military post and no doubt bad things went on there. Maybe Nathanael is reacting to that. But maybe he is saying something else entirely. What he literally says “Out of Nazareth can the good thing be?” He could also be saying the Good Thing, (i.e. the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about) doesn’t come from Nazareth. It is not written that way. It is not prophesied that way. Nowhere in Scripture is there a prophecy connecting the Christ with Nazareth. The text of the New Testament talks of Nazareth but not the Old in connection with Messiah.
We will look at “under the fig tree” in the next Gem.
Trouble is inevitable, misery is optional.
Anonymous
By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he’s too old to go anywhere.
Anonymous