An Insight into God's Love

Today's bible study was still on the 1st chapter of the Book of John. I had read through it in the afternoon and I was kind of dry of any major insights. Basically, nothing leapt out to me as particularly striking or memorable. So it was really encouraging to find that studying the Word together with the group at night brought a fresh look at what seemed like a pretty innocuous little episode in the dramatic Book of John. I must have breezed past these 5 verses so many times without catching how... profoundly... moving it is:
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John 1:44-50

Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

"Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked. "Come and see," said Philip.

When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."

"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."

Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."

Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
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You have to ask yourself, why on earth did John the Apostle think this little exchange between Jesus and Nat so worthy of recording? Nat is hardly an iconic figure versus Doubting Thomas or Peter the Rock. Nat hardly gets featured much beyond this little exchange. Up to now, I don't think I remembered there was even a Nat in the gospels. Jesus did, though, and I think that's the point.

Picture this: Nat walks up to Jesus without expectations. He thinks he is just checking out what Philip is making such a fuss about. He had just mused aloud to Philip about the impossibility of Jesus, the supposed heavenly Son of God, coming from a rundown backwater town like Nazareth.

Jesus looks at this guy, sums him up in a glance and makes this absolutely way-out compliment,"Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false." I mean, seriously...if someone came up to you and told you that you were 100% True Quality, you would gently remind the person, "Please! I am still human! I am not perfect."

Is Nat the True Israelite? If so, why aren't we writing books about him and calling him a saint? How could we have overlooked this paragon of virtue in history, certified by Jesus Christ himself? Surely, Nat must be a normal bloke. Nothing else in history - aside from this exchange - renders him otherwise (as normal as the rest of the disciples at least).

How about Nat's reply - "How do you know me?" Either Nat is being outrageously audacious in agreeing with Christ's assessment of him as Israel's Boy Wonder. OR he is being earnest, a little awed and doubting. I would go for the second option as I think it makes more sense.

If someone told me I was 100% True Quality, and if that someone was really quite perfect himself, I would respond that way. I would not be able to believe the compliment without hesitation. I would filter that compliment through my own glasses of self-introspection. I would like to know how it is that this guy Knows me in a way I don't Know myself.

No doubt this must be running through Nat's normal bloke-like head. That's what makes Jesus' reply so profoundly moving and enigmatic - "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."

With one simple sweet sentence, he strikes right at Nat's heart, through every fear and every doubt. He just tells him I AM the God beyond all time and all space. I knew you even before it was your time to come to me. I saw you for what you were before I met you. And now that you stand before me, understand this - I Know. I Know.

That's all that Nat needs to realise the compliment is no less than God in human form Himself. His breath crushed out from him as he tries to grasp the bigness of what he has just heard, he declares in awe, '"Rabbi...you are the Son of God...you....are the King of Israel."

Convinced by the emotional power of the moment, he lays his first promise of faith before Jesus. Yet, his new Lord looks at him and Knows this as well. Jesus offers this very sharp insight in surprising gentleness and grace - "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that. I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man"

What amazing grace is this? Jesus knew Nat believed at this point only because of the sheer power and emotion of the moment. Yet he kindly promises him signs of greater things that will help his belief take deeper root and find larger form. Jesus saw/sees who Nat is/will become as long as he abides in Him - a true Israelite, without blemish or falsehood.

Nat may not be able to see himself as clearly as Jesus sees himself but One Day - One Final Day - he will. Till then, let him rest in the assurance that Some One loves him enough to see all that he will be, not what he presently is.

We are exactly like Nat - ordinary in a sense, not cosmically heroic, full of little doubts and fears. And for us Christians, we all have had that one day, where despite our silly remarks and general ignorance, Jesus met us in an unforgettable encounter. He blew our minds away with the depth, height and breadth of his Love for us. So many of the writers of Psalms breathe endlessly about the love they feel from the wonder of having a God know who you were as your little atoms were being slowly knit together in the womb.

I think its hard for human beings to find someone they can trust enough to know them and still love and forgive them. I don't think any of us can find another being of that calibre. Even our best friend or spouse cannot unflinchingly access the deepest, most personal, most shameful, darkest, smallest parts of You.

But God sees and Knows and does not turn away. I think that's why so many of us Christians fell in Love with him. You can't help it when you are faced with that kind of Love.

Like Nat, we must wonder - how can you love me so much? How can you, the Perfect God, pay me such a compliment that I too am Perfect? Jesus answers - Have faith and remain in me. I Know already what you were, what you are and what you shall be. I shall make you clean. I shall make you real. True. Perfect. Because I am real, true, perfect. You don't see clearly. I do. Trust how I see you and how I see things. And have the faith to live accordingly.

I think being a Christian gets much easier and much more beautiful when we grasp more and more of that truth. His Love is enough. Understand the full depth of that grace we have been extended and you can run through life with feet fleet as a deer. You will scale new heights. Not by your work. By His grace.

When we are deeply loved, joy and genuine living is simply a natural outcome. We love because we have been loved and known first.

We are a living work of art. Artists Know fully the perfect vision of their work in their heads. They understand the process of perfecting can be a painful, funny, messy, beautiful, terrible thing. If a process sketch looked at himself, he would see scribbles and scratches and a faint concept of perfection. It would be terribly difficult for a 2-Dimensional sketch to imagine what the 3-Dimensional Artist must be visualising. He may not understand that he is Fully Known already despite his scribbly state. But he does not need to understand at this moment...as long as he knows in part for now, and keeps faith, he will see that Perfection come one day. Just as the Artist has always Known.

No wonder Paul the Apostle writes so breathlessly in 1 Cor 13:12-13:
"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

Indeed. We are already creatures that are fully Known. It is the fully Known version of our little selves that God sees and welcomes into his Heaven. Fully Known only through being fully loved. And Christians only know this because we too made the same simple faithful response Nat had so many years ago when faced with Jesus himself - "You are...the Son of God."

Just a response. Nothing more. Nothing less.

That's all it takes to understand the secret of the KIngdom of God.

Let's spend a moment to just bask in the tremendous-ness of that fact.