He's from Nazareth!

 

Haiku for beginning

John knows how to tell

a good yarn; no half-measures.

Jesus starts his work.

Jesus meets Andrew,

is introduced to Simon,

comes to Galilee.

Jesus found Philip,

put the hard word on him: Come,

follow me, he said.

Philip is convinced,

goes off to find his brother;

one Nathanael.

He’s from Nazareth!

Nathan is bemused. No-one

worthwhile comes from there!

Jesus laughs. Philip,

I see you’re an Israelite,

honest and true blue!

How do you know me?

I saw you in my mind’s eye,

under the fig tree.

Nathan is amazed,

exclaims: You must be God’s Son,

and Israel’s King!

Jesus answers him:

You’ve not seen anything yet!

(He exaggerates.)

Heaven will open,

angels will descend upon

God’s Son. What wonder!

© Ken Rookes 2021

under the fig tree

"Here is a Jewish Roots clue.  The term "under the fig tree" is an ancient Jewish idiom that means studying the messianic prophecies.  The idiom stems from Micah 4:4, in a passage describing the future messianic kingdom: Each of them will sit under his vine, and under his fig tree.
...Our first clue to the fact that Nathanael was a scholar of the messianic prophecies is his comment regarding Nazareth.  He knew that scripture clearly taught that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, but wasn't so sure about the Nazareth connection.

[The prophecy regarding Nazareth is a bit more hidden (Isaiah 11:1 speaks of the branch, which is netzer in Hebrew, and the town of Nazareth, (netzret in Hebrew), means "branch town").]

When Yeshua first spoke to Nathanael, He was referencing the second part of Isaiah 53:9:
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

Yeshua was not calling Nathanael righteous. Yeshua was quoting the very prophecy that Nathanael had been studying, in order to emphasize that He Himself was the Messiah."

http://wildbranches.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/under-fig-tree.html

I saw you

Haiku of surprising discovery

Hey, comrade Philip,

you’re the man I’m looking for:

come and follow me!

Having met Jesus,

Philip went to find his friend:

Come, meet the teacher!

Could he be the one

the prophets told us about;

the one sent from God?

Nazareth, you say?

How could the Messiah come

from that backwater?

Ah, Nathanael,

I’m very pleased to meet you;

such an honest man!

I’ve never met you,

Jesus, and yet you know me?

Very impressive!

I had a vision.

You sat beneath a fig tree

as Philip approached.

Rabbi, I’m seeing

God’s Son, and Israel’s King.

Teacher, you’re the man!

Give me your answer!

Come, join us on the journey;

you’ll find so much more.

© Ken Rookes 2018.

We had no idea

Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” John 1:46:45

We were not expecting the Messiah

to emerge from Hicksville.

We did not imagine that the unloved Samaritans

would provide the hero for a Jewish rabbi’s story.

We could never guess that sinners,

prostitutes and tax collectors

would be named in the first eleven

ahead of those practising good religion.

We are comforted by the order

and predictability of our world

of black, white, wrong, right;

and we are well practiced in the arts of resisting

that which we are not expecting.

We never anticipated that the almighty God,

maker of law and upholder of all virtue,

would tear up the rulebook and scatter its pages

in the winds of grace

No. He took us by surprise.

Just as we had no idea that the Spirit would come

to roar and burn and sweep us up

into the realm of perpetual wonder,

and that, to this day,

she still unsettles us.

© Ken Rookes