under the trees

This week's lectionary reading is another of many scripture stories that feature people under or in trees. This week Jesus makes a reference to having seen Nathaniel under the fig tree (a scripture reference allusion to Micah 4:4 "everyone beneath their vine and fig tree). by this reference Jesus relates him to the messianic prophecies and to the Divine. In Micah and in this gospel reference the the tree is a sign of the presence of God.
I am reminded of Elijah sitting under the tree in the wilderness and finding rest and sustenance, of Adam and Eve with the trees of life and of the knowledge of good and evil, of Jonah enjoying the shade of the tree whilst he looked over Ninevah, of Zaccheus taking to a tree to see Jesus and of the trees in the midst of the garden in the center of the New Jerusalem.
And i know that when i sit under a tree and take time, that i am taken closer to the source of all Life and the Ground of my being. Perhaps what Jesus was saying about Nathaniel was that he was a person who took the time to sit under trees, and therefore saw him as a reflective and prayerful man who valued time with God.

Can anything good come out of???

Can anything good come out of Nazareth???

For Jesus to call someone a “true Israelite” was a tremendous compliment. For him to say that Nathanael was someone “without deceit” is a very positive spin on his cynicism. It’s saying that Nathanael was a no-nonsense kind of guy. What blows Nathanael’s mind is when Jesus explains how he knows that Nathanael is a true Israelite without deceit. Because Jesus saw him under the fig tree when he was talking smack about Jesus’ hometown! In other words, Nathanael knows in that moment that Jesus can see right through him, but that He’s decided to describe what He sees in the most positive terms possible. Because Jesus is the opposite of cynical!

Jesus goes on to tell Nathanael: “You will see greater things than these. You will see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” And whether Jesus is talking to Nathanael about the day when He would ascend to heaven after His resurrection or the time when He will come again with the angels from heaven at the end of time, His words also capture something beautiful about the way that our eyes can be opened by God when we are converted from our cynicism into faith in the reality of His kingdom. We too can see heaven open when we look at the world through the eyes of faith. The word for angel in Greek – αγγγελος – can refer to the supernatural creatures that surround the throne of God, but it can also mean just “messenger.” God is sending us messengers all the time! God is always using people in our lives to encourage us, to challenge us, to test our faith, all for the purpose of drawing us into a closer walk of discipleship with Him. Many of you in this room have been angels in my life whether you knew that’s what God was up to or not.

We’re not going to see God’s angels all around us if we’re addicted to cynicism. All that we’ll ever see when we look around are dirty run-down tobacco towns or Pleasantville suburgatories. And all that we’ll say is “What good could happen in a place like this?” But when we come to Jesus, He refuses to leave us that way, because He sees our real beauty, the way that we could be in Him, true Israelites in whom there is no deceit.

http://morganguyton.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/can-anything-good-come-out-of-nazareth/