Grace and Space

Jn 1:47-51

A true Israelite: The first to bear the name “Israel” is Jacob, the son of Isaac. His crafty dealings with his brother Esau and father-in-law Laban marked him as a man of duplicity. Here, Jesus calls Nathanael “a true Israelite,” in whom “there is no duplicity” (v 47). Is he talking about Nathanael’s virtue or his future as a disciple who will proclaim him as the Son of God and King of Israel? The latter is closer to John’s theology, and the evangelist implies that the true Israelites are those who believe in Jesus. This is not lost on the Jews who convert to Christianity and are considered traitors to their faith. Jesus makes a promise to Nathanael about angelic revelation which calls to mind Jacob’s vision: “He had a dream, a stairway rested on the ground, with its top reaching to the heavens; and God’s messengers were going up and down on it” (v 51; Gn 28:12). In Jacob’s vision, the ladder becomes the point of contact between heaven (the angels, God’s messengers) and earth (Jacob, humanity). Here, Jesus as the Son of Man becomes the shekinah, the dwelling place of God and the locus of divine glory, the point of communication between the earthly and the heavenly. Nathanael and the disciples (including Philip) will see God in the person of Jesus his Son (Jn 14:9).