15-Nathanael-A

And We Thought We Knew You:
Soul Journey With the Real Jesus

Vol. II: Dream Maker

Nathanael [1]
GOD EYES

AD 25
Cana, Galilee [2]

�� If Jesus is thinking of recruiting Nathanael for his cause, he'd better think twice.� This guy is, well, so good he's good for nothing.� Can you get him to cover for you if someone comes to your house and you don't want to see them?� No way.�

�� So, if the enemy Romans ever captured him, he'd spill everything.� Can't be trusted with top secrets.� Jesus' plans for the takeover would be divulged to the enemy, and there goes the cause.� No, Nathanael is definitely the wrong man for the job. [3]

�� "Father, I've decided to go south."

�� "For how long, son?� I could use more tapestries for the shop."

�� "For good.."

�� "What?� The tapestries you'll get will be good, or you're going for good?" his father nervously asks, hoping for the best.

�� Nathanael's older brother laughs, secure in the belief that if you laugh when you insult, it's okay.� "Going for good would be fine with me," he swaggers.

�� Used to Asa's big-brother insults, Nathanael does not allow his emotions to get involved.� After all, deep down somewhere he's convinced his brother does love him.� "Going for good is what I have in mind."

�� Asa slaps his knee and blurts, "Ha!� I knew it.� The dreamer is going to set out to find his utopia, his perfect Garden of Eden."

�� Their father has returned to repairing his tapestry, hoping things will remain the same.� "What do you mean, son?"

�� Nathanael watches his father manipulate the needle.� Such nimble fingers.� He makes that needle fly, even through the heavy fabric.� He looks at his own hands, the hands his mother says are just like his father's.� Will he ever be able to mend tapestries like that?

�� "I mean, I want to see if I can find him?� You know.� The promised Deliverer."

�� "Son, people have been searching for the prophesied king of an eternal kingdom for centuries.� You're just letting yourself in for disappointment.� Besides, why can't you look for him around here?"

�� "In Galilee?� Half the people around here are Gentiles and Greece isn't that far away. [5] � It was through the Jews God promised an eternal kingdom some day.� I've got to get closer to our capitol.� Closer to Jerusalem."

�� Nathanael's father knows better than to continue trying to talk him out of it.� It will just make him more stubborn.� "Well, what will you do to make a living?"

�� "I can go to work for a merchant."

AD 27
Bethany, Perea [6]

�� That was two years ago.� On his way to Jerusalem, Nathanael met a merchant from Bethany who said he needed help with his shop.�

�� Mostly, Nathanael studies in the evenings in his rented room, scouring the scriptures for prophecies of the king.� He's convinced the time is soon, as predicted by Daniel the seer some five centuries earlier.� Daniel was too specific with his dates.� It has to be soon.� He has found others who are convinced of it too. [7]

�� But Nathanael has changed his thinking on one point that he cannot seem to convince other people of.� He's convinced that somehow, in some way he does not understand or cannot explain, the new king will be in some way he is part God, or all God, or something.� He has not completely figured it out.� But the predictions seem to indicate it.�

�� After all, Zechariah the seer predicted about the same time Daniel did that God would be king of the world. [8] And David said some thousand years earlier, "Fling open the gates!� Open wide the doors so the King of Splendor may enter!� Who is this king?� God!" [9]

�� His friends say the predictions of God ruling them is only figurative, or he'll rule through a chosen human such as he did through Moses and David and other godly men.

�� But Nathanael is stuck on Isaiah the seer's prediction seven centuries earlier that a son will be born to rule who will also be called God. [10] �Further, Daniel predicted a son of mankind would come down from heaven to rule a forever kingdom and everyone will worship him. �Yet, one of the ten commandments says we are not to worship any God but Jehovah. [11]

�� Each morning as he goes to the shop, he eyes the ever-present Roman soldiers and wonders how the new king will conquer them.�

�� One afternoon at the shop, he hears a messenger out in the street calling for him.� "Looking for Nathanael of Cana.� Nathanael of Cana....� Anyone know him?� Message for Nathanael of Cana."

�� He rushes out to the street and hails the messenger down.� He gives him a tip and tucks the small scroll in his belt until he can finish with his customer.�

�� On his way home that evening, the scroll delivered that afternoon falls out onto the ground.� Smiling at his own forgetfulness, he sits down under a tree, breaks the seal and begins unrolling the scroll.� He reads.

��";Greetings, Nathanael, from your big brother Asa.� I am to be married late in the spring after Passover.� Come to the wedding.� She is Deborah.� You may remember her.� Our parents are going all out to celebrate.� We had the formal betrothal last week.� Now that all is legal, we are adding on to the house so she can move in here.� Please come.� I need someone to harass."

�� Nathanael smiles.� How he misses his family.� Even Asa with all his good-natured razzing.� Of course he'll go.� He will tell his boss tomorrow.� He's convinced he can get time off for the celebration.�

�� Sometimes he takes a couple tapestries home to check for flaws and prepare for sale so he can take off a few minutes early to look among the other booths at the market.� He can't return home without a suitable wedding gift for his brother and new sister-in-law. [12]

Nazareth, Galilee

�� "What in the world am I going to wear?" Mary asks, not expecting an answer.� Instead, she pauses and changes the subject.

�� "He's all grown now, Salome.� Jesus is the same age priests have to be to be ordained and begin serving. [13] That was a good decision to wait until now to make the announcement.� But, when he left, he didn't seem to have a plan how he was going to make the announcement.� Indecisiveness isn't a good trait in a king, Salome. [14]

�� "Mary, you've got to let go of him.� Keep reminding yourself he will be the king.� That means he's already king in his heart.� You need to start looking at him more as though he were your king than your son."

�� "I know, Salome.� I know.� But it is so hard.� I wonder how his announcement went...."

Bethany, Perea

�� The announcement is indeed made.� At Jesus' baptism.� Jesus doesn't make the announcement though.� Jehovah makes it from the heavens.� Jehovah's thunderous voice.� Jehovah's all-knowing voice.� Jehovah's voice of determined love.� John, hears it distinctly.� "This is my beloved Son!" [15]

�� Jesus disappears then for over a month.� Forty days to be exact.� He's got some things to work out in his mind.� Some temptations to overcome.� Some godly strategies to work out. [16]

�� Nathanael does not know any of this.� All he knows is that he is looking for a king that makes sense but doesn't make sense.� How can he be both God and man?� How can he be both Creator and created?�

�� His boss is gone and has left Nathanael in charge of the shop.� He must take tapestries home nearly every day to examine for flaws, stop potential rivals, and set price ranges for each one.

�� After awhile the young man begins to realize how hard his father must have worked all those years.� Sometimes he thinks you don't own a shop; a shop owns you.� He hopes the situation with his boss's family will get better so he can get away for the wedding back in Cana.

�� There is a funeral.� A messenger is sent by the family to tell Nathanael so he can anticipate his boss's return.� The death was in the morning, so Nathanael closes the shop and travels to Jericho in time for the funeral that afternoon.� He attends out of respect for his boss; he never even met the old man.�

�� During the eulogy he hears talk of all the good deeds the old man did during his lifetime.�

�� Strange.� He's looking at a lifeless form.� It is like the man had use of a body for a number of years, then left it when done using it.� Did the old man go out of existence then?� The Sadducees believe that, but not the Pharisees.� Nathanael is a Pharisee.� He believes the soul lives on. [17] �The body is still there, but the man's spirit is not.� Yet, by experience, everyone knows the man's spirit lived in that body for a long time.� Strange.

�� The next morning when Nathanael arrives at the shop, his boss is there.� He cannot get the funeral out of his mind.� Strangely, he has never been to a funeral before.� His family was always so healthy.�

�� He is glad the day is bright.� After work, he goes to his room, shuffles through the neglected scripture scrolls and selects one.� He takes it with him out to the olive orchard, finds his usual tree, and sits.�

�� By this time he has realized that the tree he usually sits under is not an olive tree at all.� It is a fig tree.� Right in the middle of the olive orchard.� He's come to call this fig tree his tree.� It's the same tree he returns to whenever he can.

�� Reading and thinking.� How can the new king also be God?� How can he live in a body?� In the body?� A body?� Nathanael grows excited.�

�� He re-rolls the scroll, tucks it in his belt, and begins walking through the orchard.� His youthful arms swing him from a branch.� He picks up an olive pit and sees how high he can throw it over a tree.� The wind catches it and it doesn't go far.� He cannot see the wind, but he knows that's what caused the fig pit to fail in its mission of flying over a tree.

�� Wind and spirit.� Wind and spirit.� You can't see the wind, but you know it's here by what it influences.� The spirit of that man: No one could see his spirit, but everyone knew it was here by how it influenced his body to act.�

�� God.� God with us.� How could we possibly know God can be with mankind in a body?� He pulls out his scroll and walks to the clearing at the outside of the orchard.� He hurriedly rolls through it searching.� Searching for the term "God with us."� He's certain he has read it somewhere.� Searching.� Scanning.� Hoping.� God with us.� God with us.� Where is it?

�� Ah yes.� He did not imagine it.� Isaiah reported it:� "A virgin will give birth to a son and call him God-With-Us." [18]

�� So, Nathanael mutters to himself watching a bee nestle onto a fig on the ground, God will be in a human body.� But if God is in a human body on earth, will that make heaven empty?� That cannot be.

�� The days continue.� Two more weeks.� An empty heaven.� Heaven cannot be left empty.� Always haunting him is the prophecy by Isaiah:� Immanuel, God-With-Us.� He muses sometimes on the meaning of his own name.� Nathanael means God's gift.� His mother used to say all her children were gifts of God.

�� Children.� Gifts of God.� God with us.�

�� One day at the market, a woman walks in with a baby.� Nothing unusual in that.� The shop owner knows her.� He looks at the baby and talks about how much it looks like his father.� It catches Nathanael's attention.� But why?� The rest of the day the baby is in the back of his mind.� He cannot shake it.� Back toward his room and a scroll.� On his way home it begins to rain.� He must stay inside.�

�� God-With-Us he repeats over and over.� He turns one of his scrolls searching.� As he does, he notices how easily he can manipulate it with his long fingers.� Long like his father's.� His mother was right.� He'd learned to manipulate the mending needle almost as skilfully and easily as his father.

�� His father's hands.� His father's son.� Once his father died, his father would live on in some ways in his son.� Yet his father is still up in Cana.�

�� That prediction of seer Isaiah.� He turns the Isaiah scroll until he comes to it.� The familiar one.� The one he's read a thousand times.� Immanuel:� God With Us.� How can God be with us and still be in heaven?� The sentence just prior explains how.� He'll have a son.� Part of God will live in his son.� And his son can take a body if he wants to ~ a human body.

�� "Heaven wouldn't be empty!" Nathanael shouts aloud.� He absent-mindedly tosses the now rolled-up scroll irreverently into the air, then over to his bed.� "Heaven wouldn't be empty!� God, you're going to have a literal son who will be you!"

�� Nathanael does not sleep that night.� Up and down.� Into bed.� Out of bed.� Now he knows what to look for.� And who to look for.� Someone who does the same things God does.� Has the same standards God has.� Maybe even performs miracles.� Probably performs miracles.� What kind will they be?

�� The next day crawls by.� The sun is out and Nathanael hankers for his spot in the orchard.� His spot under the fig tree.� To make things worse, hardly anyone visits the shop that day.� But finally it is time to close up.

�� He does not return home.� He goes out to the orchard, spots his tree and rushes over to it.� He walks among the olive trees, then returns to his tree.� He sits under it but does not pull out the scroll tucked in his belt.� Instead he prays.� His heart is swelling and he must pray.

�� "God, you're coming soon.� I'm looking for you.� Where are you?� What a king you will be.� I want to see you, God.� Come my way....� I want to see you...."

�� "Hey, have you heard that baptizer, John?"� It's one of the customers.� Nathanael's boss is half interested.� "He claims our new king is coming, the king of the never-ending kingdom."

�� "I heard something about that.� Actually, I've been hearing things for nearly a year."

�� "But he doesn't work miracles," Nathanael interjects, knowing his boss won't mind his participating in the conversation.

�� "No, but he seems to know what he's talking about.� People are going out to hear him from everywhere."

�� "Well, if he doesn't perform miracles, he's not the one I'm looking for."

�� Before leaving for the day, Nathanael reminds his boss that the time for his brother's wedding is near.� He plans to leave the day after tomorrow, if that's okay.�

�� It is now dusk.� Nathanael has been to the orchard.� Now he is nearly home.� As he turns the last corner, he sees someone sitting at his gate.� The closer he comes, the more he thinks he knows the man.

�� "Philip, is that you?"

�� Philip turns toward Nathanael.

�� "Hey, Philip!� How are you?� When did you get into town?� How long are you going to be...."

�� "I've found him!"

�� "Who were you looking for?"

�� "The one Moses and all the other prophets predicted.� The king." [19]

�� "You've found him?� You've found him?� Where?� Are you sure?� Who is he?"

�� "His name is Jesus.� He's the son of Joseph and is from Nazareth up in Galilee."

�� "Nazareth?� Up there so far from the Temple?� No famous prophets ever came from there.� Just look at me.� Am I famous?� Am I a prophet?" he adds as proof with a wink. [20]

�� "Come meet him.� Talk to him.� Check him out for yourself.� He's right outside of town over by the river." [21]

�� "But you say he doesn't perform miracles.� How can we know he's the one?"� Sometimes Nathanael paces.� "Man, if you were only right.� But he doesn't perform miracles."

�� Being young and healthy, sometimes they break into a run.� Their hearts beat in anticipation.�

�� "He promised to stay put," Philip shouts occasionally.

�� Soon they stop and look around. "Well, well, Nathanael."� It's Jesus.

�� He is sporting a large grin.� "I've been looking forward to meeting you.� You're such a fine man.� No deceit in you.� Just a straight guy.� Such a pleasure to meet you."

�� Jesus holds out his hand.� His eyes sparkle.

�� Nathanael hesitatingly holds his out, confused that this stranger would greet him like this.

�� "Uh, I don't think I'm who you think I am, sir.� I just came to...." Philip stands aside watching and grinning.

�� "Indeed you are," Jesus replies shaking hands with him enthusiastically.� "You're Nathanael."

�� "How did you know that?� I haven't even introduced myself."

�� "Oh, I saw you.� You were under the fig tree yesterday even before Philip called you." [22]

�� Nathanael stands and stares.� A miracle.� This Jesus has just performed a miracle.� He has to be God.� He saw him under the tree.� His eyes are God eyes.� He even heard him.�

�� He continues to stare.� Jesus gives him time.� His head swirls.� Does he dare admit it?�

�� "You are...."� Dare he say it aloud?� "You are....� You are the Son of God!� You are the eternal king!"

�� Jesus and Nathanael grab each other's arms.� Both beaming.� Both elated.� Both feeling out of this world.

�� "Do you believe because I told you I saw you?" [23]

�� Without waiting for an answer, Jesus goes on.� "You are going to see more fantastic things than that."

�� "I'm going to be able to see like you do?"

��

�� "More.� You are going to see heaven opened up and the angels of God ascending and descending to me." [24]

�� Nathanael backs up and looks around him.� And becomes lost in wonder.� They were not alone.�

�� "I'd like to introduce the others to you," Philip interjects.� "Meet Andrew, my best friend, and his brother Peter.� And this is John, Andrew's brother." [25]

�� "Man, I wish I could spend some time with you.� But I've got to go to my brother's wedding.� I'm leaving day after tomorrow.� But maybe I could join you afterwards.� I have a small savings."

�� Jesus interrupts.� "You're going to Cana, aren't you?"

�� "How did you know?"� Then he catches himself.� "Oh yeah, you know everything.� Watch your step, guys," he adds teasingly.

�� "My family and I have been invited to the same wedding.� Do you know her?� Her name is Deborah."

�� "That's who my brother is marrying.� It's the same wedding! Man, what a coincidence.

Highway fromJudea to the Province of Galilee

�� All day on the road with Jesus.� All day to ask all the questions a person ever wanted to ask.� This is living!

�� They pass a patrol of Roman soldiers on horseback.� They are in the hurry.� Nathanael wonders what they're headed to.

�� "Jesus, how are you going to conquer the world?"

�� Hour after engaging hour.

�� "....Jesus, what about your enemies, people who are against you?� What should are you going to do about them?"

�� On up the road.� Stop sometimes to refill water jugs.� Stop sometimes to rest and eat and eye the Roman soldiers with suspicion and resentment.

Cana, Galilee

�� "Oh yes.� We're right on schedule.� The feast will be ready tomorrow.� I'll spend the day over at Asa's house." [26]

�� Nathanael is delighted to hear his brother's name spoken so happily by people who were strangers only a couple days ago.� At least, strangers to him.

�� "Well, I'll be!� It's little brother Nathanael!"� Asa shows up at the gate, his father right behind him.

�� The commotion grows.� Excited commotion.� Celebrating commotion.� Delightful commotion.

�� Morning and it is time to start rushing.� Last-minute jobs to be taken care of.� Things that couldn't possibly be done until the last minute.

�� For the hundredth time, "Are you sure we have enough food and drink for the feast?" Asa's father asks the groom as the group of men leave.� They'll spend the rest of the day at Asa's best friend's house teasing him and giving him their blessings and wishing for him a house full of children some day.

�� For the hundredth time, "Yes, Dad, we have enough."

�� The bride's procession arrives.� The gate is closed.� The celebrating grows.� Eating.� Drinking.� Singing.� Making merry.� Like weddings are supposed to be.

�� Mary notices the groom's mother.� She is running frantically between the wine room and the guests.� Her smiles are forced.� Something is wrong.

�� "You couldn't be low on food.� What is it?" Mary asks.� But the groom's mother cannot admit the problem.

�� Nathanael notices the two women talking.� He goes to his mother and insists he tell her.� Then he goes over to Mary who has been at his house most of the last three days helping to get things ready on behalf of the bride's mother who is still not feeling well.�

�� "It's the wine.� We're almost out.� What are we going to do, Mary?� There are no stores open this late in the evening.� And the wine seller won't be happy if we bother him at home.� What are we going to do?" [27]

�� Jesus walks by on his way to greet another guest.� Mary watches him.

�� "It's time," she says.

�� "Time for what?"

�� "Time for my son to let the world know who he is."

�� Nathanael stares over at Jesus.� "Time?� For what, Mary?"� She does not answers, but smiles instead.� He continues, "Well, Jesus will make whatever it is interesting, and get people's minds off the wine shortage."

�� "Leave it to me, Nathanael.� Go tell your parents and Asa they will have their wine."� She calls her son over.

�� Jesus obeys.� He's still her son.� At least in some ways.� "What's going on?"

�� "They're out of wine." [28]

�� "That has nothing to do with you and me."

�� "Son, you know it does.� You've got to help them."

�� "But this isn't the right time.� Everyone knows the kingdom will start soon now.� The hour I declare I'm the eternal king will come some other time and in some other way.� Not at a wedding."

�� "Son, look at that frantic groom over there.� And the bride's parents.� It's ruining one of the most important days of their life.� Help them, Jesus.� Help them."

�� He says nothing.� What if he can't pull it off?� He's never performed a miracle before.� Not one people can see. [29]

�� Perhaps putting it off isn't the answer.� Perhaps he needs to take the big step now.� This would be just a small miracle.� But it would be enough to build up his human courage.� His mother reads all this in his eyes, and leads him by the hand into the wine cellar.� He decides not to argue. [30]

�� "Do whatever he tells you," she says to a couple of servants.� They know Mary's been at the helm the last couple of days, and know they should follow her instructions.

�� Jesus looks around slowly.� Six empty wine barrels.� He looks around some more.� He goes into a smaller courtyard slowly.� He spots six large water vats used for bathing and for ceremonial washings.� They are empty.� But they are also next to the private family well.

�� Mary knows what he's thinking, and prods him on.�

�� "Come on now.� What better time than the present?� People have got to find out some time.� You're going to be a prince of peace.� So help this wedding maintain some peace." [31]

�� Jesus goes back out into the main courtyard where a couple servants are serving food and the last of the wine.� He walks a little faster now. "Fill the empty water vats with water."

�� They look over at Mary.� She grins in approval.�

�� One draws water while the other pours it into a vat.� Then they are done.� The vats are full of water.� What good is that?� What an insult to the guests. [32]

�� Jesus confidence has matured.� It's going to work.� It has worked already.� He knows that.� While everyone else sees water, he sees wine.� He will now reveal what he sees.

�� "Now, take a dipper, dip it into one of the barrels, and carry it to the head waiter."�

�� Jesus waits, and grins.� Mary grins too, as she looks up into her son's eyes.� "You did right, Son.� It's time."

�� The contents of the dipper are poured into a glass and tasted.� "Superb!� Phenomenal!� Where have they been hiding this wine!� I've never tasted anything like it!"

�� The head waiter calls Asa over.� "Where have you been keeping this wine?� You're supposed to serve the best first, but you've kept the best until now!" [33]

�� He tastes it, and goes over to his mother to see if she knows anything about it.� "But, I have an idea who does.� Go talk to Nathanael. "

�� Nathanael tries a sample.� He is told Jesus provided it somehow.� He rushes toward the smaller courtyard and the well.� He sees Jesus and Mary standing nearby.� Grinning.�

�� "You did it, Jesus, didn't you?� This is your doing.� Isn't it?"

�� He runs back to the large courtyard where the banquet is being held.� "Jesus performed a miracle!" he blurts out.�

�� "This is miracle wine!" the guests begin to tell each other delighted.

�� "This is miracle wine.� Have another glass.� There's plenty."

�� "Miracle wine anyone?"

�� The word spreads.�

�� "Miracle wine!"

��

�� "A miracle!"

�� "It's not possible!"

�� But Nathanael knows it is possible.� He has witnessed a private miracle and a public miracle.� He knows who this Jesus really is.� He is their future king.� More, he is God in a human body.� He can do anything.� He can take mankind to heaven if they will just believe he can and that he is the only one who can.� If they will only see Jesus for what he really is ~ and who.

�� Nathanael believes now.� Nathanael will believe for years to come.� He will stake his life on it.�

�� He will eventually travel east and convert Arabians to Christianity.� Then he will move on to Babylon to share the good news there.� Next he will head out toward the mountains of India and wander those mountains teaching people about Jesus.� Many will rejoice, many of whom had been Hindus or Buddhists or both.�

�� He will continue to tell everything he knows.� And secrets?� He will tell everyone that God no longer has any secrets from mankind.� God has even written some letters to mankind to explain it all.� One of them will be a life of Christ written by Nathanael's friend and fellow apostle Matthew.� Then they'll be able to read the evidence for themselves. [34]

�� But in Nathanael's his age, he will leave those mountains and head out to try to find Philip.� He will work with Philip until his old friend is martyred.� Then he will go back toward Scythia around the Black Sea to follow up on Philip's work, possibly as a promise to him.� Finally he will end up in Armenia near Mt. Ararat where he will stay the last eight years of his life.�

�� After converting a local king, the pagan priests, having lost their power, will beat him with clubs.� Nathanael will not renounce Jesus.� Then they will flay him alive, but he will remain loyal to Jesus.� Finally they will crucify him.

�� Even on his cross he will continue to reveal the great secret hidden by the myriads of other religions - that God has personality and despite our failures, Jesus lived the perfect life for us.

�� To the very end never will he deny his belief in Jesus, the mysterious one he met near an olive grove so many, many years ago and so far, far away. [35]

LIFE APPLICATION

1.�� Ecclesiastes 3:11 in the Bible says, "He has also set eternity in the hearts of men."� It is true that most people believe there is an eternal existence somehow.� Why do you hope there is a heaven out there somewhere to go to after you live this life?

2.�� Being honest at work can do what for your peace of mind?� If you have not been honest in all things, how will you change that?

3.�� If someone asks you to divulge confidential information, you can accommodate them, say you cannot, or give wrong information. �This same scenario exists for other ethical situations.� In what way will just telling people how you feel about the situation help get you "off the hook" to their unethical request?

4.�� Think about all the people and events God must coordinate in order to answer one prayer.� Think of a time when you were at the right place at the right time for something good to happen.� Think of the things God must have coordinated in order to make this good thing happen to you.

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