The third and most arboreal episode of the sixth season of the Retelling the Bible Podcast is posted today (February 9, 2022). It tells the story behind the odd meeting between Jesus and Nathanael near the beginning of the Gospel of John.
You can listen to the story right now and subscribe to the podcast by following one of these links or by searching for the podcast on your favourite platform:
Show Notes about the Story
The story of Nathanael and Jesus is told in the Gospel of John 1:43-51. The only other reference to Nathanael comes in John 21:2. (Click to read.) Any direct biblical quotations in the episode are taken from the New Revised Standard Version.
Who is Nathanael?
As I mention in the episode, Nathanael is a bit of a mystery. According to the Gospel of John he was called to be a disciple of Jesus, but he is not included in the lists of the twelve found in the other gospels. There has been a lot of speculation as to his identity, but the gospel writer has left us with very little information.
I decided, in this episode, to focus on what little information John does give us:
- He was an Israelite in whom there was no guile (or deceit)
- He sat under a fig tree
- He came from Cana (a town not far from Nazareth)
A View of Jesus’ Childhood
Nathanael’s origins in Cana led me to consider whether John might be indicating that he sees a connection that goes back to Jesus’ youth and childhood and that that was when Jesus might have had the occasion to see Nathanael under a fig tree.
In Mark 6:3, the people of Nazareth dismiss Jesus for being a “tekton.” In Matthew 13:55 they scorn him for being the son of a tekton. This Greek word, tekton, is usually translated as carpenter and, while technically correct in that it does indicate that Jesus was someone who might have worked with wood, this traditional translation often gives a wrong impression to modern readers.
The word tekton does not, in any sense, imply what we imagine when we think of a professional carpenter. It does not denote a skilled labourer or craftsman. Christian art down through the centuries has often depicted Jesus and Joseph working side-by-side in what looks like a pretty prosperous carpenter shop, but sadly that carpenter shop never existed. Tektons did not have workshops and often did not have much of anything beyond a few tools. They were unskilled construction workers who were generally hired on a day-labour basis. It was a precarious existence at best, as I have attempted to reflect in this episode.
The Meaning of Sitting under a Fig Tree
But more than anything else, the conversation between Jesus and Nathanael seems to hinge on the question of what it means to sit underneath a fig tree. I generally assume, when a New Testament writer leaves something unexplained, as he does this phrase, it is his intention for his readers to search for meaning and interpretation in the Old Testament scriptures. The most obvious reference for me was Micah’s apocalyptic promise:
1 In days to come
Micah 4:1-4
the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be raised up above the hills.
Peoples shall stream to it,
2 and many nations shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3 He shall judge between many peoples,
and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more;
4 but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees,
and no one shall make them afraid;
for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
Similar references may also be found in 1 Kings 4:25 and Zechariah 3:10.
Music in this Episode
AhDah Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
When The Wind Blows by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4622-when-the-wind-blows
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
And let us not forget our dear Tevye!
Retelling the Bible 