Thought for the day – Tuesday 7th April 2020
Nathanael lay in his bed trying to make sense of what had happened yesterday. Jesus had led them to the temple, which was no surprise really, they were Jews and this is the Passover, worshipping made sense as they were in the Holy City, he’d not anticipated what would happen though, Jesus went berserk, shouting at the traders, he turned their tables, kick over the stools, Nathanael had never seen Jesus quite like this, there was fire in his eyes and for a time Nathanael was quite scared. Then in a flash the old Jesus was back, Nathanael understood, the traders were in the way of those who needed to be in the temple, those who needed healing, he lay and thought about what he’d learned from the experience, when did religion stand in the way of the work of God?
I find Nathanael a bit of an enigma, Matthew, Mark and Luke don’t list him as one of the twelve, but John includes him. At the beginning of John’s Gospel the day after Jesus had met with Andrew and Simon Peter, they go to Galilee, Jesus finds Philip and calls him, Philip’s immediate reaction is to go and find Nathanael who see’s Jesus and following a short discourse announces “you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus tells him that he will see amazing things.
Reflection
- We used to sing “gentle Jesus meek and mild” yet we see here Jesus standing against what people are doing, does that image fit with the words of the hymn?
- How do you cope with the times when you see injustice, do you fight as Jesus fought, or stand back for fear of getting involved?