John 1:49Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

And what belongs to those who rejoice? To believe the One whom they have known. And what belongs to believers? To do what is pleasing to Him. If we do what angers Him, how will it be seen that we rejoice?

Do you not see in homes, when someone receives a long-desired guest, with what joy he does everything? He runs everywhere and spares nothing, even if it should be necessary to spend all he has, only to please the guest.

But if someone invited a guest to his house and did not try to please him or set him at ease, then even if he said a thousand times that he rejoiced at his visit, the guest would never believe him. And rightly so, for joy must be shown in deed.

Therefore, since Christ has come to us, let us show that we rejoice in Him. Let us do nothing that can offend Him. Let us adorn the house into which He has come. This belongs to those who rejoice. Let us set before Him the table which He Himself desires. This belongs to those who are glad.

What table is this? He Himself says: "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me" (Jn 4:34). Let us feed Him when He hungers and give Him drink when He thirsts. Give Him only a cup of cold water, and He will accept even this, because He loves you.

Offerings from those beloved, however small they may be, seem great to the one who loves. Only do not show negligence. Cast before Him two mites. He will not reject even these, but will receive them as great wealth.

He lacks nothing and receives this not from any need. Therefore He justly measures everything not by the measure of what is given, but by the disposition of the giver. Only show that you love this Guest, that you strive to do everything for Him, and that you rejoice at His visit.

See what love He has for you. He came for your sake, laid down His soul for you, and after all these benefactions He still does not refuse to entreat you. "We beseech you on behalf of Christ," says the Apostle, "be reconciled to God" (2 Cor 5:20).

But who, you say, is so mad as not to love his Lord? I too say this, and I know that none of us would deny it in word or thought. But the one who is loved wants love for him to be shown not in words only, but also in deeds.

To say that we love, while not doing what belongs to those who love, is ridiculous not only in relation to God, but also to men. Therefore, if to confess only in words while showing the opposite in deeds is not merely useless but harmful for us, then I implore you: let us express our confession in deeds.

Then we shall be counted worthy of confession by the Lord Himself on that day when He confesses the worthy before His Father. I implore this in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom and with whom glory be to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Peter confessed, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Mt 16:16), after so many miracles and after such teaching, and is blessed as having received revelation from the Father. Nathanael said the same thing before the miracles and before the teaching, yet he heard nothing of the kind from Christ. Rather, as though he had not yet said as much as he ought, he is stirred to expect greater revelations.

What is the reason for this? Although Peter and Nathanael spoke the same words, they did not speak them with one and the same meaning. Peter confessed Jesus as the Son of God, as true God. Nathanael confessed Him as a mere man.

From what is this clear? From Nathanael's following words. Having said, "You are the Son of God," he added: "You are the King of Israel." But the Son of God is King not only of Israel, but of the whole universe.

Yet this is clear not only from this, but also from what follows. To Peter's words Christ added nothing. As though Peter's faith were already perfect, He said that upon this confession He would build His Church.

With Nathanael He did not act so, but quite the opposite. In Nathanael's confession there seemed still to be much lacking, and something better as well. Therefore Christ supplies what was lacking.

Nathanael, however, confessed Him as a mere man adopted by God through grace for virtue. This is clear from the addition, "You are the King of Israel."

Do you see that he had not yet reached perfect knowledge of the true Godhead of the Only-begotten? He believes only that Jesus is a man beloved of God and King of Israel.

If he had confessed Him as true God, he would not have called Him King of Israel, but King of the whole world. For this reason he is not blessed as Peter was.

On verses 47-49. When our Savior, Christ, said to Nathanael, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you," Nathanael himself, in turn, was filled with wonder at Him as God from this single sign and said: "Rabbi, You are the Son of God, You are the King of Israel."

Therefore, if, according to our Savior's testimony about him, Nathanael was truly an Israelite in whom there was no guile, how can it be admitted that he lied about Christ when he said: "You are the Son of God, You are the King of Israel"? If he knows how to lie at all, then he carries guile on his tongue.

But if the Savior's words are true, then he had no guile in himself, being free from falsehood and deceit. Therefore he is truthful when he calls the Word of God Son even together with the flesh. He also adds the dignity proper to the Son by nature, for he names Him King of Israel.

And how can the One who is Son and therefore King at the same time be a slave and created? Christ is found somewhere saying to the Pharisees who were trying to question Him ignorantly: "You err, not knowing the Scriptures" (Mt 22:29; Mk 12:24). For this was undoubtedly a most fitting aim for a truly wise teacher: to correct those who ask with malice, and to show what is better to those who do not know the truth.

Consequently, if Nathanael had truly deviated from the truth by calling Christ the Son of God and King of Israel, why did Christ not immediately instruct him in true knowledge? Why did He not say to him: "You are mistaken, for matters are not as you have thought. If I am not the Son of God, but rather a creature, then I am by no means King, but a slave, as one created"?

This would have been far more useful to one recently called to discipleship and approaching it. Moreover, the Teacher would have preserved without reproach the art proper to Him, giving him as a first and saving lesson deliverance from an untrue judgment.

But since it was His custom to do this in other cases, while at Nathanael's confession He almost marvels, it is clear from this that He greatly esteems him as one who spoke wisely and skillfully. If He agrees that He is the Son of God and King of Israel, how can He be made or created, since He is the Word?

For what is created is neither called to sonship nor to kingship by nature. Everything is in servitude to the One who created it, and, in general, what is created cannot be begotten.

You will see greater things than these.” What are these greater things? “Amen, I say to you.” Since he is an Israelite in whom there is no guile, look back to Jacob, in whom there also was no guile. Recall what is said there: a stone beneath his head, a vision in sleep, a ladder from earth to heaven, angels descending and ascending. And see what the Lord says to the Israelite, to the one without guile: “You will see heaven opened, and the angels ascending and descending.” To whom? “Upon the Son of Man” (cf. Jn 1:47-51).

From this you have learned that the first to make coverings for their loins were Adam and Eve after they sinned. When they sinned, they made themselves coverings from fig leaves and hid their shame. They were ashamed of what they had done by sinning. Therefore, if the first sinners made coverings for themselves, those from whom we descend and in whom we perished, it was so that He might come to seek and save what was lost. They made coverings for themselves from fig leaves. And what else is meant by “When you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” except this? You would not have come to Him who cleanses from sin, unless He had first seen you in the shadow of sin. That we might see, He saw us. That we might love, He loved us.

So He saw the one in whom there was no guile and said, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile.” Nathanael said to Him, “Why do You know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” that is, under the fig tree. Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel” (Jn 1:47-49). Nathanael must have seen something great in the words, “When you were under the fig tree, before Philip called you, I saw you.” For after this he spoke the words, “You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.” Peter later spoke such words, and the Lord said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Mt 16:17). This verse in Matthew follows Peter’s answer to Jesus’ question about the disciples’ confession, to which Augustine alludes. “He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’” (Mt 16:15-16). Then He called him rock, petram, and glorified him as the support of the Church in this faith. Here Nathanael says, “You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.” Why? Because it had been said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you” (Jn 1:48).

We must ask whether this fig tree signifies anything. Listen, my brothers. We have found a fig tree worthy of a curse, because it had only leaves and no fruit (cf. Mt 21:19). In the beginning of the human race, when Adam and Eve sinned, they made themselves girdles from fig leaves (cf. Gen 3:7). Therefore sins are to be understood beneath the fig leaves. Nathanael was under the fig tree, as though beneath the shadow of death. The Lord saw him, concerning whom it was said, “For those who sit beneath the shadow of death, light shall shine” (cf. Is 9:2). What, then, was said to Nathanael? “You ask Me, O Nathanael, ‘Why do You know me?’ You are now speaking with Me because Philip called you” (cf. Jn 1:47-49). Him whom He called through the apostle, He already sees as belonging to His Church. O Church, O Israel, in whom there is no guile! If you are the people of Israel and there is no guile in you, then you have now known Christ through the apostles, as Nathanael first knew Christ through Philip.

Yet in His mercy He sees you before you know Him, while you are still under sin. Did we first seek Christ, and did He not seek us? Did we, sick as we were, come to the Physician, and did not the Physician come to the sick? Was not the sheep lost, while the shepherd sought it, leaving the ninety-nine in the wilderness? And when he found it, did he not joyfully carry it back upon his shoulders? Was not the drachma lost, while the woman lit a lamp and searched her whole house until she found it? And when she found it, did she not say to her neighbors, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma that was lost” (cf. Lk 15:4, 8-9)? So we too were lost, like that sheep, and lost, like that drachma. Our Shepherd found the sheep, but He sought the sheep. The woman found the drachma, but she sought the drachma. Who is this woman? The flesh of Christ. And what is the lamp? “I have set a lamp for My Anointed” (cf. Ps 131:17). Thus we were sought in order to be found. We are even called the found. Let us not be proud of this, for before we were found, we were lost. If we had not been sought, we would have remained lost. Therefore let not those whom we love, and whom we desire to illumine with the light of the catholic Church, say to us, “What have you to do with us? Why do you seek us, if we are sinners?” We seek you so that you may not perish. We seek you so that you may be found. We desire to find you, because we ourselves have been found.

When Nathanael said, “Why do You know me?” (Jn 1:48), the Lord said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you” (Jn 1:48). “O Israel without guile, whoever you are! O people living by faith! Before I called you through My apostles, when you were beneath the shadow of death and did not see Me, I saw you.”

Peter's confession was perfect, while Nathanael's was imperfect. Both acknowledged that Christ is the Son of God. But Nathanael diminished the majesty of his confession by adding, "You are the King of Israel."

For Christ, the Son of God, is not only the King of Israel, but the King of the whole universe and of all creations, visible and invisible.

Therefore the Lord blessed Peter and confirmed his confession, saying, "And on this rock," that is, on the confession by which you confessed, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," "I will build My Church" (Mt 16:16, 18).

But to Nathanael's imperfect confession He said the following:

This confession of Nathanael was rewarded with the promise that afterward he would see still greater things. They all would "from now on see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man" (Jn 1:51).

The title "Son of Man," applied to the Messiah, was used by the prophet Daniel (Dan 7:13). It was the beloved title by which Christ named Himself, applying it to Himself about eighty times.

It is remarkable that none of the New Testament writers yet applies this title to Him, except in passages relating to His heavenly glorification.

As true Israelites well read in Holy Scripture, these words had to remind them of the wondrous vision of the ladder seen by their forefather Jacob.

He who in that vision stood at the top of the ladder has now come down to earth and is present with them as the Son of Man. They were soon to be convinced of this by the works He began to perform.

Through the narrative of Nathanael and Philip, Andrew, Peter, and John, the Evangelist gives true and clear testimony that from the very beginning of Christ's public activity, the best men of the Jewish people, though of simple origin, believed and confessed that Jesus is the true Christ, the Son of God.