Wednesday after the First Sunday after the Festival of the Epiphany of our Lord
Posted on January 15, 2020 by under
Scripture: St. John 1:43-51 (NKJV)
1:43 The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46 And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”
48 Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?”
Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
50 Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
Devotion
Jesus tells Nathanael, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” Nathanael responds, “How do You know me?” Jesus says to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Jesus could see what Nathanael was doing because He is divine. The Lord says in Jeremiah 23:23, “Am I a God near at hand,’ says the LORD, ‘And not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?’ says the LORD.” David confesses in Psalm 139 that the Lord knows all his ways. He even understands our thoughts from afar. Sirach 42:20 says, “No thought escapeth him, neither any word is hidden from him.” Nathanael experienced Jesus’ divine omniscience and confessed, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
Christ knows us as He knew Nathanael. He is acquainted with all our ways. He even knows the thoughts that we hide from others. Knowing that God sees every thought in our heads and every imagination in our sinful hearts, we should repent of our sinful thoughts. Knowing that God knows us entirely, we can also pray with David, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties” (Ps. 139:23). He knows our anxieties and worries, and invites us to cast them upon Him because He cares for us.
We pray: O Lord, we beseech Thee mercifully to receive the prayers of Thy people who call upon Thee, and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
