A Man Without Guile
When someone shows you who they are believe them the first time.
People know themselves much better than you do.
That’s why it’s important to stop expecting them
to be something other than who they are.
Maya Angelou
Perhaps the highest praise – and one of the most puzzling statements - of all the Christian scriptures is found hidden deep in the First Chapter of the Gospel of John. Having been called as a disciple by Jesus,
“Philip went to find Nathanael and told him,
‘We have found the one Moses wrote about
in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote –
Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’
‘Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?’ Nathanael asked.
‘Come and see’ said Philip.
When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching,
He said of him,
‘Here truly is a man without guile.’
‘How do you know me,’ Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, ‘I saw you while you were
still under the fig tree before Philip called you.’
Then Nathanael declared, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God…’
Jesus said, ‘You believe because I told you
I saw you under the fig tree.
You will see greater things than that.’”
John 1
On rare, but truly blessed occasions, a counselor is privileged to “see” or “know” the “soul” of a client. The young man addicted to opiates, who walks into the office for the first time and whose “soul” pleads for help while reflecting a profound goodness. The law school student who’s committed to serving the most oppressed of America’s oppressed and desperately yearns for freedom from his iatrogenic – physician induced – addiction but is overcome by the pains of withdrawal.
One wonders what Jesus saw.
Nathanael, who even as a young boy would not cheat at checkers or tolerate men and women who cheated their way into positions of power by making it more and more difficult for the poor to vote, slowing postal services or limiting early voting days and closing precincts in Black neighborhoods or on college campuses. Nathanael who did not mock the physical disabilities of others but incorporated the disabled and rejected into the world of his friends. The young Nathanael playing with a child crying inconsolably after being separated from her parents. Nathanael desperate to relieve her pain and wipe away her tears?
Nathanael, filled with the spirit of youth, who embraced life and taught the kids on the docks of Capernaum “Spit on your bait if you want to catch fish.”
Nathanael who eschewed the cheats and vote riggers of his time. Who would rather loose a political office or position of prestige than abandon honesty and his values, who would not forfeit his immortal soul for worldly profit.
Nathanael who, in a year or so, would bring the widow of Nain to Jesus and implore Him to do something for her son – once wounded and captured in war, tortured as a prisoner. “Yes, Lord, he was captured, but he is hero to his people – our people – and now his mother has no one”
Nathanael, a man of his word – incapable of 20,000 misstatements, exaggerations and outright lies, whom Jesus may have quoted when he taught “Let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no. Anything more than this comes from the evil one.” (Matthew 5:37)
Nathanael who reveled in the beauty of God’s gifts of Nature and the Earth and committed to preserve them for generations to come.
Nathanael, who sought not fame or glory, who did not brag about his wealth, but was content to be “one of the Twelve” servants of Hope and Promise. Nathanael, dedicated to “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.” (Matthew 10:8)
Nathanael the kind, attending to the olive harvest of an elderly neighbor, because he recognized the difficulties of aging and illness.
Nathanael, never the hypocrite. Nathanael the faithful follower of the rabbi from Nazareth who warned hypocrites that their dishonesty and betrayal had destined them for the fires of Gehenna.
Nathanael, who believed that all the sick – not just the powerful and the wealthy – deserved genuine health care. Nathanael, who just might have helped to tear-open the roof of the home in Capernaum so that a poor and paralyzed man might be lowered to Him and He might cure him. (Mark 2:1-4)
Nathanael who played the soccer of his day with Samaritans and Romans and Greeks, with fishermen and the owners fishing fleets, who cared not about one’s orientation or identification, who accepted good men and women as good men and women – beloved by the Creator God of all. Nathanael, who anticipated a successor of Peter in declaring “God loves your children as they are.”
Nathanael, recognized the humanity, humility and sacrifice of the Roman centurion of whom the religious leaders of Nathanael’s own people told Jesus, “This man really deserves your help. He loves our people and himself built a synagogue for us.” (Luke 7:4) Nathanael heard the officer’s plea, “Lord, my servant lies at home paralyzed and suffering terribly… Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. Say but the word, and my servant will be healed…” Nathanael heard the Teacher respond, “Truly, I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob n the Kingdom of Heaven.” And Nathanael understood the saving grace that comes when we recognize “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free…” There are “no longer” differences among the People of God. (Galatians 3:28)
Nathanael, follower of the scourged and crucified one, who dared – like so many of the companions of the Nazarene – left home, journeying to the farthest corners of their world to share the Good News. Who accepted death in the name of the Resurrection. Never asking “what’s in it for them” or believing themselves “losers” and “suckers.”
In a nation already voting and with a month before the polls close, we must remember and, please God, follow the admonition: “When someone shows you who they are believe them the first time.”
In the end, character counts. Persons – men and women – live their character and their values in the small things, in little ways. Before Nathanael approached Jesus, the Lord had seen him – in the village streets, speaking smilingly with Greeks and Romans and Samaritans, honoring the widow and the orphan, being a just and honest – an honorable - man.
“I saw you under the fig tree, playing with children, teaching honesty, being yourself.”
“A man without guile.” As the nation votes, perhaps those four words are the most important in all the Christian scriptures.
A review of the names and histories of the saints and martyrs of the 1930s and 1940s reveals that not one was an active member of the Proud Boys of their day; many died because of their active opposition to racism – anti-Semitism – and a culture of hatred.
Saints of God, Come to our aid.
St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us.
St. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, pray for us.
St. Titus Brandsma, pray for us.
St. Edith Stein, pray for us.
Blessed Franz Jagerstatter, pray for us.
St. Alexander Schmorell and your companion founders of the “White Rose” –
Sophie Scholl, whose last words were “Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go… What does my death matter, if through us, thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?’ and Hans Scholl, whose last words were “Long live freedom!”
and Christopher Probst and Willi Graff, pray for us.