Known, Understood, Loved

When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."

"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; you are the King of Israel."

As He did with the woman at the well, Jesus seemed to be able to look at a person and know everything about the one to whom He was speaking.  Nathanael instantly knew that he had met someone who knew him inside and out, Someone who had always known and understood him, and Someone who loved him to the core of his being.

Our paradox is that though most of us are hesitant to reveal ourselves to others, we want to be known, understood, and loved for who we are.  It is good to be known so well that we do not have to explain ourselves to others.  It happens rarely in our lives that we meet someone who knows us and loves us to the core.  We tend to believe that if others really knew us, they could not accept us.  We know ourselves to be wounded from the inside out, and we want to hide and protect the wounded and weak areas.  The Book of Isaiah puts it this way:

Ah, sinful nation,

a people loaded wth guilt,

a brood of evildoers,

children given to corruption.

They have forsaken the Lord;

they have spurned the Holy One of Israel

and turned their backs on him.

Your whole head is injured,

your whole heart afflicted.

From the sole of your foot to the top of your head

there is no soundness--

only wounds and welts

and open sores,

not cleansed or bandanged

or soothed with oil....

We have been so hurt by others; we have hurt ourselves.  Our innocence is lost, and we protect ourselves from allowing anyone else to hurt us again.  But if someone comes along who knows us and loves us, with all the wounds and welts, we no longer feel the need to hide.  It is a relief to drop the shield and stop protecting ourselves.  It is good to be known inside and out.

The woman at the well knew Jesus was a prophet because "He told me everything I had ever done!"  Why was she so excited about that?  She had spent her life avoiding the villagers, who also knew everything she had ever done!

Jesus knew more than what she had done; He knew her heart, which desperately wanted acceptance, love, understanding, without the need to explain.  He knew the heart which was wounded from top to bottom, which could not find acceptance, which could not undo the things she had done.  In her culture, I think it is fair to assume that she had been more sinned against and abused than sinful and abusing.  But the blame fell on her:  something must be wrong with her that every husband had rejected her.  Or maybe she was a whore, looking for someone who truly knew and loved her for herself.  In any case, her relief was so great that she became His first evangelist, running to the villagers she had been previously avoiding to announce, "I have found the Messiah!"

Nathanael, too, once he was known, understood, and loved without any reservation, fell down and worshipped:  You are the Son of God...  Because Jesus proclaimed Nathanael as a "true Israelite," in whom there was nothing false, I tend to think that under the fig tree, Nathanael was praying for a greater knowledge of God or for the redemption of Israel.  When his brother came to tell him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about," Nathanael was probably stunned to realize that God had heard and answered him so immediately.  Hesitant to believe what he was hearing, he probably approached Jesus with a little skepticism.  But Jesus' words to him brought home the full realization that God knew what it was he wanted at the core of his being and that God had already planned to fulfill his deepest desire. 

Knowing that God hears the cries of our heart and wants to fulfill our deepest desires----and will give us what we need at the core of our being----is such a relief that we cannot process it all at once.  We laugh; we cry; we are stunned; we are deeply grateful and for the first time in our lives, we are at peace.  We know the peace that the world cannot give, but that can be found only in the One Who knows, understands, and loves us to the bottom of our hearts. 

Now at last, our exposed wounds are no longer life-threatening, but can be cleansed, bandaged, soothed, and healed.  We have found the place of rest for which we have been searching all our lives; we are Home!