Fig Tree Flashback

Developing a biblical imagination

John 1:43-51

Jesus decided to go to Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, "Follow me." Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter.  Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth." But Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Here is a true child of Israel.  There is no duplicity in him." Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree." Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."

          One of the things I enjoy doing at Trinity is mowing the grass: you haven’t lived until you’ve driven a zero-turn mower. Last summer, during a long hot afternoon of mowing the grounds, I stopped to chat with one of the nuns at St. Scholastica Monastery. She had just come from their garden and she offered me a fruit from one of the trees in the garden; it was a fig. Suddenly, I had this frightening flashback: of another man in another garden who was offered the fruit of another tree by a woman.  Aghast, I replied: “No, sister! I’ll never eat that fruit!” A moment later, I came back to my senses and realized I was back in Fort Smith and talking to a Benedictine nun, not Adam in the garden being offered an apple by Eve. I’m sure I scared that poor sister half out of her wits. Now you know what priests and nuns talk about in private.

          But I believe that is a blessing of a “biblical imagination.” What is a “biblical imagination”? Well, it’s where your thinking and imagination, your feelings and fantasies are fueled by the stories, the saga, the heroes and the history of the Bible. It’s where you are far more familiar with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John than you are with Grishom, Clancy, Rowling and Dr. Seuss. The milieu of your mind is flooded by the ocean of wisdom flowing from the pens of the inspired authors. In short, you “think biblically,” and you begin to see Scripturally.

          In the gospel today we meet a man whose sensibilities were saturated by Scriptures – he only thought biblically – namely, Nathanael. In his first encounter with Christ, he has a flashback, too, just like I did with the Benedictine nun. Jesus sizes up the would-be apostle, and says: “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” And suddenly, gripped by his biblical imagination, Nathanael’s mind is transported back to the Old Testament prophecy of Micah, where it reads (and you’ll recognize this): “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise their sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.” That was snapshot of what the Messiah would accomplish when he came, that is, peace. But it goes on: “They shall all sit under their own vines, under their own fig trees, undisturbed; for the Lord of hosts has spoken” (emphasis mine, Micah 4:3-4). In other words, Nathanael saw his sitting under the fig tree as symbolic of the whole people of Israel sitting undisturbed under fig trees when the Messiah comes; and the Messiah had come in Jesus. That’s why Nathanael abruptly avers: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” Nathanael would never have made such a claim if his mind were not wired with a “biblical imagination.” Nathanael thought biblically, and saw Scripturally.

          Last week I was talking with Dr. Clint Kindrick, a successful psychiatrist here in Fort Smith. We were discussing how people are becoming addicted to their Iphones and would rather look at it than the people sitting next to them. Clint observed about the Iphone: “It’s almost like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Heck, just look at the symbol on the back of the phone: it’s an apple with a bite taken out of it, just like Adam and Eve did!” We were both blown away by his blinding insight, because his mind was charged with a biblical imagination.  Clint thought biblically, and saw Scripturally.

          My friends, take time daily to immerse yourself in Sacred Scriptures. Read not only the New Testament but also the Old Testament. Listen to podcasts – yes, even on your Iphone – of Robert Barron, Scott Hahn, Edward Sri, Pope Francis. Meditate on the stories and parables, the symbols and the poetry of the Bible. Scott Hahn once said the gospel of John is simple enough that it’s like a wading pool for a toddler to play in, and yet it’s also deep as an ocean that no saint or scholar can ever reach its depths. And then you, too, might develop a “biblical imagination.” You will “think biblically,” and see Scripturally, but try not to scare any poor sisters at St. Scholastica.

          Praised be Jesus Christ!