John 1:14 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”
Why did Jesus say this of Nathaniel? Why was it so noteworthy that this soon-to-be-disciple had no 'deceit'? (The old King James Version uses the word 'guile'.) Why was this quality important to Jesus?
One of the most remarkable things about the beginnings of Christianity is that it started with one person - The Lord Jesus Christ, and the world has never been the same since. Christ's chosen method of changing humanity and the world for all time...was to entrust the entire mission to 12...soon to be 11...quite ordinary men. They were an odd mixture of people, of personality types, of professions. You or I probably wouldn't chose them to start a company, let alone change the world. So what exactly was Christ doing by selecting them?
Noteworthy also, is that each of these men gradually understood that the Kingdom which Jesus was building was not one that would bring them glory or power, but separation from their families, homes, businesses, and a life of constant uncertainty, risk, danger, and eventually, certain death (all but John who seems to have died of old age after a long lifetime of hardship and imprisonment). They were at no point compelled to take on this life, this calling. At any time, indeed over many thousands of opportunities, then could have bugged out, and simply faded back into any other life. It required a continually renewed commitment to their life of hardship and death to see their vocation through. What motivated them?
I think it was that they had seen the truth, and were people who could not deny the truth that they had seen. This, I think, is the one quality that they all shared - they could not deny the truth. Perhaps this was the quality that Jesus was selecting for, when he chose his 12 disciples...and it worked through in all 12 of them. Even Judas Iscariot did not run from the truth - but rather his own fear and hunger for influence and power overtook him. The other 11...the truth overtook them.
Yes, here are men in whom there is no deceit. They are men who are true to the truth...to The Truth.
May I, may we, be so called.
