Milk, Honey, & the Necessity of Complete Desperation in the Modern Church

Nathaniel’s fig tree and Jesus’ Nazareth

A reading from the Gospel of John, chapter 1, verses 43–48:

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’ When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’

The Land of Milk and Honey in the Bible

Ah, the classic assemblage of Jesus’ mundane heritage. Jesus is from the remote, desolate, backwoods of Nazareth, a very literal depiction of the ancient rural provinciality that often defines the origin of a monumental action from the God of Israel. Little ole’ Nazareth is a perfect setup for the God who works through the wilderness.