Today's Gospel is familiar, even homely, but profound. However, four contrasting qualities emerge in the Gospel; one or two of which are quite unusual.

1. When he heard Jesus was from Nazareth, Nathaniel asked, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Was Nathaniel just being the small town man looking down on another small town? The irony was that somebody very good had come from Nazareth.
   
   
2. When Jesus saw Nathaniel he said "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile." A person without guile is a simple, decent, honest person. In the Old Testament guile is trickery or deceit. Jesus saw in Nathaniel an underlying integrity. He was an Israelite, worthy of the name, open to God and his demands.
   
   
3. When Jesus told Nathaniel that he "knew him when he was under the fig tree" he may have been referring to some crisis in Nathaniel's life. That would have been surprising in itself. Also, he could have been referring to him as that genuine Israelite of the Old Testament who was able to sit in peace under his own vine and fig tree (Micah 4:4).
   
   
4. When Jesus spoke of angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man he may have been recalling for Nathaniel Jacob's ladder (Genesis 28:12). For Nathaniel Jesus is the one who will open intimate communications between heaven and earth, even if he is "only from Nazareth"!