Year A
Feast of Bartholomew
Revelation 21:9b-14
Psalm 145:10-11.12-13ab.17-18(R. see 12a)
John 1:45-51
Man of No Deception
The key to understanding the man in who the Messiah found no guile lies in understanding the fig tree under which he was standing.
It is quite interesting that many Christians understand that the fruit Adam and Eve ate of from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was an apple. However, the Bible and some traditions of Israel suggests that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil may have been a Fig Tree.
Genesis 3:6-7"When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they perceived that they were naked; and they sewed together fig leaves and made themselves loincloths."
Thus after eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, Adam and Eve realize that they are naked and thereupon sew together aprons or loincloths made of fig leaves to cover their nakedness.
In the tradition of Israelites, the Talmud gives three opinions about which tree is the tree of knowledge of good and evil;
💿For Rabbi Meir, the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil was a grapevine—"for nothing causes more heartbreak than wine...."
💿For Rabbi Nehemiah, the tree was a fig tree. For him, because the Torah tells us that after the sin, Adam and Eve "knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves and made themselves girdles," he maintains that "that which caused their downfall, was then used to rectify them."
💿For Rabbi Judah, he says it was actually wheat stalks. He bases his contention on the fact that "a child knows not how to call out to his father and mother until he has tasted grain." As such, the Tree of Knowledge was actually grain.
I think siding with Rabbi Nehemiah is the best option. This helps us to understand why Jesus cursed the fig tree and said 'May no one ever eat fruit from you again ' (cf. Mark 11:14), and later went to cleanse the temple. In fact John chapter 1 has a lot of links to the creation and fall of man in Genesis.
So Nathaniel or Bartholomew who is the Man Jesus found no deception under the fig tree shows us that, although he was under the tree, he did not allow disordered bodily desires or sensuality (...the woman saw that the tree was good for eating), disordered desires of the eyes or lure of appearance (...a delight to the eyes), and pride in possession or the pride of life (...the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom) to disobey God. He did not choose to eat of its fruit.
Our quest for knowledge always leads us to delight in our senses, but by doing so we fall into a lot of dangers because our body will in turn control our soul and our soul will lead to the death of our spirit. The Man in who there is no guile therefore invites us to not allow our senses to have the better part of us; but rather allow God's word to help us get out of the confusion that we are merely body and soul, and the soul and the spirit are one and the same.
Hebrews 4:12
The Word of God is something alive and active: it cuts more incisively than any two-edged sword: it can seek out the place where soul is divided from spirit,...
When we understand that we are tripartite; spirit and soul and body (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5: 23), and realizes that God who is Spirit dwells in the Holy of Holies which is our spirit, we will allow the Holy Spirit to inspire our spirit to control our soul and our soul control our body.
By
Sylvester Amakye-Quayson
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