Worship Booklet
Communion Prayer
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In today’s reading from John’s gospel, Jesus is beginning to put together an entourage and he calls Philip to join him. Phillip goes and tells Nathanael about Jesus, and Nathanael responds sarcastically with, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth.” I guess Nazareth had a bad name for itself … a tiny, backwater kind of place. Anyhow, Philip invites Nathanael to join him and see for himself what this man Jesus is about. When Jesus sees Nathanael he remarks, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Why the author chose to compose the sentence as a double negative, I don’t know. But, basically Jesus is saying, “Now here is an honest Israelite. Here is a truth-teller.” I wonder if that is what Jesus noticed in Nathanael … a truth-teller … and is that why he invited him into his inner circle.