“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.'” – John 1:45-46

I made the journey down the Jordan
to hear the Baptist’s words, not Philip’s dreams.
Admittedly, if John had said he was
Messiah, I’d have turned my head.
But no. He told us he was just an echo
of Isaiah, straightening the roads.

Oh, Philip, my old friend. How many figments you
would follow! I am not so credulous.
Messiah? Here? Unlikely, don’t you think?
He’d either be upon the road, an army at
his heels, or hidden in a cave as David did.
Messiahs do not listen to a Baptist.

And he’s from where? From Nazareth?
Oh, Philip, you have lost your mind.
Can anything of good or right come out of there?
They’re all too ordinary, Philip, stuck
in their pursuit of daily bread.
You’ll never find Messiah in that place.

But now: you’ve told me, “Come and see.”
For friendship and for mercy, I will come.
Forgive me if the skeptic’s frown distorts my face.
I have no skill to wear deception’s mask.
Your Messianic man will know me when he sees me.
He’ll know I bring to him no thought of guile.

A poem/prayer based on John 1:43-51, the Revised Common Lectionary Gospel Reading for Year B, Second Sunday after the Epiphany.

The image is Nathanaël sous le figuier (Nathaniel Under the Fig Tree) by James Tissot – Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2008, 00.159.59_PS2.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10195839.