“As Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said, ‘Here is truly an Israelite. There is nothing false in him’” (Joh.1:47). Notice that Jesus described Nathanael as a person of whom “there is nothing false.” Not being a deceiver, Nathanael would not have made a good religionist. Why? A religionist parades himself before others as one who is measuring up to divine law by his own goodness. Nathanael was too honest for that. He knew he was a sinner in need of divine grace, instead of law. Neither would Nathanael have made a “good” Pharisee; since he knew he was not good. But he made a good disciple and apostle. Jesus chose him, and others like him, because they were not pretenders. Remember the honest evaluation Simon Peter gave of himself – “Go away from me, Lord I am a sinful man!” (Lu.5:8). Jesus did not turn away people who knew they were corrupt. Instead, He associated and ate meals with them. The thing the Lord seemed to have despised more than anything else within religious people, was their hypocrisy [dishonesty]. The Pharisees were good at hypocrisy. They thought they were righteous because they went to synagogue [church] every week, read their Bible every day; prayed routinely, fasted a couple of times a week, gave more than most, and avoided scandal. They did not know that they were not good and that they could never make themselves righteous by obeying commands. Being self-righteous as they were, they would measure others by themselves and condemn any who didn’t live up to their standard and accept their interpretations of Bible passages. Of course, they only extended their fellowship to those who were “sound” like them. While they were praised by the like-minded, they were condemned by the Lord. They may have fooled themselves, but they didn’t fool others who knew them well. In fact, their hypocrisy made some people not want to have anything to do with God (Rom.2:24). How refreshing it must have been for Jesus to cross paths with people who knew they were corrupt, like Nathanael. Mark Twain once said, “After spending a considerable amount of time with religious people, I understand why Jesus spent so much time with tax collectors and sinners.” Only hypocrites want to be around a hypocrite. Jesus can’t help someone who is “good”, but He can help those who are corrupt.

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