Nathanael
The advertisements that you see each day Promise so much, but now you've learnt to be Sceptical, no matter what they say. This world is not what it’s cracked up to be. You'd had high hopes, built castles in the sky With bright child's eyes, with adolescent zeal. You’re older now and know how easily Such dreams, mirage-like, fade… or if they're real Are lacking somehow. You mask your hidden aching With cynicism. Facing Philip now “What good can come from Nazareth?”, you ask With your trademark quirking of the brow. Let go of your defences, come and see The One who’s better than you dreamed he’d be.
I’ve used some poetic license here, as you’ll know if you’re familiar with the gospel account of Philip telling Nathanael about Jesus. But Nathanael’s initial response to Philip, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46 ESV) certainly has a sceptical ring to it, so he stands here for the disillusioned, the disenchanted, the world-weary, those who have been disappointed so many times before that they now do their best not to get their hopes up. There’s so much good in this world of ours and yet so often those good things turn out not to be as good as we’d hoped they would be, or at least not for long. But Nathanael also stands for the reenchanted, for those who have let go of their cynicism for long enough to encounter Christ, and in doing so have discovered that he is better than they could have dared to hope.