“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig-tree before Philip called you.”
We may not know exactly what experience Jesus was referring to, but Nathanael certainly did. Jesus possessed knowledge which no man could have apart from God. This miracle accomplished its purpose: notice the result in the following verse.
Calvin points out that “We should also gather from this passage a useful lesson, that when we are not even thinking of Christ we are observed by Him; and this must needs be so, that He may bring us back when we have withdrawn from Him.”
Jesus is always interested in what we are doing. Why? Because He loves us so. It should comfort us to know that He knows us completely and yet loves us unconditionally.
From “On Another’s Sorrow” by William Blake:
Think not thou canst sigh a sigh,
And thy Saviour is not by;
Think not thou canst weep a tear,
And thy Saviour is not near.