Can anything good come from Nazareth? Following the calling of Andrew, his brother Peter, and the third unnamed disciple, Jesus embarks on a recruiting mission. In our Gospel reading for today, he bumps upon Philip to whom he extends the invitation. Now we are not told the details of the conversation between Philip and Jesus, or even what Jesus might have done that convinced Philip that he was the Messiah. Whatever it is that Jesus said or did, Philip got impressed so much so that he set himself on a recruiting mission. The first recruit Philip found was Nathaniel from whom we get the popular ‘ Can anything good come from Nazareth?’ Nathaniel seems to have been up-to-date with his Scripture. He was aware that the Messiah would one day come. But he also knew that such an important figure would come from an important place like, say, Jerusalem. Nazareth was so an ordinary place to be associated with such an important figure as the Messiah. But as Nathaniel later found out, he was proved wrong. Yes, something good did come from Nazareth.
The account of the calling of Nathaniel speaks a lot to us in a special way during this days of Christmas. The idea of the Incarnation, that God could become a human being, doesn’t just make sense to some people. The over two thousand years of the existence of Christianity has seen men and women who get repulsed at the idea of God assuming the flesh. They too ask,  ‘What good did God see in such a lowly creature as to assume its nature?’ In their understanding, God is better off remaining the deity that he is rather than meddling in the mess that the universe has come to be. Yet, it is in God assuming a creaturely nature that the best thing that has even happened in the history of the universe occurred. God saw something good in creation and wanted to share that good news with us.  God assuming a creaturely nature restored creation to its original status as an overflow of God’s goodness. It is this that makes Christmas such a joyous occasion for Christians. Yes, God indeed saw something good in creation and chose to dwell with us.