Remembering the Gospel with Blackberries

Mon, Aug 24, 2026
3 minutes Previous post : When All I Can Do is Cry

One of the central topics I teach at work is about how walking in step with the Spirit involves remembering the Gospel — how Jesus is good news for us, each moment of each day. We can see his work of building shalom, of establishing good relationships with each of us as how we go about our day. This is an example where the presence and love of Jesus, of being seen and known by him, became real to me. Even when we’re doing something I’ve done hundreds of times before.

It happened during our weekly team prayer phone call with the staff development team I am a part of. We listened to an exercise from the Pray as You Go podcast, reflecting on the text where Nathanael meets Jesus:

#+begin_quote Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” said Philip.

When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” — John 1

#+end_quote

We’re never told what Nathanael was doing under that fig tree, or why that moment would have been so important that it could convince him Jesus was the Messiah.

But as we listened to the text, I happened upon a blackberry bush, loaded with large, juicy, ripe berries hanging in the sun. At this time of year in my town on Vancouver Island, there are Himalayan blackberry brambles literally everywhere. They are growing on street corners, along roadways and in gardens. They are an invasive species — a weed — but they are the most delicious weed I can think of.

And so, I stopped for a snack. I picked a blackberry, thankful for the good things God has created, and just as I popped it in my mouth, Jesus said, “I saw you under the fig tree.”

And it struck me.

I bet Nathanael was eating some delicious, ripe figs, thankful to God for his good gifts. Maybe like me, this was something he had done hundreds of times before, going back to his childhood: enjoying God’s good gifts, in the summer sun.

Maybe what Jesus saying, “I saw you” meant to him was, “I know you, and I know how much you love figs, and I made those figs. For you.” And that’s why Nathanael so dramatically changed his mind and said, “truly you are the Son of God.”

Of course we can’t know what was happening in Nathanael’s mind. But that’s what I heard in those words of Jesus. His “I know you!” — for me — connected with the core childhood memory of eating fresh, juicy, late-summer blackberries.

And that moment changed each one of those moments, each one of those memories. I saw them anew, realizing that God made every one of those berries. He is near and gives good gifts.