Can Anything Good Come From Under a Fig Tree? Rethinking Entanglements and Gestures in John 1:43–51

Abstract In the first chapter of John, Nathanael sees Jesus from beneath a fig tree, and pronounces the famous words: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” By highlighting gesture and “proxemics,” the study of how humans use space and physical distance, this article will read Jesus’s gathering of disciples in Bethsaida as an event that interrupts everyday life. When Nathanael is invited to “come and see,” he will truly see greater things. The encounter in John 1 brings about change in Nathanael, but it also changes Jesus. By “being under” and “walking towards,” both men are transformed, entangled with non-humans and with more-than-humans, a tree and God’s angels. I argue that posture and gesture affect this Johannine scene. A gesture understood in terms of a bodily action can disturb a continuous flow of events, as a significant moment that interrupts norms and creates new possibilities. Gestures can be decontextualized acts that suspend routine and create other forms of solidarity and entanglements. I argue that this is what takes place in John 1:43–51.