Text: John 1:35-51 (NKJV)
35 Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. 36 And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), “where are You staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour). 40 One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone).
43 The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:
This passage records Jesus calling His followers, who would later be designated as the Apostles. As we saw in the last section, John the Baptist was not out to build a personal empire, and here two of his followers were transferred to Jesus. The transfer was not difficult, but it was swift and was a fulfillment of John the Baptist's ministry.
It is ironic that Jesus's first recorded words of His public ministry were "What do you seek?" considering that He was, in fact, God in human form. The passage does not contain a reply from Andrew and likely John (the author of this book) that is apparent to us today, but in reality it does. In calling Jesus "Rabbi," the two men indicated that they were seeking a teacher to follow. In that culture, following a teacher meant a literal, physical following of such a Rabbi. Jesus replies interestingly, "Come and see." This was more than an invitation to "Like" Him on Facebook- it was an invitation to join the Most High God in His mission on Earth.
In this passage, we also have the first example of someone leading another to Christ (aside from what has already been explored regarding John the Baptist). In the process of following Jesus, Andrew dashes to collect Peter. Our role today in "leading people to Christ" is little different. We share the Biblical truth as Andrew did in telling his brother that Jesus was the Messiah and bring them to Jesus. Now, we cannot physically bring them to Jesus today, but we do so intellectually as we explain the Scriptures about Him. It is ultimately Jesus who calls a person to salvation and not the Christian or the church.
Peter already became unique among the few followers of Jesus by having his name redesignated. This will again be significant later in their lives.
In the next section (verses 43-51), we see a similar story to that of Andrew bringing his brother to Jesus. Well, sort of. See, Philip basically did what Andrew did in bringing the message and physically bringing his brother to Jesus. The main difference though was in the initial response. Whereas nothing of a negative response is recorded of Peter, there is certainly skepticism in Nathanael. Nathanael was prejudiced against people from this certain part of Palestine, Nazareth, which was where Jesus was from. Nathanael was not alone as this area was really looked down on by the rest of the Israelites. It was also significant because there wasn't any Messianic prophecy about Nazareth. Note though, that Jesus was born, appropriate to prophecy, in Bethlehem, although his family was not from there. What follows in their interaction is where Jesus shows Himself to be the Messiah (and God) by showing His ability to exceed His human limitations. Jesus concluded this interaction with an allusion to Genesis 28:12-22 and Jacob.
Applications:
Just as in these instances roughly two thousand years ago, Jesus is calling followers. If you are not a true follower of Jesus, you should take that path today.
Do not hold prejudices against people based on their ethnic or national origin. This certainly isn't the primary thrust of this passage, but it is a clear principle. We also see elsewhere in the New Testament that such things as race or ethnicity are not of concern to God, so they should not be to us. That is not to say that some cultural/subculture practices (cannibalism, for example) are not an affront to God, but we should not, so to speak, judge a book by its cover.
Other Studies from John
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