John 1:43-51
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’ When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’
Today we hear of Jesus calling Philip (who was a contemporary of Andrew and Peter who we met yesterday), from Bethsaida, a small fishing village on the shore of the sea of Galilee. It was there that Jesus told Philip, “follow me,” and Philip then found Nathanial. Nathanial comes off as uninterested in this man Jesus from Nazareth, and even asks Philip, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
In our reading context matters! Culturally, those familiar with the time and place would know that Nazareth was considered the equivalent to being on the “wrong side of the tracks.” Surely this would not a place for a messianic teacher to be from. But Philip’s invitation was simple “come & see.” This was the invitation that Jesus extended to Andrew in yesterday's reading.
Nonetheless, possibly reluctantly, Nathaniel goes to Jesus, and Jesus identifies him immediately as an “Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” In turn, Nathanial immediately identifies Jesus as the Son of God and King of Israel. Jesus then tells Nathaniel, something of the equivalent, "you haven’t seen anything yet."
In this interaction, Jesus calls Philip and Philip turns around and calls or invites Nathaniel. It reminds us again that sometimes, in our travels, we depend on others to help show us the way. Over the past couple of days, we've revisited the call stories of the first disciples from the gospel according to John. John seems to be stressing invitation and response and makes a big deal about those who Jesus calls indirectly that seem to play a big part in the story.
Andrew called Simeon (called Peter or Cephas) and Jesus declared Peter to be a person of strength. Philip calls Nathaniel and Jesus declares that he is of good character. The call to action that I see today is Jesus/God doing the evaluation. Not us. It's often said that God doesn't call the qualified, God qualifies the called. Our job is to invite into the way of Jesus and let Jesus do the qualifying. When we do, we will see greater things than these.
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