John 1:43-51

John 1:43-51

The next day Jesus decided to depart into Galilee and He finds Philip.  And Jesus says to him, “Follow me.”  And Philip was from Bethsaida, out of the city of Andrew and Peter.  Philip finds Nathaniel and says to him, “We have found Him whom Moses and the prophets wrote in the Law: Jesus the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”  And Nathaniel said to him, “Is anything good powerful enough to come out of Nazareth?”  And Philip said to him, “Come and see.”  Jesus saw Nathaniel while coming to Him and He said regarding him, “Behold!  An Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”  Nathaniel said to Him, “From where do you know me?  Jesus answered and said to him, “I saw you before Philip called you while being under a fig tree.”  Nathaniel answered to Him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God.  You are the King of Israel.”  Jesus replied and said to him, “Do you believe because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree?  You will see greater than these things!”  And He says to him, “Truly, truly I say to you, you will see heaven having opened and the angels of God while ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” 

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Immediately in this story we are reminded of the lesson we learned yesterday.  Disciples of Jesus Christ bring others to meet Christ.  No sooner does Philip meet Jesus than he turns around and goes to find Nathaniel.  Meeting Christ is exciting.  Meeting Christ is catching!

How is your relationship with Jesus catching?  With whom could you share Christ?

Second Thought:

When Nathaniel meets Jesus there are some really neat things that happen.  First, note how it is that Philip gets Nathaniel to come.  Philip imitates Jesus by saying “Come and see.”  Our greatest moments are in imitation of Christ!  Second, Jesus looks to Nathaniel and makes a comment about how there is not deceit within him.  This could be a reference to Jacob, especially with the comment that Jesus makes at the end of this passage about angels ascending and descending in a vision not too unlike Jacob ’s ladder.  See Genesis 28:10-17.  When Nathaniel questions how Jesus knows him, he reveals what Nathaniel has been doing.  Here we get the second great lesson from this point.  When we meet Christ, He already knows us.  He knows who we are.  He knows what we’ve been doing.  In fact, when we meet Christ we meet the only person who knows us better than we know ourselves.

How do you imitate Christ?  What does Christ know about you?  Why is this important?

Third Thought:

Jesus calls Himself the Son of Man in a reference to Jacob.  This is a neat point.  In Genesis, Jacob is the last patriarch to be the sole generational heir to God’s promises.  Abraham, well technically Sarah, gave birth to one son: Isaac.  Isaac gave birth to two sons, but only Jacob was a son of promise.  It is Jacob’s sons who branch out the one man of promise into the twelve tribes of Israel.  Thus, Jacob is the last single link to God’s promise.  Jacob is the last single link between Abraham and the nation of Israel.  What Christ is saying here is that He is like Jacob.  He is the single link.  The only difference is that Jacob is the link between us and God.  Jesus is the ladder that can bring us into the presence of God.

How is Jesus your link to God?  What does that mean to you? 

Passage for Tomorrow: John 2:1-12