John 1:35-51
RTNT 2021. The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and… (v. 43a). After posting last week about caravans of travelers between Jerusalem and Galilee, my first thought today upon reading this verse was that Jesus was walking along with Andrew, Simon Peter, and the other disciple (vv. 35, 37) in the midst of a caravan of travelers and that He “found Philip” in the caravan, possibly after having engaged him in discussion. That would also be consistent with Andrew’s “search” for Peter, He first found his own brother Simon… (v. 41a) and Philip’s search for Nathanael, Philip found Nathanael and… (v. 45a), with all five of them part of the same caravan. Then thinking further of this caravan item, I wondered at the circumstance of four (or five) Galileans – Jesus, Andrew, Simon Peter, and Philip (and possibly Nathanael) – all returning to Galilee at the same time. So I’m guessing they must have been in Jerusalem for one of the annual feasts that drew many travelers (pilgrims) to Jerusalem three times a year and that they “happened” to stop by John the Baptist while he was baptizing at the Jordan River. I bring this up because I’ve always wondered at Andrew “finding” Simon Peter and Philip “finding” Nathanael, and then each of these going to Jesus wherever He was ministering. A traveling caravan answers my question and seems a reasonable explanation!!
Philip speaking: We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. (v. 45b) After so much discussion in our first two weeks about Jesus’ lineage, here Philip speaks clearly of Jesus as the son of Joseph. Philip was from Bethsaida, some 30-40 miles from Nazareth and possibly knew nothing of the situation surrounding Mary’s being pregnant while not yet married, so (to Philip) Jesus was simply the son of Joseph. However, Nathanael is likely from Cana (see John 21:2) and may well have known of Mary’s situation, since Cana is less than five miles from Nazareth. Recall also that Nathanael had earlier asked derisively, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? (v. 46a) I’m thinking of my childhood in rural Illinois, in a small town of 1500, with even smaller towns nearby who were basketball opponents – and our regularly speaking derisively of anyone from those towns! …Jesus, the Son of Joseph… Interesting!
See also: January 26 / John 1:35-51
After reading this passage, I wonder, after Nathaniel said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”, when Jesus saw him, I thought the translation should read, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no CONceit!”. This would show that Jesus had a sense of humor, aside from intimate knowledge of people he had not yet met. It would make him more human, disarming, and certainly someone that one would like to get to know.
Interesting – and humorous, Tom! I don’t disagree with you at all, except that I am loathe to change Jesus’ words (except for translation issues). However, I certainly agree with you on one major point – I suspect that there was a great deal of CONCEIT among Jewish leaders back in the day, so Jesus’ commenting like that would have been a direct hit on them and would certainly have won over some of his fellow Jewish citizens!
This time reading this passage, the name Nathaniel jumped out at me. He is only mentioned in John, always with Phillip. In the synoptics, Bartholomew is the friend of Phillip. So the thinking is that Nathaniel and Bartholomew are one and the same.
Anyway, I was wondering about what was so special that he did under the fig tree that Jesus spoke of, leading Nathaniel to be amazed and realize that Jesus knew all about him.
Apparently, in Judaism, “under the fig tree” is a symbol of studying the Law/Torah because that was where you were supposed to study it. Jesus knew all about Nathaniel ‘s dedication to God’s word and called him an honest Israelite. Wow!
Very nice post, Debbie. “Under the fig tree”… I had no idea!
I never knew that about being under the fig tree, Debbie! So inspiring to see how Jesus commended Nathaniel. How wonderful it would be if he said that to each of us when we see him in glory!
Fred, I like your note from the previous blog: “Come and see is a deeply biblical model of evangelism, a model that flows from our trust in God, a model that relies on God’s activity.”
(And interesting too that it is said only those two other times in the New Testament.)
It goes along with what Tim Tennet said today about our responsibility to open our mouths—we can trust that God will help us know what to say.