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 (2019) / John 1:35-51