The story of Jesus’ first disciples has much to teach us. We
learn: from the way Jesus interacts with Andrew and his friend; from Andrew,
and Philip and Nathaniel; And from the many titles given to Jesus in this section.
Let’s first look at the way Jesus interacts with Andrew and
his friend (37 – 42). Again Jesus comes towards John, and again Johns says,
‘Behold, the Lamb of God’. Two of his disciples listened to what John said. We
know one is Andrew, the other is almost certainly the author. They do what he
says – ‘Behold’. ‘Ide’ in Greek. Take this in.
They think about what they are being told. They have been John’s disciples.
They have been learning from him. And now John says – Jesus is more important.
They have to make a decision. It can’t have been easy. Perhaps they looked at
John and he nodded, yes, that’s what you should do, you should leave me and
follow him.
So that’s what they do. Jesus by now must be some way off,
walking alone. And there are Andrew and his friend following him. Jesus is
aware that they are following him – and so he turns.
That’s the first thing to notice. Jesus turns to anyone who
is seeking Him. In Jeremiah 29:13 it is written, ‘You will seek me and find me
when you seek me with you whole heart’. Andrew and his friend were seeking. So
Jesus turns.
And then we read that Jesus saw them. He takes in who they
are. He appreciates their unique characters. It is the same a few verses on with
Peter – Jesus looked at him. He saw all his weaknesses, but Jesus also saw that
Peter could become a great leader. And so he calls him Cephas which means Rock.
And so too with Nathaniel (47). Jesus saw Nathaniel coming towards him, and
then, as we will see, Jesus saw more in this man than just his prejudice.
After turning and looking at them, the first thing Jesus
does is to ask them a question. He does not explain the Gospel to them. He does
not preach to them. He does not invite them to do a course, or read a book.
He asks them, ‘What do you seek’. OK, you are following me,
but what do you want from me? What is motivating you? What is going on in your
heart?
It’s a good question.
What are you seeking? What am I seeking?
Jesus wants to know.
Andrew and his friend say they are looking for where Jesus
is staying. Does that mean they just want his address? Is that all they are
looking for? Is that why they have left John and started to follow Jesus, just
so they can find out his address?
It must mean more. They are asking for friendship, they are
asking for a close relationship, they are asking to see how Jesus is in
private.
Jesus likes what they say, and so we have the beautiful,
‘Come and see’. You will remember that with John the Baptist we learned that
first he obeyed, then the revelation happened. So it is here. First, they must
come, then they will see.
So Andrew and his friend see where Jesus was staying – and
they remain. This remaining is not just physical. They become disciples. They
will remain with Jesus all their lives. And the next day Andrew tells his
brother that Jesus is the Messiah. But in the text, there is no teaching, there
are no classes. What has happened? They have watched Jesus live in private. It
is the way He lives that wins them over.
In the Gospels we have evangelism that is ‘go and tell’,
that is in Matthew 28. But we also have evangelism that says, ‘Come and see’.
Come and see my life, that is what we have here in John 1. And if we cannot
say, ‘Come and see’, then perhaps we should not ‘go and tell’. We go and tell
because we can say come and see how I live. It is our life in private that
matters.
That is the story about Jesus with Andrew and his friend,
let’s move on to what we learn from Andrew, Philip, and Nathaniel. (40 – 51)
Peter is very famous, every Christian knows about Peter; but
Peter had a brother, Andrew, and from the human point of view, without Andrew
there would be no Peter.
For it is Andrew who connects Peter with Jesus. After
staying with Jesus the first thing Andrew does is that he goes and finds Peter.
This would have involved maybe a day or two of travelling. Then when he finds
Peter he has to persuade him to travel back with him to meet Jesus. It was work
and time – all for one man, his brother.
But that is Andrew’s focus. He does it. He brings Peter to
Jesus. And Peter’s life will never be the same again. Simon becomes Peter.
Andrew is a bridge, he introduces one person to another. He
does the same thing in John 6, he brings the boy with the bread and the fish to
Jesus; and in John 12, he brings the Greeks to Jesus. Nobody becomes famous
with this work, but without Andrews things don’t happen. So, let’s learn from
Andrew.
We also learn from Philip. He immediately responds to Jesus’
invitation to follow him, and then, like Andrew, he goes and finds a friend to
introduce to Jesus
Can you see the author is saying something here? Yes, the
church can grow when there are large meetings; but the church can also grow
when we work like Andrew and Philip.
Philip finds Nathaniel who was probably Bartholomew in the
list of apostles. This is because in the lists of the apostles, Bartholomew is
linked to Philip. Anyway, Nathaniel’s reaction is rough. Philip says, ‘We have
found Jesus, promised by Moses and the prophets, he is the son of Joseph from
Nazareth.’. As soon as Nathaniel hears the word Nazareth he erupts, ‘Can
anything good come out of Nazareth?’ You see Nazareth was just a very ordinary
town in Israel. It wasn’t a town suitable for a Messiah. Nathaniel’s reaction
is pure prejudice.
Philip does not argue with Nathaniel. He does not tell him
off for being prejudiced and racist, even though that what Nathaniel is. He
just says, ‘Come and see’.
And why does Nathaniel come? Because of his friendship with
Philip. He is not very excited by Jesus of Nazareth – but he likes Philip, he
trusts Philip, so when Philip says ‘Come and see’, Nathaniel gets up and the
two start the journey towards Jesus.
That’s the story of the church. People are unsure about
Jesus, but if we as Christians have good friends, those friends will come and
see because of our friendship.
We learn from Andrew, from Philip – and we also learn from Nathaniel.
When Jesus sees Nathaniel, he seems to know him and he makes
an accurate observation. ‘Here’s an Israelite with no deceit’. In other words,
this Nathaniel is straight talking. He will tell you exactly what he thinks. He
doesn’t like people from Nazareth – and out it comes.
Nathaniel is the sort of person Jesus can work with, because
he is who he is. Yes, there are issues, but they can be sorted out. It’s the
two-faced people who are the problem, and nobody can say that Nathaniel is two
faced.
Nathaniel is surprised that Jesus seems to know him and so
asks how that is. Jesus then replies, ‘I saw you under the fig tree’. This probably
means that Jesus knew that Nathaniel was seeking God. This is because there was
a custom that a good Jew would spend time in his garden, sitting under a fig
tree, and there he would meditate and pray. To say that someone was sitting
under their fig tree, is therefore to say that someone is seeking God.
Nathaniel was not perfect, but he was right about the most important thing in
life – seeking God.
And once Jesus says this, Nathaniel immediately responds
saying to Jesus, ‘You are the Son of God. You are the king of Israel’.
Andrew the connector and more. Philip the man with friends
and more. Nathaniel, the honest seeker and more. There is plenty to learn from
these three first disciples.
Let’s move onto the last part of this lesson, which is about
all the titles given to Jesus in this first chapter. Nathaniel’s last words
brings into focus something you might already have noticed. This section,
indeed the whole chapter, is full of titles about Jesus. Different voices - the
writer, John the Baptist, Andrew, Philip, Nathaniel – they are all giving
extraordinary titles to Jesus. This underlines a simple point. One name is not
enough for Jesus.
It is like the hero of the story comes centre stage and then
one light goes on and someone shouts out another title, then another light,
another title…that’s John chapter one.
This is Jesus in John Chapter One –
The Word – this is God, the second person of the
Trinity, the agent of all creation and revelation.
The True Light – Christ destroys all darkness.
The Only Son – the One who has an intimate
relationship with the Father, the One who shows exactly the character of the
Father
The Lamb of God– the One who will be
sacrificed for the sins of the world and the one who will judge the whole world
The Son of God, God’s son in the Old Testament was
Israel. Jesus is the new Israel, the new Son, the chosen one, the unique one.
Rabbi – the best teacher the world has ever known
The Messiah – the anointed king, the one who has been
set apart
Jesus, the son of Joseph of Nazareth – Jesus means,
the Lord saves. And He is fully human, from a particular family in a particular
town
The King of Israel – the ruler over God’s people
The Son of Man, A title Jesus himself often used.
It’s there over 80 times in the Gospels, 13 in John. It is drawn from Daniel 7,
a Messianic figure who is a living connection between heaven and earth
Right at the end of the chapter Jesus tells Nathaniel that
he is going to see a lot more than just hearing that Jesus knew he was under a
fig tree. That is true. Nathaniel will see the lame healed the blind given
their sight, the hungry fed, and the dead raised. And something greater. ‘The
heavens opened and the angels descending and ascending on the Son of Man’.
This takes us back to Jacob and his dream of the ladder in
Genesis 28. It is a picture of heaven communicating with earth. And that is
what Jesus says Nathaniel is going to see. But here there is no ladder. Jesus
is the ladder. He is the bridge.
Yes, Jesus sees us sitting under our fig tree, but that is
just the start. The heart of the journey is when we see the Jesus who connects
us to God, and God to us.
We have come to the end of our lesson on Jesus’ first
disciples.
May I encourage you to answer Jesus’ question to Andrew and
his friend. What are you looking for? May your answer be the same as there’s –
‘Rabbi, where are you living, for I want to get to know you better.
May I encourage you to be like Andrew and Philip, find your
brother or a friend, not to argue with them, but to invite them to ‘Come and
see’.
And finally may I encourage you to meditate on all the
titles that Jesus is given in this chapter, remembering that He, and only He,
is at the heart of our relationship with God.
Next, an invitation to a wedding, click here
https://sternfieldthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-gospel-of-john-wedding-at-cana-21-12.html
No comments:
Post a Comment