John 1:35-51--Jesus Calls the First Disciples

John 1:35-51
English Standard Version

Jesus Calls the First Disciples​
35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

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We see Jesus here calling His first disciples and are told here that these disciples were also disciples of John the Baptist.  They heard John's testimony about Jesus and took it as a sign that they were to start following Jesus because Jesus was greater than John.  Then in the way that Jesus so often does, he turns asks them a probing question--"What are you seeking?"  Their answer telling they answered back by calling him "Rabbi" (meaning they wanted to learn from Him) and asking where He was staying, most likely indicating, "We want to go wherever you go and stay wherever you stay."  Jesus does not answer directly, again in His typical fashion, and just say "Follow Me, and you'll see."  They followed him to the place where He was staying (probably not his own house) and stayed with Him that night since it was late.  While this seems unusual to us, and a bit rude on Jesus' part to spring additional house guests on whoever He was staying with, it was not really that unusual for that time as the people of God were supposed to provide shelter for those who were homeless and travelling through and be ready to provide food for them as well.

These two disciples that joined Jesus first were Andrew and an the other remains unnamed (we think this to be John the Apostle, the author of this book because he seems to never name himself, but refers to himself in the third person, often as "the disciple whom Jesus loved.")  We see Andrew immediately wishing to be an evangelist and to tell his brother Simon (that is Simon Peter) that he had met the Messiah (the Christ), and Andrew brought Simon to Jesus.  This is a different telling then we get in the other gospels where we usually hear about Jesus walking up on Andrew and Peter while they are fishing and Him saying, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  (See Matthew 4:18-22 and Luke 5:1-11).  So which is it?  Is the Bible in conflict here?  No.  John just probably has details that the others didn't because he was there when John the Baptist testified about Jesus and knew that was when he and Andrew made the decision to follow and Andrew was likely in the middle of his story to Peter when Jesus showed up to call them (Luke seems to tell us that there was a miracle involved here with a miraculous catch) and that it was the combination of all these things together that got Peter's attention so that he would choose to follow Jesus--but John wants to focus on the fact that Andrew was immediately about the business of bringing people to Jesus, and we'll see that's what Andrew is known for, but we'll also see a reinforcement of this in the next account where Jesus calls Philip and then Philip seeks out Nathanael.

This account of Philip and Nathanael is only found in the Gospel of John, but it shows us something very important about Jesus, as Jesus early on in His ministry revealed that He had the attributes of God.  Philip had a different message than Andrew.  Where Andrew said, "We have found the Messiah," Philip essentially says, "We have found the one about whom all the Law and the Prophets pointed towards."  That's quite a statement, and we usually don't see that kind of understanding in people until after the resurrection of Jesus and usually only after Jesus does some explaining.  This is another amazing testimony that was given, but unlike with Andrew and John, we see that Nathanael is skeptical, because there were many who had claimed to be Messiahs, and Nathanael is convinced that Jesus is immediately disqualified because He is called "Jesus of Nazareth," and there is a saying "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" because it was apparently "Sin City" (like Las Vegas is today in the United States) for the Jews at that time.  There were also so many prophecies concerning where the Christ would be "from" that it was understandable why some people would be confused--He was to be born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:6, Micah 5:2), but He was to come out of Egypt (Matthew 2:15, Hosea 11:1) just like the Israelites did, and He was to be from the region of Galilee, specifically  the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali (Matthew 4:15, Isa 9:1-2).  So, Jesus showed up in person to prove to Nathanael that He was who Philip said he was.  How did Jesus do that?

Jesus came up to Nathanael claiming to know his nature and identity, even though Nathanael is sure they have never met.  Nathanael is suspicious and asks how Jesus knows so much about him  Jesus then gives an answer that is equivalent to saying "because I am God."  Don't miss this!  Jesus said that He saw and knew what Nathanael was doing (and thinking) before Philip came up to him--something not even Philip could have told Him.  Nathanael quickly changes his tune and says, "Surely you are the Son of God, the King of Israel."  This is about all we ever hear of Nathanael though.  He is called, he makes a bold proclamation of faith, and he too is called to follow, and Jesus even promised Nathanael that he would see a special vision of the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man--reminiscent of Jacob's Ladder, but Jesus is saying that He is that "Ladder" or "Stairway to Heaven."  In fact, Jesus will come back later in the book of John to say "I am the Way, the Truth and Life, no man comes to the Father except through Me."  So we see that John does a lot of "set up" here in how he chooses to tell events--possibly not always in chronological order, but maybe sometimes more in a thematic order, where we'll see John trying to group certain teachings with certain parables and "signs" that all reinforce a common theme.

What is John's big goal?  He tells us in John 20:30-31


John 20:30-31
English Standard Version
​The Purpose of This Book
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Ultimately that is what the Gospel of John is all about, to show people through the seven "signs" that are recorded as well as the words and parables that are recorded that we too may believe that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah), the Son of God, and that by believing in Him we may have eternal life.  Watch out for these keywords and themes as we study--light/darkness, life/death, signs, and people calling Jesus "Messiah" or "Christ," and the use of the title "Son of God" (used mostly in Matthew by the demons and the enemies of Jesus, but the gospel of John is the only book where we see Jesus use this title for Himself to claim equality with God--and the religious leaders don't misunderstand Him when He says He is THE Son of God (definite articles are important).