by Jilene Scherenske
Philip’s Calling (John 1:35-49)
We have not said it yet, but the gospel of John is the only place where Philip is mentioned other than the lists of who the disciples were in the other three gospels. Philip was the fourth person to join the group. John and Andrew were with John the Baptist when he said, Behold the Lamb of God. The Bible tells us that two of John’s disciples immediately followed Jesus. They were John and Andrew. Then in verse 40 of John chapter one Andrew finds his brother, Peter, and brings him to Christ. The very next day Jesus is on His way to Galilee and He, Jesus, finds Philip. Joh 1:43 The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. Philip was the first to hear and obey the command of “Follow Me”. Jesus found Philip; it wasn’t the other way around as it had been for the first three. Jesus Himself invited Philip to join the group. The Good Shepherd went after His sheep as He has done time and time again. If it were not for His wooing, none of us would be His sheep!
There is only one way in which Philip could have dropped everything and followed. Remember his personality traits? He was not one likely to be so quick to respond! But his heart was already ready, it had been prepared by the Holy Spirit; he had been studying the Old Testament and thus he knew its promises. We know this because Philip went immediately to find Nathanael. He said to him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Now we know that together these four had been searching the scriptures, looking for the Messiah. I am compelled to interject a thought here. These four, Andrew, Nathanael, Peter, and Philip had been studying the Old Testament’s prophecies about Jesus. They knew them well. Then, for three years they were eyewitnesses to these prophecies being fulfilled, yet I doubt that they recognized even one. If we were to go to Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem just before His crucifixion the Bible records in John 12:16 these words: These things [ referring to His riding upon a young ass and the people crying “Hosanna, Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord”] understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him. It was only after Jesus’ ascension that the disciples remembered all the prophecies that they had witnessed being fulfilled. Then they understood! Their knowledge of scripture was then made perfect!
Early on we discovered that Philip had been searching the scriptures for the Messiah which meant he had an open and seeking heart. That is why he followed without hesitation. Let’s make sure our heart is likewise open and always seeking. Every day in our fellowship time with Him and even throughout our day we need to be open to whatever He wants to teach us and seek for a deeper fellowship/relationship with Him. We must never allow our daily fellowship with Jesus to become regimented and stale. Pray about your prayer life! Pray about your time in His Word! Ask God how He wants to improve it and then follow His leading! God never wants us to stop growing, but to seek to grow more Christ like every day.
Well, let’s go back to Philip’s finding Nathanael: Remember Nathanael’s response? Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? (Vs 46). Nathanael initially doubted because this man that Philip was calling the Messiah was a known entity in their region. They knew His father was Joseph, and they knew Nazareth had a poor reputation, why would the Messiah come from Nazareth? Bethsaida was very near Nazareth, so they were very familiar with that town. But neither of these things seemed to worry Philip, in fact, the way he put it may have indicated that he, too, was amazed at Who the Messiah was. But somehow, he knew immediately that Jesus was the Messiah! He was ready. He received Jesus gladly, unhesitatingly, no reluctance, no disbelief. It did not matter to him who His father was or which town he came from; he knew for sure that this Jesus was the Messiah. This was totally out of character for him, as we shall see. His natural tendency would have been to hold back, ask questions, get the facts, wait and see. But no! He immediately followed! Philip was so excited that he had found the Messiah that he immediately went after Nathanael! Yet he either did not seem to know how to explain that fact, or he knew it would do no good to argue, so he simply invited Nathanael to come and see for himself!
The immediate response of Philip was not only to follow Jesus, but to get his beloved friend and bring Him to Jesus as well. O that we all had such an evangelistic spirit today that we would bring all our friends to Jesus right away and not wait! Notice also that Philip did not argue with Nathanael, he simply said, “Come and see.” Sometimes the best evangelism is inviting one to just come and see by relating how Jesus has changed your life, or perhaps by just challenging them to try out Jesus! Jesus will never fail them.