Jesus has just gone through a long period of temptation. He was exhausted and hungry, so much so that angels came and ministered to Him. Please read today’s text in John 1:35-51.
John the Baptist was there again in the wilderness of Judea with two of his disciples. The text does not tell us here in verse 35 who these two disciples were but we will see a few verses later that one of them was Andrew. When John saw Jesus pass by, he said, “Look! The Lamb of God!” Once again, he addresses Jesus as the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice for our sins. When John’s two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus.
When Jesus saw them following Him, He confronted them and they asked where He was staying. He replied, Come and See. So, they went and spent the day with Him. The Bible then tells us that one of the two disciples was Andrew, Simon’s brother. It never tells who the other one was. This makes most people believe that it was John, the writer of this Gospel, as he often does not identify himself after this manner when he is the one to be identified.
Here, in verse 41, I want to talk about the words Messiah and Christ. These are exactly the same word. ‘Messiah’ is the Hebrew word for the Savior God would send and ‘Christ’ is the exact same word in Greek. During the day Andrew and John had spent with Jesus, and the time they had spent with John the Baptist, they had learned about Jesus and who He was, that He was the Messiah, or Christ, and Andrew wanted to tell his brother so that his brother could know the good news. Andrew immediately went to find Simon and tell him also.
Simon came with Andrew and met Jesus. Jesus looks at Simon and tells him, you will be called Cephas. Cephas is an Aramaic name. This name, in Greek, is Peter. Both names mean Rock. Jesus is telling Simon that he will be called Rock. At a point later in time, Jesus expands this comment to Simon Peter (Matt 16:18). In Jewish culture, giving someone a new name is an act of exercising authority over them and here, Jesus is showing authority over Simon, telling him that he is now a different man. He has been changed. Bringing Jesus into your life changes you. Jesus is also giving Simon an indication of the role he will have in the future with Jesus.
Andrew, Simon Peter, and John had spent the day with Jesus, learning from Him, but Andrew and Simon Peter did not become His disciples that day. This would happen just a little later when Jesus found them fishing in Galilee (Matt 4:19-22).
The next day, after spending a day with Andrew, Simon Peter, and John, Jesus decided to head to Galilee. He found Philip and told him, “Follow me.” Philip found Nathanael and told him that they had found the Messiah, the one Moses and the prophets had written about – Jesus of Nazareth. Nathanael wasn’t too sure when he heard it, but Philip just told him to come and see. When Jesus sees Nathanael approaching, he initiated a dialog that ends up convincing Nathanael that Jesus had a capacity beyond normal human abilities. Nathanael began addressing Jesus with Godly titles and Jesus tells Nathanael that he will see even more impressive things than that.
Finally, Jesus tells Nathanael that he will see angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man. The Son of Man is a reference to Himself and the angels ascending and descending is a reference to Jacob (Israel) that every Jew would have been familiar with from the Scriptures (Gen 28:10-22).
Who is Nathanael? Unlike Andrew, Simon Peter, John, and Philip, he does not turn up as one of the twelve apostles of Jesus (Matt 10:2-4). But in all of the other three Gospels, the synoptic Gospels, Philip’s name is always accompanied by Bartholomew, and it is believed that Nathanael is Bartholomew, but no one can be sure of this.
In today’s text, we see men of faith. Men who believed that Jesus was the Messiah. They not only believed it, but they went immediately to tell others that Jesus was the Messiah, or they went immediately to sit at His feet. Their faith initiated action on their part. Do you believe totally that Jesus is the Lamb of God, the Messiah, the Son of God? Does that belief create action on your part?
Responding to God: Praise God that Jesus is the Lamb of God, that He is Deity. Ask Him what action He would have you to take based on this belief or knowledge. Ask for an increase in faith. Thank Him for His sacrifice and His love. Worship Him in His holiness. Ask Him for opportunities to share with others that He is the promised Messiah.
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