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Second Sunday After Denaho
From The People's New Testament, B.W. Johnson, 1891.
45. Philip findeth Nathanael. As we learn from John 21:2, Nathanael was a
Galilean, his home being at "Cana in Galilee." His name only occurs in these two
places. He is supposed to have been one of the Twelve, the same one mentioned in
the other Gospels as Bartholomew, which means "son of Tolmai." The use of the
name in John 21:2 favors this hypothesis. We have found him, of whom Moses in
the law, and the prophets, did write. There was only one to whom this could
refer, "The prophet like unto Moses," the Messiah; and when Philip names Jesus
of Nazareth, Nathanael is at once skeptical whether the Messiah could come out
of Nazareth, an insignificant and despised place.
46. Come and see. That is the best answer to the skeptic. Bring him to Christ,
let him consider him, and what he has done for mankind. The strongest proof that
Jesus is the Christ is Jesus himself. [328]
48. Whence knowest thou me? Nathanael, who had never met Jesus before, was
surprised to hear himself spoken of as one known. When thou wast under the fig
tree. There was something about this answer that filled Nathanael with
astonishment. Under the shade and shelter of the fig tree he had some rare
experience that is not recorded, and that he supposed unknown to man. That Jesus
knew of it and read his soul startled him and dissipated his unbelief.
49. Thou art the Son of God; the King of Israel. Philip had said, "Jesus, the
son of Joseph," as he supposed, but Nathanael, convinced, declared him the Son
of God. This is the first confession of the divinity of Jesus.
51. Ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending. Jacob, old
Israel, in his dream at Bethel, saw the ladder that reached to heaven with the
angels upon it (Gen. 28:12). Christ is that ladder, the way from earth to
heaven, the way heaven sends messages to the world and the way we must go to
reach it. Nathanael would be permitted to see that Jesus was the Mediator, that
through him the Father speaks to man; that through him there is
intercommunication between earth and heaven.
43. Findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. This is the first recorded
instance of the Savior calling a disciple to follow him. Philip, it must be
borne in mind, is not Philip, "one of the seven," but "one of the Twelve," a
citizen of Bethsaida of Galilee, and a fellow-townsman of Andrew and Peter.
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