Today’s Scripture:
“Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’” — John 1:46 (ESV)
Reflection
I thought today’s passage was going to be short and easy, but now, I think there is a lot to be learned from this passage. The first wave of disciples were Andrew and the “unknown disciple” (most likely John, the writer of this book). They were directed by John the Baptist to Jesus through his teachings, and they followed Jesus, seeking him. Andrew also brought along his brother, Simon, who Jesus renamed to be Peter, or Cephas, which means rock. Next, Jesus finds Philip, who he called, and Nathanael, who was skeptical of the Messiah at first. As we know from Matthew 2 and P. Abe’s sermon around a month ago, Nazareth is a very small and humble town, and it really didn’t boast much, but God made it so that Jesus had humble beginnings. Nathanael asks what good can come out of Nazareth, and we all know the answer to that question. When Jesus sees Nathanael, He gives proof of His omniscience by telling him what he was doing before they met, and by knowing when Nathanael prayed to Him. Nathanael believed when Jesus said these very few words, and Jesus promised that he would see even greater things.
One idea I was kind of wrestling with was the idea of just inviting people to church. It isn’t a major evangelism move, where you have debates or Bible studies, but it’s just a way to dip toes in the water. This is kind of a similar idea to what’s going on in this passage. None of these people argued or were brought to BIble studies, but they were all called in some way to Jesus like how people are invited to church. This is something I’ve been wanting to do more, yet I haven’t gotten the chance to, mainly out of just fear of being ghosted or bailed on, but I should do this.
Jesus is both fully God and fully man. This was the main content of last week’s CGC small group session: discussing the nature of Jesus as fully God and fully man, that is different from when we are fully glorified in heaven in eternity. What we were talking about were the three omni-‘s: Omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. In today’s passage, we see God’s omniscience in how He knows what Nathanael was doing beforehand, and He sees the good but skeptical heart of Nathanael.
This was the very beginning of Jesus’s ministry on this earth. Jesus called the disciples, and they stuck around. This really reminds me of one of my best friends, CJ, who shows up to church, yet isn’t a Christian. As Jesus ministered to His disciples, none of them were ever perfect, they tried very hard to understand and be more like Jesus. I want to pray for my friend who isn’t a Christian, but who I think could be Christian in the future. Jesus is omniscient, and already knows the answer to my prayers, so I pray that I can trust in Jesus’s perfect plan as well.