Jesus Calls Each Of Us Personally and Differently? John 1:43-51

 Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” 48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you." 49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” 50 Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” 51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”

Here is another story of Jesus calling two more of his disciples.  Like Andrew met Jesus and went and found his brother Peter, Philip met Jesus and went to get his brother Nathanael.  Philip was found by Jesus and Jesus simply told him to, "follow me".  We know from the other gospels that he had met them before, but this was his formal invitation to Philip.  The bottom line is Philip followed Jesus and then went to find his brother.  

We see that as Philip tells his brother about Jesus, he knew his Old Testament.  He was able to connect the dots from the Mosiac law and the voice of the prophets, that Jesus was from Nazareth and he was the son of Joseph.  But Nathanael dismisses the idea by citing that Jesus came from Nazareth, a small town in the middle of nowhere.  Despite his brother's predjucial comment, he urges him to "come and see".  He is undeterred by his reticence.  

As Jesus runs into Nathanael he says, "Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit."

"Jesus gave him a wonderful compliment. The sense is that there was nothing tricky or deceptive in Nathanael. He didn’t have a mask." (Guzik)

A skeptical Nathanael asks Jesus how he knows him.  Jesus tells him that he "saw him under the fig tree."  Being under a fig tree gave a connotation that perhaps Nathanael was doing some spiritual reflection. 

“Perhaps it was a place where Nathanael had recently sat in meditation and received some spiritual impression. It is impossible to be sure. Certainly the shady foliage of the fig tree made it a suitable tree to sit under in the heat of the day.” (Bruce)

Then, suddenly we see a quick reversal in Nathanael's attitude and response to Jesus.  He confesses that Jesus is the Son of God and King of Israel, likely in response the specific revelation Jesus gave him. Nathanael needed more evidence from Jesus himself.   

As we see these four men being called by Jesus, we see that Jesus calls them in different ways, unique to their own personalities.  Guzik says,

"This section of John shows four ways of coming to Jesus:

· Andrew came to Jesus because of the preaching of John.

· Peter came to Jesus because of the witness of his brother.

· Phillip came to Jesus as a result of the direct call of Jesus.

· Nathaniel came to Jesus as he overcame personal prejudices by a personal encounter with Jesus."

One style or strategy would not work for all of them.  Of course, without knowing them he would not have known how to approach each of them.  

How did Jesus call you?  How did it involve your unique personality? Was it more of a direct call from Jesus or did someone lead or introduce you to Jesus? (I know for me it was a very relational and emotional calling which focused on his unconditional love for me as communicated by some other guys I really respected) As you look at others who have not yet heard the call to follow Jesus, how will getting to know them help you to present Jesus in a way that would be helpful for them?  On the flipside you might also be able to discern what would not work?     





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