Through the Witness of Others
John 1: 35-51

John, the Author
In the beginning of the report of the Disciples, John, the author of this Gospel, goes somewhat unidentified. We assume that he is one of the two disciples that had studied with John the Baptist and when John points out Jesus, the Messiah, then these two (Andrew and John) follow him. The other of this twosome is identified as Andrew and in John’s Gospel, Andrew is responsible for telling his brother Simon (Peter) and inviting him to join them, to see the Messiah. The theme that we will pick up on here is that in John’s Gospel, the disciples are primarily the ones that are invited to see Jesus. In the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) it is primarily Jesus who finds and calls the disciples.

The Disciples
John the Baptist points out the Messiah, Jesus to two of his disciples (Andrew and John) and they end up leaving John behind to follow Jesus. Andrew tells his brother; Simon (Peter) that they have found the Messiah and Simon Peter ends up following him too. The next day Jesus finds Philip and calls him to follow. This is the only disciple in John’s Gospel that Jesus will find and call. Philip then found Nathaniel and tells him that they have found the Messiah – Jesus of Nazareth. Nathaniel’s response is honest and cutting, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nazareth did not have a stellar reputation among the Jewish population and it seemed unlikely that there would be good things coming from this town. Just as it was unusual to speak of a crucified Messiah, so too would it be unusual for the Messiah to come from Nazareth. What Nathaniel didn’t know was Jesus was born in Bethlehem, not Nazareth. He grew up in Nazareth so the assumption that Nathaniel made was that Nazareth was also his birth town. Jesus notes that Nathaniel’s comment underscores that he speaks his mind and he does not seem interested in impressing Jesus with flowery accolades. In him, Jesus found no deceit or duplicity. In our vernacular today, we would say that Nathaniel was singularly honest. What you see is what you get. Wondering how Jesus could make such a statement without knowing him, Jesus responds by telling him that he had seen him earlier under the fig tree. Why would Jesus have noticed Nathaniel under the fig tree? Sitting under the fig tree was a traditional place to study the Torah. Jesus, the attentive Rabbi would have noticed such a student.