[New to our exegesis of John’s Gospel? Try starting at The Beginning — see top menu for John 1:1-2].
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 49 Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
43 Τῇ ἐπαύριον ἠθέλησεν ἐξελθεῖν εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν. καὶ εὑρίσκει Φίλιππον καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ἀκολούθει μοι. 44 ἦν δὲ ὁ Φίλιππος ἀπὸ Βηθσαϊδά, ἐκ τῆς πόλεως Ἀνδρέου καὶ Πέτρου. 45 εὑρίσκει Φίλιππος τὸν Ναθαναὴλ καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· Ὃν ἔγραψεν Μωϋσῆς ἐν τῷ νόμῳ καὶ οἱ προφῆται εὑρήκαμεν, Ἰησοῦν υἱὸν τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ τὸν ἀπὸ Ναζαρέτ. 46 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ Ναθαναήλ· Ἐκ Ναζαρὲτ δύναταί τι ἀγαθὸν εἶναι; λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Φίλιππος· Ἔρχου καὶ ἴδε. 47 εἶδεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς τὸν Ναθαναὴλ ἐρχόμενον πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ λέγει περὶ αὐτοῦ· Ἴδε ἀληθῶς Ἰσραηλίτης ἐν ᾧ δόλος οὐκ ἔστιν. 48 λέγει αὐτῷ Ναθαναήλ· Πόθεν με γινώσκεις; ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Πρὸ τοῦ σε Φίλιππον φωνῆσαι ὄντα ὑπὸ τὴν συκῆν εἶδόν σε. 49 ἀπεκρίθη αὐτῷ Ναθαναήλ· Ῥαββί, σὺ εἶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, σὺ βασιλεὺς εἶ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. 50 ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Ὅτι εἶπόν σοι ὅτι εἶδόν σε ὑποκάτω τῆς συκῆς πιστεύεις; μείζω τούτων ὄψῃ. 51 καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ὄψεσθε τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀνεῳγότα καὶ τοὺς ἀγγέλους τοῦ θεοῦ ἀναβαίνοντας καὶ καταβαίνοντας ἐπὶ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.
Messiahs Should Be From Nice Towns?
We continue to be impressed with the first thing Jesus does after his baptism: form his little band of followers most of whom had simple roots and bucolic occupations. Jesus found Philip who, in turn, found Nathanael and told him they had found the Messiah from Nazareth.
Nathanael is skeptical: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
His skepticism is a hint about the village Jesus grew up in. First, there are scanty records the town ever existed — a point those inclined to disbelieve the Jesus narrative love to point out. The historian Josephus didn’t mention Nazareth in his list of Galilean towns. The same is true of some other ancient lists of such towns. But it takes as much faith to believe in an argument from silence as it does to believe the opposite.
And then there are some recent archaeological findings that suggest there really was a Nazareth. An inscription was uncovered giving an account of some Jerusalem priests who fled the holy city after the Romans destroyed it in 69 AD and settled in a Galilean town of Nazareth. Still more recent discoveries indicate Nazareth was a larger town than originally thought and thoroughly anti-Roman.
Regardless of these finds, it follows true to so much of the Jesus story — his coming was not that of a royal, warrior Messiah most expected. Rather, he came as a simple carpenter’s son, who pulled together a band of “nobodies” to be his followers, and enacted much of his ministry in the less prestigious area of Galilee. That he hailed from a back-water squatters village that didn’t even make the official town census would be right in line with what else we know about him.
Certainly, Nathanael was not impressed with Jesus’ hometown which, if anything, indicated Nazareth was not your upstanding high rent community.
And then he met Jesus.
Jesus said a few words that melted Nathanael’s hard heart.
“Come and see,” these first followers said. They didn’t try to argue people into following Jesus. That never works. But, when you meet him, listen to him, observe him…it’s hard to ever be the same again!
“Come and See” for yourself!
It's Greek to Me! 