Sunday's Notes

Andrew and Phillip
John 1:34-51

After the initial reading, the passage this morning appears rather blah and unimportant. I mean, all that really happens is Andrew and Phillip leave John the Baptist and follow after Jesus. Andrew brings Peter to Jesus. Phillip brings Nathanael to Jesus. Nathanael has something smart to say and gets called out for it and suddenly believes Jesus is the Son of God. That makes for a good, clean and tidy lesson. But there is far more than just this in the passage. What I would like to do this morning is to simply point out the similarities in these two passages and also point out the differences and hopefully God will reveal more of Himself to us through it.

The similarities

1. One could argue that both Andrew and Phillip were disciples of John. (John 1:35)
2. They both spent the day with Jesus. (John 1:39)
3. They both brought someone to meet Jesus (John 1:41,45)
4. Jesus has a conversation with Peter and Nathanael. (John 1:42, 47-51)

The differences

1. Andrew evidently stayed with Jesus. (John 1:41)
2. Andrew refers to Jesus as Messiah (John 1:41)
3. Peter does not question Andrew.
4. Jesus changes Peter’s name. (John 1:42)

5. Phillip left Jesus. Jesus went looking for him. (John 1:43)
6. Phillip refers to Jesus in relation to Moses. (John 1:45)
7. Nathanael questions Phillip. (John 1:46)
8. Jesus’ conversation is much different with Nathanael.

The one whom Moses wrote about?

I want to put this into the context of how Christ was portrayed to the people of Israel. Their understanding came from the writings of Moses and the other prophets. Some of us may not understand all the prophecies but they are there. I spent this past week in Isaiah and even the chapters that are not considered Messianic passages the references are all over the place. But this is specifically referring to Deuteronomy 18:15-22, “the one whom Moses wrote about.”

Can anything GOOD come from Nazareth?

Matthew 2:23
Mark 10:17-22

I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe?

What is Jesus really asking here?
Why are we so easily satisfied with just a little bit of God in our life?