1. Jesus was forming an inner circle of disciples who should come out more openly on His side than the majority of those who heard His teaching. Already in a single day He had gathered three from among the disciples of the Baptist, namely, Andrew and his brother Simon and another unnamed, doubtless the Evangelist John himself; for here he writes as an eye-witness. But Jesus felt that He needed more followers, and after deliberation He, the next day, moved northward from Bethabara in search of other candidates. In the course of His journey He remembered Philip; and, finding him, He addressed to him the same call as He had given to the others.
Andrew and John sought Christ and found Him. To them He revealed Himself as very willing to be approached, and glad to welcome any to His side. Peter, who comes next, was brought to Christ by his brother, and to him Christ revealed Himself as reading his heart, and promising and giving him higher functions and a more noble character. But “Jesus findeth Philip,” who was not seeking Jesus, and who was brought by no one. To him Christ reveals Himself as drawing near to many a heart that has not thought of Him, and laying a masterful hand of gracious authority on the springs of life and character in that autocratic word, “Follow Me.” So we have a gradually heightening revelation of the Master's graciousness to all souls, to them that seek and to them that seek Him not.1 [Note: A. Maclaren, A Year's Ministry, ii. 156.]
2. “Jesus findeth Philip, and said unto him, Follow me.” No doubt a great deal more passed, but no doubt what more passed was less significant and less important for the development of faith in this man than what is recorded. The word of authority, the invitation which was a demand, the demand which was an invitation, and the personal impression which He produced upon Philip's heart, were the things that bound him to Jesus Christ for ever. “Follow me,” spoken at the beginning of the journey of Christ and His disciples back to Galilee, might have meant merely, on the surface, “Come back with us.” But the words have, of course, a much deeper meaning. They mean-Be My disciple.
We lose the force of the image by much repetition. Sheep follow a shepherd. Travellers follow a guide. Here is a man upon some dangerous cornice of the Alps, with a ledge of limestone as broad as the palm of your hand, and perhaps a couple of feet of snow above that for him to walk upon, a precipice on either side; and his guide says, as he ropes himself to him, “Now, tread where I tread!” Travellers follow their guides. Soldiers follow their commanders. There is the hell of the battlefield; here a line of wavering, timid, raw recruits. Their commander rushes to the front and throws himself upon the advancing enemy with the one word, “Follow!” And the weakest becomes a hero.
“Follow me,” says Christ to you and me. We may not have mastered all the subtleties of theology; like Philip, we may not even realize to the full the glory of Christ, but at any rate we see in Him the one Leader and Guide of souls. Let us follow Him, therefore. Let us say with the American poet-
If Jesus Christ is a man,-
And only a man,-I say
That of all mankind I cleave to Him,
And to Him will I cleave alway.
If Jesus Christ is a God,-
And the only God,-I swear
I will follow Him through heaven and hell,
The earth, the sea, and the air!
And following Him, like Philip, we shall come into the light. “He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
In an address on “Some Types of Student Life,” Professor Charteris instanced Henry Martyn and John Mackintosh (“the Earnest Student”) as cases of University men that took time to cultivate their souls whilst doing something for others all the while. “The law of the Life of God is,” he added, “as inexorable as any law which natural science has disclosed in the strata of the earth or in the mechanism of an animal frame. That law is-that we follow Christ, that we seek not our own things but the things of others. He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. And you, to whom professors minister, to whom relatives minister, to whom vast libraries minister, to whom do you in return minister of such things as ye have? Not for your own sakes at all, but because you are possessed by the sense of others' need; not for the return you will get, but for the relief you can render; you follow Him
Who gave Himself most earnestly away,
Not thinking of the grandeur of the deed,
But of the souls dying for need of Him.
You will have your reward if you don't think of it at all; your souls' peace will be promoted if ye are peacemakers for others; your hold of Christ's hand will make you follow whither He draws, where ignorance has to be taught, and pain has to be soothed, and sorrow brightened. Would you like to learn how little you know? Try to teach a Sunday class. Would you like to be sure of your grip of the truth? Visit that artisan who doubts it. Would you like to follow Christ closely? Then you must go where He still goes, as in Palestine-to the needy, the suffering, and the poor.”1 [Note: A. Gordon, The Life of Archibald Hamilton Charteris, 500.]
3. Whenever our Lord receives a new disciple, He at once gives him something to do. So we read that “Philip findeth Nathanael.” One cannot help thinking that he went in search of his friend at the instance of Jesus Himself. The Lord may have known Nathanael in private life as one who stood far above his associates. Philip at least knew him, and was fortunate enough to meet him on the journey north.
How intensely interesting is the meeting of the two friends. Nathanael had evidently been a keen student of the Scriptures. He, too, was eagerly longing to see the great One of whom the Baptist spoke. At this very time he seems to have been making a strenuous personal preparation to receive Him aright, when lo! Philip meets him, and, with the radiance of the new disclosure of Jesus still fresh upon his heart, tells him that at last the object of their quest has been discovered. “Philip findeth Nathanael and saith unto him: Him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets wrote have we found, Jesus the son of Joseph, the man from Nazareth”-for thus, following the order of the original Greek, we may render the statement.
Thus the Church begins. One man makes the supreme discovery and comes into acquaintance with Jesus of Nazareth, and straight he goes and tells his new truth to another. Read the first chapters of the history of the Christian Church as they are written at the beginning of the New Testament, and see how many times this incident is repeated. It is characteristic of Christianity. It is the instinctive motion of the Christian. One finds another, and thus the Kingdom of God comes.
Nathanael was not so easily won by Philip as Simon was by Andrew. Pious in heart as he was, and ready to accept the fulfilment of Scripture, he had certain preconceived ideas which prevented his immediately assenting to Philip's good tidings. For the present, however, we must leave Nathanael's prejudices alone. What we have to deal with now is the method Philip took to disarm him of his objection. Slow, deliberate men can be very decided when fairly roused, and this is the very spirit in which Philip acts here. With an alacrity quite equal to that of Andrew, he said to Nathanael, “Come and see.”
Observe Philip's way of dealing with Nathanael. Philip might have argued, either that the popular prejudice against Nazareth, which Nathanael quoted, rested on no sure foundation, or that, whatever its truth, Jesus belonged to Nazareth in so limited and temporary a sense that the reputation of the place did not touch Him or His claim to fulfil the Messianic prophecies. This, perhaps, would have been our modern plan of meeting the objection. Philip takes a shorter course. His object is not to put himself argumentatively in the right by vindicating Nazareth, or by showing that it does not stand in his way; he only wants to bring Nathanael into the Presence, ay, close to the Person of the Son of God. He is convinced that if Nathanael can only see Him, speak with Him, breathe the atmosphere that surrounds Him, feel the Divine majesty and tenderness which had already won himself, the prejudice against Nazareth will simply be forgotten. “Philip saith unto him, Come and see.”
Philip's answer, “Come and see,” is at once the simplest and profoundlest apologetics. To every upright heart Jesus proves Himself by showing Himself.1 [Note: F. Godet, Commentary on the Gospel of St. John, i. 450]
