35 The next day, John was there again, and two of his followers were with him. 36 When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, “Here is the Lamb of God!” 37 John’s two followers heard him, and they went with Jesus.
38 When Jesus turned and saw them, he asked, “What do you want?”
They answered, “Rabbi, where do you live?” The Hebrew word “Rabbi” means “Teacher.”
39 Jesus replied, “Come and see!” It was already about four o’clock in the afternoon when they went with him and saw where he lived. So they stayed on for the rest of the day.
40 One of the two men who had heard John and had gone with Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother and tell him, “We have found the Messiah!” The Hebrew word “Messiah” means the same as the Greek word “Christ.”
42 Andrew brought his brother to Jesus. And when Jesus saw him, he said, “Simon son of John, you will be called Cephas.” This name can be translated as “Peter.”
43-44 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. There he met Philip, who was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. Jesus said to Philip, “Come with me.”
45 Philip then found Nathanael and said, “We have found the one that Moses and the Prophets wrote about. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”
46 Nathanael asked, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
Philip answered, “Come and see.”
47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said, “Here is a true descendant of our ancestor Israel. And he isn’t deceitful.”
48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”
49 Nathanael said, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God and the King of Israel!”
50 Jesus answered, “Did you believe me just because I said that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see something even greater. 51 I tell you for certain that you will see heaven open and God’s angels going up and coming down on the Son of Man.”
Read John 1:35-51 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
When facing skeptics, many times Christians don’t really have a good response. Sometimes, Christians enter into a head-to-head debate and challenge the skeptic, while other times, Christians simply back away or run from the challenges.
Both responses have done more harm to what the world thinks of Christians. The popularized minority groups of Christians are the arrogant, hate-others-who-have-a-certain-label Christians (who are not at all Christ-like), the always have a Bible-based answer Christians who have a verse for everything but who never share it in a loving manor (this also isn’t Christ-like), and the naïve timid Christians who seem to follow their group like blind sheep (and though this may surprise some people, it is also not Christ-like).
None of these stereotypical Christian groups really match the model Jesus shared. Jesus did not hate those who were not like Him – instead He chose to hang out with them. Jesus didn’t quote the Bible as a weapon except when the religious people had brought Him a challenge, and even then, Jesus never shared truth outside of the context of compassion. Instead, Jesus chose to always share a truth that would help the heart of the person hearing it, and He always did it in a way that uplifted those present. Jesus did not ask people to follow Him blindly – instead, He invited them to come and see what He was doing, then left the decision up to them regarding whether to follow.
In our passage, we meet the first skeptical disciple, Nathanael. Philip was open to following Jesus, but Nathanael had doubts. The last portion of this passage gives us a model for responding to skeptics:
Philip then found Nathanael and said, “We have found the one that Moses and the Prophets wrote about. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”
Nathanael asked, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
Philip answered, “Come and see.” (v. 45-46)
Nathanael wasn’t as much skeptical of Jesus Himself as he was about where Jesus came from. This tells me that when Jesus arrives, or when He sends help when I need it, the help may come in a way that I did not expect.
But the answer for the skeptic is not debating, avoiding, or running away from the challenge; it is instead an invitation to “Come and see.” This invitation says, “Try it for 3 months or 6 months, and test it from the inside.” It is easy to criticize something from the outside, and skeptics are masters at this. Only experience can shift a skeptic’s heart – and even then, only after the skeptic has accepted the invitation.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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