Several years ago, I was in the Nashville airport with my wife, and I saw someone who struck me as very familiar. I kept looking at him and realized that he was Sig Hansen from the Discovery Channel show, “Deadliest Catch.” He seemed to be confused about which gate his flight was located.
I was able to let him know that they had just announced the relocation of his flight to a different gate. You might say that I single-handedly saved the entire “Deadliest Catch” television series.
I remember being struck by something when I met him. I thought to myself, “He’s a lot shorter than I imagined.”
You see, Sig Hansen left an impression on me when I met him.
Today, we’re going to learn about some of the very first followers of Jesus, whom we call “disciples.” We’re also going to learn how they responded when they met Jesus.
It’s safe to say that Jesus left quite an impression upon them when they met Him. Indeed, in today’s passage, they learned that Jesus was “The Greater One.”
Before we go any further, let’s go to God in prayer and ask Him to speak to us.
(prayer)
Let’s look at today’s passage and then journey through it together. Look with me at John 1:35-51:
35 The next day, John was standing with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
37 The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus. 38 When Jesus turned and noticed them following him, he asked them, “What are you looking for?”
They said to him, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
39 “Come and you’ll see,” he replied. So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.
40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed him. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah”, (which is translated “the Christ”), 42 and he brought Simon to Jesus.
When Jesus saw him, he said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated “Peter”).
43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. He found Philip and told him, “Follow me.”
44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law (and so did the prophets): Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”
46 “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael asked him.
“Come and see,” Philip answered.
47 Then Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.
“Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” Jesus answered.
49 “Rabbi,” Nathanael replied, “You are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel!”
50 Jesus responded to him, “Do you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” 51 Then he said, “Truly I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Ok, let’s look at a few points from the Bible today.
First, let’s simply look at . . .
I. An overview.
As we’ve learned before, the John in this passage is John the Baptizer.
John has already referred to Jesus as the Lamb of God back in verse 29. Now, he does so again in verse 36.
Notice to whom John is speaking. He is speaking to two of his disciples; these are disciples of John.
Of course, we know from the passage that they then became disciples of Jesus.
These two disciples are Andrew and an unnamed disciple.
Most people believe that this unnamed disciple is likely John, the son of Zebedee, who is also the author of the Gospel of John.
In the Gospel of John, John frequently does not refer to himself by name, which many see as an attempt at humility by John.
We don’t know for sure that this is the Apostle John, but it likely is.
Then, we have Andrew.
The most obvious trait about Andrew is that he is the brother of Simon Peter, which is stated right there in verse 40.
Like his brother, Andrew was a fisherman from the town of Bethsaida, on the Sea of Galilee.
Simon Peter is the more popular of the two brothers, and indeed, Peter was a great force for the early church. However, don’t miss this reality: The entire movement of Christianity was accelerated by Peter, but none of that would have happened without Andrew introducing Peter to Jesus.
Andrew changed the world because he invited someone to learn more about Jesus.
Of course, we then meet Simon Peter.
His given name was Simon, but Jesus gave him the name Cephas (in Aramaic) or Peter (in Greek), which both mean rock.
As we learn about the life and ministry of Peter, we see sometimes he was as hard-headed as a rock, and other times he was as strong and steady as a rock.
We’ll learn more about Peter later, and there’s a lot you can learn about him from our previous study in the Book of Acts.
For the present, notice that Andrew introduced Peter to Jesus and said, “We have found the Messiah.”
Jesus then departs for Galilee with some new disciples. Galilee was sort of a home base for Jesus and His disciples.
There, two others follow Jesus: Philip and Nathanael.
Philip is a Greek name, so he may have had some Greek heritage in his family.
He’s mentioned a few times in the Gospels, but he’s certainly not the most famous of the apostles.
Finally, in this passage, we have Nathanael.
Nathanael is not mentioned in the other Gospels, which leads many to believe that he may have been the one referred to as Bartholomew in the other Gospels.
We’re going to talk about Nathanael in more detail in a bit, but for now, just know that not a lot of attention is given to him, though something significant happens with him in this passage.
We also learn a little bit about the town of Nazareth here.
In verse 46, Nathanael asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
Apparently, Nazareth was not very well thought of. It was sort of a small country town with no significance.
Yet, we’re going to learn something good did, in fact, come out of Nazareth.
That’s a bit of an overview. Now let’s dig into two greater points.
Next, we learn that . . .
II. The disciples were called to something greater.
Right away in this passage, we see that the disciples of John the Baptist were pointed to Jesus by John himself.
Up to that point, they were following John, but John said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
Then, they started following Jesus.
John was great, but Jesus is greater!
It seems as if the two disciples were not just following Jesus as their leader, but were literally following Him where He was walking.
So, Jesus said in verse 38, “What are you looking for?”
By the way, if you don’t know this already, you’re going to learn in the Gospel of John that Jesus asked really good questions.
These two disciples probably didn’t know how to respond, so they simply said, “Where are you staying?”
Notice the response of Jesus in verse 39: “Come and you’ll see.”
Friends, Jesus’ reply is not simply about where He was sleeping that night.
Jesus was calling them to something greater.
Jesus was calling them to experience something greater: Himself.
Jesus is essentially saying, “Come and see something greater.”
Next, we see Andrew call his brother, Simon, to something greater.
Andrew says, “We have found the Messiah,” which, along with Christ, means “The Anointed One.”
From the time they were small children, Andrew and Simon, as well as every other faithful Jewish person, were looking for the Messiah to come; they were looking for something and someone greater.
Now, in this passage, Andrew is calling his brother to that something greater: Jesus the Messiah.
After that, we see Jesus call Simon to something greater.
Jesus basically says to Simon, “You are no longer going to be Simon the fisherman. Now, you’re going to be Peter the Rock.”
Peter the Rock would go on to change the world.
Then, we see Philip call Nathanael to something greater.
He said in verse 45 that they (seemingly he, Simon, Andrew, and the other apostle) had found the one written about in the Old Testament, whom we know to be the Messiah.
Philip says exactly who the Messiah is: Jesus the Son of Joseph, from Nazareth.
By the way, Joseph was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and he served as the earthly father of Jesus. So, this is how Jesus would have been identified: the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.
Nathanael doubts that anything good can come from Nazareth, but look how Philip responds in verse 46: “Come and see.”
Well, that sounds really familiar to what Jesus said in verse 39 to the earlier apostles.
We see a constant calling by others and by Jesus Himself to experience something greater.
Listen: Jesus is calling you to something greater. He’s calling you to turn away from everything else and follow Him. He’s calling you to “Come and See!”
Not only is Jesus calling you to something great, as John the Baptizer did, as Andrew did, and as Philip did, but Jesus wants you to call others to Him as well.
Of course, Nathanael answered that call from Philip. Let’s see how it turned out for him and the other disciples.
Finally, let’s see that . . .
III. The disciples were connected to something greater.
The disciples were not simply called to follow Jesus; they were connected to a movement.
Listen: So are you. If you are a follower of Jesus, you are connected to a movement that entails the salvation of sinners and God’s calling to bring His children to Himself.
You might think: Well, that was just for the apostles. No, it wasn’t.
Listen to what the Apostle Paul said to some of the early Christians, who were not some of the original apostles.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:20:
“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us.”
Did you catch that? If you are a follower of Jesus, you are connected to a greater mission where God is making His appeal to the world through you.
That’s incredible! We are connected to something greater.
Whatever you do in your life; whether you are a child or an adult, whether you are a man or a woman, whether you are a student, a worker, a stay at home parent, or retired, no matter what you do; if you are a Christian, you are connected to something greater than whatever you do in your normal life! You are connected to God’s marvelous work as He reveals His kingdom on this earth.
(go back to point #3 slide)
Let’s go back to Nathanael.
In verses 47 and 48, Jesus supernaturally reveals that he saw Nathanael when he was near the fig tree.
Nathanael was impressed with Jesus and recognized that He must be the Greater One.
Nathanael said in verse 49:
“You are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel!”
I love how Jesus responded to Nathanael.
He said in verse 50:
“Do you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.”
If Jesus were from Polk County, He may have said it this way: “You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.”
Jesus was letting Nathanael know that he was connected to something greater.
Then, (pay attention or you’ll miss this) Jesus says something that sounds very similar to a story from Genesis 28 that we know of as “Jacob’s Ladder.”
In that account, Jacob, the father of the Jewish people, had a dream where the angels of God were ascending and descending from heaven to the earth.
Here in John 1, Jesus essentially says, “You’re going to see the angels of heaven ascending and descending on me, the Son of Man.”
Remember, Jesus just referred to Nathanael as a true Israelite.
Then, Jesus referred to a blessing to Israel long ago, and Jesus connects that blessing to Him.
Jesus is essentially saying to Nathanael, “You think that fig tree thing was cool? I’m going to show you that you are connected to something much greater.”
Brothers and sisters, you too are connected to something much greater. You’re connected to the mission of God, the family of God, and the outpouring of the kingdom of God in this world.
Cherish that connection. Learn more about that connection. Live out that connection.
Let this bottom line summarize what we are learning today:
Bottom Line: Jesus is the Greater One.
We’re called to something greater; it’s Jesus.
We’re connected to something greater: it’s Jesus.
Jesus is the Greater One.
He’s what the early disciples needed.
He’s what the people of Israel needed.
He’s what the world needs.
He’s what we need.
Jesus is the Greater One.
Challenge yourself this week in this one way:
Weekly Challenge: Identify how Jesus is the Greater One in your life.
Take some time and write down or think through some ways that Jesus is greater than everything else and everyone else.
Identify those ways and reflect on those ways.
(Gospel presentation)
(closing prayer)
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