43 The next day Jesus decided to go into Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me [as My disciple, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher, and walking the same path of life that I walk].” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote about—Jesus from Nazareth, the son of Joseph [according to public record].”
John 1:43-45 (AMP)
Philip called
Now Jesus calls Philip to be a disciple. He finds Nathanael and brings him to Jesus (see tomorrow), just like Andrew went and found Peter and brought him to Jesus (see yesterday). “If we only had John’s Gospel we might think that this was the first time Jesus had met these men from Galilee. The other gospel accounts inform us that Jesus had met many of them before; yet this was His formal invitation to Philip.” (enduringword.com)
Disciple
So what is a disciple? The Greek is ἀκολουθέω (akoloutheō) which here means: to cleave steadfastly to one, conform wholly to his example, in living and if need be in dying also (Thayer) See Matthew 10:38, 16:24; John 12:26; 21:22. In this verse the tense is present, continuous meaning: follow and keep following. It’s a combination of two words and literally means on the same road; go where I go. 1 John 2:6 has this same idea: “the one who says that he remains in Him ought, himself also, walk just as He walked.” Who were the twelve disciples of Christ? Check out this link.
Call
Now, what does it mean to be called? Is this like the dinner bell my mom would ring to summon us to come eat? Partly – in that we had to stop what we were doing and go do something else. We stop the old way of living and seeking truth and fulfillment and follow Jesus. But it’s more than a call for dinner; it is a life-changing, one-time call. It’s one of supreme consequence and is a call to death – possibly martyrdom but surely death to your old ways, your “old man”.
<- Reflection ->
- Imagine you are Philip or Nathanael. How would you respond to this call?
- Have you responded to the call? If you’re reading this and haven’t, know that God is graciously calling you. Repent and turn to Him for salvation.
- If you’ve responded to the call, are you still walking with Him on the same road, walking as He walked?
For an interesting take on Jesus from the disciples perspective, see The Chosen movie.
