Come and See

Some things are harder to believe than others.

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’ When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’ - John 1:43-51

John provides us with a strange encounter.  Philip comes to know Jesus and decides to go and tell his brother Nathaniel, who has doubts that a Nazarene could be the one the prophets spoke about.

But he goes with his brother anyway to meet Jesus.

What blows Nathaniel away is that Jesus seems to know him.  He says Nathaniel is a man in whom there is no deceit.  You don't say that about someone unless you know them well. 

That was all it took for Nathaniel to believe in Jesus.  And Jesus told him he would come to see much more proof to affirm his belief.

So, I guess that could be the message here.

If we are willing to believe, we open ourselves up to opportunities to validate our faith, and we get to see much more evidence of it.

If Nathaniel had chosen not to follow, he would have missed out, but he was curious and wanted to know what his brother saw in this man.

That led to Nathaniel having a much deeper faith than he thought.

So, as Philip said to Nathaniel.  Come and See.

More to come...