John 1:35-51 | What's happening (and who's involved)?

Here we have John's account of the calling of the disciples. It begins with two disciples of John the Baptist hearing the testimony that John gave concerning Jesus, "Behold the Lamb of God." They begin following Jesus and He addresses them. They respond by addressing Him as Rabbi, which means teacher. This is a term that was used by vocational Rabbis but was also a term of respect or honor used in contexts like this. They ask where Jesus is staying and Jesus gives a response that will continue to be a theme in this section of Scripture. "Come and see." Went and saw they did!

Among the two that heard Jesus and stayed with Him, Andrew returned back to his brother that we know as Simon Peter, announcing they had found the Messiah. It appears that Andrew was not simply interested in proving his case semantically as it records, "he brought him to Jesus." Introductions appear to have been short as Jesus calls Simon by name and gives him a new identity, Cephas, or Peter.

The next day as Jesus travels he calls out to Philip. We do not have a lot recorded in how all of this transpired, but we do see that Philip went and found Nathanael testifying of the Messiah written of in the Law and Prophets. It is Jesus of Nazareth! Nathanael responds to the idea that Nazareth would produce anything beneficial. The idea was ludicrous. Philip then offers an invitation that should bring us back to Jesus' own invitation, "Come and see."

When Jesus saw Nathanael, in a similar fashion to His interaction with Peter, He calls out to Nathanael that beholds his heritage. It catches Nathanael off guard and he questions how Jesus could've known him. Jesus calls out to something that had a very significant connection to Nathanael, seeing as Nathanael immediately responded in his bold confession. “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" Jesus responds with a promise that Nathanael will see even greater things than this and announces that he will see something of an incredible sight. "You shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

The short of what is going on here is that as these disciples encounter and interact with Jesus, they are convinced that He is the Messiah foretold in the Law and the Prophets. We are met with bookends on this throughout the Gospel accounts. At the beginning and the end of them we see how the Law and Prophets confirm who Jesus is. And what Jesus testifies of is sufficient for those He called to believe upon Him.

What observations have you made in this passage?