“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.”
As we have seen before, Jesus is calling what will be known as the 12 disciples. He has already brought in Andrew and Simon, now called Peter, and the next one He calls is Phillip. In context, this will also help lead to the fourth person who will be called as the stories of these men’s callings are put in here by John for a reason. We have also seen before two different ways Jesus has called people. The first was Andrew where He just said, “come and see” as Andrew was already running after Jesus. Then we have Peter who Andrew brought to Jesus as his brother Simon, and at that point Jesus said that he was giving him a new name. Now we have a third way Jesus calls with a literal call to come “follow me.”
The way Jesus calls Phillip starts with a decision He makes to go to Galilee. This is interesting that John would add this to the gospel because of what John reveals about the two followers we know about already. They are both from Galilee, from a town called Bethsaida. John shows us the purpose of Jesus is to find Philip by going into Galilee because Philip is from the same hometown as Andrew and Simon Peter. Jesus had a divine meeting appointment with Philip and He knew where to find Him. If something was said to Him by Andrew or Simon Peter, John does not reveal it, but we do know He went with divine purpose.
It is also important to observe this is the third type of calling we see from Jesus. The other two have involved seemingly taking the initiative, but in this third calling Jesus is taking the attentive and comes to Philip with a simple call to follow Him. I know John is being purposeful here because he is trying to show us these different ways that Jesus calls and saves. This also will not be the last one, either, as the next call will be even more drastic than the last two.
As Christians, we must keep these verses in perspective and not follow into a pagan belief system by misunderstanding what John is trying to tell us. He does tell us how Jesus knew to go to Galilee to find Philip or at least that these men were called in different ways and with different severities of calling. God still works that way today for us some of us came running, some had to be brought by a relative, but for some Jesus went to wherever they were to call them. This is the amazing story of the gospel, and it is the same way He works through us today. We don’t need to know the signs or God’s will exactly when He is ready to go to Galilee today. Instead, we must be ready—we might not expect the next way He will call someone because it could be through us. The only way we will be ready will be to be reading our Bible, praying, and being in community with like-minded individuals who are doing the same.
For those who are not Christians, He is still calling you. The way that He calls you is not the way that He calls everyone, but the outcome is the same. You must come to and cling to Him as your master if you want to be called a Christian; nothing else is required but the simple faith to follow.
The Traveling Mountains 
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