John 1:46-47

“Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’ ⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!’

            In this passage, we see Nathanael’s response to Phillip after he explains to Nathanael who Jesus is. In the last passage, Phillip went into more detail about who Jesus is. This seems to be to try and convince Nathanael who Jesus is logically. In this response of Nathanael’s, we see why Phillip approached him this way; it was to help someone who seems a very direct, logical person understand who he is talking about— not just the messiah but the Messiah which the law and the prophets all point to as being the one to save them. We see in this passage that Nathanael is not convinced but also that Phillip persists with a simple invitation to “come and see.” This invitation is then accepted by Nathanael and allows Jesus to work to convince him.

            This first response by Nathanael shows how he is very skeptical because he knows of the place of which Phillip is talking, and in his mind nothing good can come from the area. This shows that Nazareth is not well thought of by people who do not live there, and from the context we can get a sense that it might be an area full of “uneducated hicks” or something equivalent in our day. Phillip persists and extends his invitation. This is a simple invitation that has already been said once by Jesus when he told Andrew to “come and you will see.” (John 1:39). Now a disciple of Jesus is using the same phrasing to invite someone else to see who Jesus is.

            The next verse, Jesus is speaking to Nathanael, which implies that Nathanael took Phillip up on his invitation. This is the fourth interaction Jesus has had with His newly forming group, and in this interaction, we see the fourth different way that He calls someone. With Nathanael, he told him who he was, that he was an Israelite “in whom there [was] no deceit,” which can be interpreted that he could not be fooled. Jesus, as we know, will not try to fool him but knew that Nathanael would need more than a “come and see” or a “follow me” which Jesus has said before. In the next passage, we will see how Jesus brings around the fourth disciple.

             To Christians it is important for us to see what Phillip does here as the interaction continues. Phillip does not keep arguing with Nathanael nor does he refute him. Instead, he calls him—like Jesus has already done—to come and see, allowing Jesus to take over and to confirm the work that He had already started in Nathanael’s life. In the same way, we can take courage if we do not know the whole life story of someone hostile to the gospel because Jesus does know them, and He is the one who will save them. We must just point and say “come and see.”

            To those who are not Christians, I invite you to come and see. It might be tempting to stay safe in the security of your own knowledge, but this is a prison cell which is keeping you from the truth of who Jesus is. Come and see the truth that we are dead without Jesus and He is the only one who can help us to walk in newness of life with God.