John 1:35-51
Andrew and another person were listening to John the Baptist. Then when John the Baptist pointed to Jesus is when Andrew and the other person started to follow Jesus. John the Baptist would have been okay with people leaving him and started to follow Jesus. He didn’t want people to follow him but to follow Jesus. Jesus asked them (probable one of them was Andrew), “What are you doing?” This is a time where Jesus is asking these disciples what their motives were. It is also Jesus asking, “what are you seeking?”
They just wanted to follow Jesus and even called Jesus “Rabbi” or teacher. They asked where Jesus was staying. Jesus then told them that they had to follow him to see. This is how it works with Jesus. People have to follow Him and then we will see.
Andrew ran to tell his brother Peter about how he had met the Messiah (Anointed One, AKA: The Christ). This was Peter’s first interaction with Jesus. Peter might not truly believe at this time. Philip also ran to Nathaniel. Phillip referred to Jesus as the son of Joseph. This was common for that time period for people to know with their father’s name. We see that John (The author of this Gospel) was known as Son of Zebedee. This was his father’s name.
Being known as a “Nazarene” means that would be looked down on or rejected. So, when Nathanael heard that that this person from Nazareth is the one that Moses and the Prophets talked about. Nathanael then had a lot of doubt. This could have been from what their hometown would do or maybe it was a personal thing.
Jesus called Nathanael a person who is a true Israelite and man without anything false. Nathanael was puzzled on why Jesus already knew about him. But Nathanael then realized Jesus was the Messiah sitting on a fig tree, which is a place where he was resting and meditating on the Old Testament. Before Nathanael was sitting under the fig tree, Jesus knew who he was. Jesus then talked about how he was probable thinking about Jacob and how deceitful he was. Nathanael then believed in Jesus!
When Jesus said that he saw Nathanael sitting under the fig tree, it was not referring to Jesus saw Nathanel from a distance, but as a spiritual sense. God knows who we are and He loves us.
