Bible study on John 1.43-51
This study can be used by a small family/ household group, or by an online group, or – sometimes with a little adaptation - by an individual.
See our Guidelines for a weekly Bible study
Begin with an opening prayer
Almighty God, you speak to us in so many ways.
Help us, in our worship today, to hear your voice and know it is you.
Speak to us in the silence, through Scripture and by the Spirit.
Speak through others and through your creation,
through images, experiences, music and encounters.
Speak in ways that we can understand.
So, speak, Lord – and help us to listen.
Amen.
Read the passage
Consider different ways to read the text. For example, hearing it in more than one version of the Bible.
In an online group, you could share parts between those present, or use/adapt this week’s Share the Word suggestion: Use the Jump to this week's menu on the right to go to Share the Word and scroll down to find the Gospel reading.
Explore and respond to the text
Start by reading the Bible notes below. You may want to read them more than once, or pause after each paragraph to reflect on what you have read.
Bible notes
John introduces his hearers to Jesus’ mission a day at a time. On the previous day, Andrew and another disciple found Jesus, along with Simon Peter. Now, Jesus takes the initiative and finds Philip. There is a pattern of ‘finding’ as the group of disciples takes shape; some find each other, others are found by Jesus. The disciples also express their new relationship by saying: ‘We have found the Messiah’ (1.41). Finding implies a profound recognition of their ability to connect deeply with Jesus’ mission.
However, when Philip finds Nathanael, there is a hitch in the process. Nathanael does not accept the invitation but challenges Philip to prove that anything good, let alone the Messiah, can come from somewhere so downmarket as Nazareth! Philip’s reply recalls Jesus’ invitation to the two disciples the previous day – ‘Come and see’ (1.39). The Greek word ‘see’ implies far more than ‘take a look’. To see is to understand.
For Nathanael, though, it is not seeing but hearing that overcomes his reluctance. In conversation with Jesus, he discovers that Jesus knows far more about him than he expected. Jesus acknowledges him as ‘truly an Israelite’, living in God’s ‘shalom’ where each one has their own vine and fig tree (Micah 4.4). The change is remarkable as Nathanael heaps Jesus with honorific titles: Israel’s king, God’s son (Psalm 2.7). Perhaps there is a wry smile on Jesus’ lips as Nathanael reacts with such enthusiasm, but then he promises far more: heaven opened, the barrier between God and humanity swept away, and angels coming and going as they did for Jacob (Genesis 28.12). Finally, Jesus tells Nathanael how he understands himself – he is the son of man. Does this mean that he is God’s chosen one (see Daniel 7.13), or is he using it in the Aramaic sense of ‘an ordinary person’? It’s hard to tell – maybe John has both meanings in mind – but it’s an important moment as Jesus names himself for the first time.
See also:
Reflection
Spend a few moments thinking about what stands out for you from the Bible reading. This idea may help.
The reasons may be justified, or it may be pure prejudice (or something in between), but it is common enough for people to regard certain places as ‘the pits’. This is Nathanael’s perception of Nazareth, but he is quickly proved wrong. Unexpected as it may seem to him, it is the home of the Messiah. It’s easy to allow ourselves to be blinded by stereotypes of places or people, and to miss the wonder and the beauty waiting to be discovered. How can your faith community look more carefully at its surroundings, especially the places that, for whatever reasons, you don’t usually frequent? Will you go and see what good is to be found there?
Questions for reflection
You may wish to use these questions and the picture to help you think about or discuss issues arising from this week’s Bible passage.
- What circumstances or environment help you to see or hear God?
- How might we help each other to look and listen for God?
A simple worship activity
A different kind of seeing in everyday life.
You will need: small pieces of paper, pens, and a bowl. If possible, arrange seats so that people can look out of windows.
Ask people, ‘Have you ever seen or heard something (e.g. a film, painting, piece of music) that has taken you to a ‘another place’ – so that, for example, you begin to see new things, or old things in a new way? In a book called Windows of the Soul, Ken Gire explores how we can hear God in the everyday moments of life. He encourages us to pause, see below the surface of things and so to become aware of God. So, what things outside the expected have taken you beyond yourself – to a place of wonder or insight, where you have sensed God?’
Invite everyone to spend some time thinking about these things, and then to write a place or an occasion that comes to mind on their paper, fold it up and place it in the bowl. If they can’t think what to write, still place the folded paper in the bowl. End by reading the poem ‘Not only in words’ as a prayer, or use another suitable prayer.
Not only in words
Why do you want me to speak?
Is not my presence sufficient for you?
The kiss of my love in the sunlight,
Or the scent of my being on a flower?
Why do you want me to speak,
When I hug you in the embrace of a friend?
When I move you by the fall of a song?
When I show you the scars on my hands?
Why do you ask me to speak,
When I use other voices not mine?
For mine is the cry of the stranger,
The hungry, the prisoner, the poor.
Why do you ask me to speak,
When I've spoken so often before?
Heed my world, read my Word
Seek my Son and then you will hear me.
K Gire, Windows of the Soul: Hearing God in the Everyday Moments of Your Life, Zondervan, 2017, ISBN 978-0310352273
Use the Jump to this week's menu on the right to go to more activities in Explore and respond
Prayer
Adapt to your local context.
A prayer to know God with us
We thank you, God, for those times when we have sensed your presence,
heard your voice, seen new insights – particularly when we have needed those things.
Yet some of us, Lord, can’t remember ever hearing your voice.
Teach us how to make space, how to hear you and to recognise your presence with us,
and how not to get in the way of others finding you.
We ask for Jesus’ sake.
Amen.
Use the Jump to this week's menu on the right to find more prayers, including up-to-date intercessions in The week in focus.
A prayer to end the Bible study
Lord, what we have learned this day – help us remember.
Teach us to recognise your voice.
Teach us how to see you in our lives and encounters.
Help us to give others space so that they may hear you too.
Amen.
Go with God 24/7
Encourage everyone to put their faith into action.
Make an entry in your prayer journal each day this week (see Make a prayer journal). At the end of the week, reflect on if or how God has spoken to you through everyday things. If appropriate, talk about what you discover with someone else.
Encourage everyone to explore their faith this week with the ROOTS at home resource.