Philip, Nathanael and Jacob's Ladder

When I was a young person, one of the songs that we sang was "We are Climbing Jacob's Ladder." I don't think that I ever really understood that song until much later. But, what does it have with the story of Jesus as told by John? Let's look at the Scripture:

The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”

 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.

   “Come and see,” said Philip.

 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

   Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”

John the Baptist had been doing his baptizing in the south of Judea. This is where Jesus himself was baptized. But, Jesus was actually a Galilean, brought up in the town of Nazareth, a small village in the hills above Lake Galilee (the Sea of Galilee.) Many of the towns which were important to Jesus ministry were looking in the area around this lake; Cana, Bethsaida and Capernaum.

As Jesus was walking in Galilee he found a man called Philip. I find it interesting, that John and Andrew found Jesus, but Jesus found Philip. He gave Philip and invitation, "Come, follow me." Then another amazing thing, Philip followed Jesus. Of course we can picture Philip having heard Jesus several times and becoming interested well before the invitation -- and this is certainly probably true. But, I really like the picture of this instantaneous action to a sudden invitation. Then Philip moves into action. He immediately finds Nathanael. An interesting side note is that every time that Philip is mentioned in the Gospels, he is bringing people to Jesus; someone to be emulated.  He tells Nathanael that he has found the one that Moses wrote about; a prophet who would be as great as Moses; the Messiah. You can almost hear Nathanael saying, "Who is it?" "Jesus of Nazareth," answers Philip. "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" says Nathanael. Nathanael wasn't just prejudiced against Nazareth (although that could be part of it), there were no prophecies stating that the Messiah would come from Nazareth.

It should probably be noted that this is the only place where Nathanael is mentioned so when the lists of apostles are studied, it is probable the he is the Bartholomew that we see in other lists. I don't think that Jesus was putting Nathanael down when he says, "Here is a true Israelite." Nathanael was not one to be following false Messiahs. He was not an unbeliever. He really was a true Israelite. Then the dialogue follows where Nathanael says how do you know me, to which Jesus states that he say him when he was under the fig tree before Philip even came to him.  Nathanael is amazed. He believed! Then Jesus told him that he would see much greater things than this.

It is at this that we find the reference to Jacob's ladder. Jesus says that he himself is the way to heaven, "you will see heaven open and the angels ascending and descending on me." The imagery comes from the vision that Jacob saw when he was running for his life away from his brother. He saw a ladder into heaven. Jesus is in effect saying that he was the ladder. 

Well, what does this say to us. First, Philip is a good example. We should be interesting those closest to us to Jesus. This passage is also an illustration of a later passage where Jesus says that he is the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. This makes it imperative that we invite others to meet him.