Faithful on Fridays Blog

Part Four

It’s amazing how friends effect your life; take Philip, for example. His hometown was Bethsaida, the same small village as Andrew and Peter, so we can speculate that they were friends. The families undoubtedly grew up together, played together, fished together, and the people Andrew and Peter knew, Philip knew.

Jesus traveled north to Galilee and found Philip offering him the invitation to ‘follow Me’ which he accepted. There was a strong connection with Jesus and he couldn’t wait to tell his friend. 

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” John 1:45 

How did Philip know Jesus was specifically the Messiah of the Bible? He easily could’ve been the disciple of John the Baptist who, along with Andrew, spent time with Jesus listening and learning the day before. Even later in John 12:20-22 some Greek Jews wanted to see Jesus and asked Philip, who in turn, got Andrew for back up. He may not have had the confidence to share his faith with strangers yet, but had the humility go ask for help. That’s the heart of a disciple.  

When you have a revelation of God’s love, you’re passionate to tell your friends and eventually, anyone who’ll listen. By the way, the apostle John alone, also from Bethsaida, gives all the details of Philip’s conversion and records his encounters with Jesus (12 times). They were friends, even though John was part of the Elite Three with Jesus, it didn’t seem to matter to Philip whose quiet and humble faith was what He was looking for.

In John 6:5-7 Jesus singles out Philip at the feeding of the five thousand by testing him to solve the problem of no meal plan. He’s a clueless, rookie disciple only looking at the lower story. Jesus’ plan was to continue showing The Twelve to always view problems spiritually, the upper story, having faith for the impossible. 

When Jesus gathered The Twelve to celebrate His last Passsover (John 14:6-11) He taught His disciples about the unity He enjoys with His Father. Granted, this is still a mystery to us, but Philip’s heart was to understand more and asks Jesus to ‘show us the Father’. He gently rebuked Philip, using His request as a catalyst to emphatically reinforce the oneness of the Father/Son relationship. Thank God for Philip’s boldness. This shows us that as we read about Jesus in the gospels, we’re reading about our Heavenly Father as well. 

Lastly, Philip was present at Jesus’ ascension, in the Upper Room (Acts 1:12-14) for the Pentecost experience, and included in the powerful prayer meeting that spearheaded Peter’s leadership in this new movement called The Church. The heart of a disciple is willing to spend time in personal and corporate prayer waiting for God’s direction and His will. Philip was a good friend, disciple, and example for us.