The Gospel text assigned for this Sunday recalls the call of Philip and Nathanael (John 1:43-51). There’s a lot going on in this text, but most of it is a mystery to us as the reader. This leaves all sorts of room for us to speculate; albeit without a leg to stand on. That said, there is one element of the passage that seems clear: the initial call of the disciples was by way of direct and personal encounters. Jesus did not post a casting call or print a classified ad calling for resumes. Jesus engaged the disciples as individuals. In the case of Philip, Jesus went out and found him. For Nathanael, Philip went out and found and brought him to Jesus. Now, Philip did not make Nathanael a disciple. He did, however, facilitate the introduction.
It seems that Philip and Nathanael each illustrate the two most common ways in which we become followers of Jesus. For some of us, Jesus engages our lives unexpectedly and we are transformed by that encounter. For others, we are invited by another. We might be skeptical, but if we arrive with and open mind we might be surprised to find that Jesus was already expecting us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umhs2a6KDI4
Love this, “direct and personal encounters” are what the invitations look like. I just came from a All-Committee Night at my congregation and we were discussing this very thing, inviting others. I love how people lifted up emails, mailings, bulletin boards, bulletin inserts, etc. but when asked how they were invited almost everyone replied they were personally invited by someone else in the congregation. The video surprised me…nice!