IRL: Philip the Disciple

Did you know that there are two Philips in the Bible? If you didn't, don't feel bad. I didn't until today. I thought I was going to talk about one man, and I ended up trying to do two! However, today I will only get through Philip the Disciple. Thursday or the next posting day I will have something on the other Philip, Philip the Evangelist.

Philip the Disciple

Not much attention is given to Philip. Interestingly enough, however, he is the first person Jesus says "follow me" to. He lived in the same town as Andrew and Peter, Bethsadia. Right from the moment of his election, Philip seemed to know that he was going to tell the world about Jesus. We see him seeking out his friend Nathanael to tell him the good news that the Messiah had come at last. Nathanael responded, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Nathanael was a Galilean, and Galileans tended to look down on the villiage of Nazareth. Philip, even thought he has only seen Jesus once, simply says, "Come and see."

From another episode, we see that Philip is slightly pessimistic in his outlook. However, he soon learns how powerful God really is. Philip has a good head on his shoulders. He is quick with calculations, as we know from John 6. Jesus asks him "Where are we to buy bread, that these people may eat?" Philip immediately replies that no one has enough money to feed the huge crowds. "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." A denarus was approximately the amount of money that one person earned in a day. It was not much, and if a man did not work, he did not eat. I love reading this story. It reminds me of the saying "Find what the experts say cannot be done, then go do it." Jesus discovered from Philip how much it would cost to feed the people, and told his disciples to go get the food. Of course they cannot buy that much! The disciples were poor! They spent their days following Jesus, not working. So Jesus has established, by Philip's testimony, that feeding the crowd cannot be done. Then he feeds them.

The final time we see Philip the disciple is in John 14. Jesus has just said...

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also From now on you do know him and have seen him."-- John 14:6-7

...to which Philip responds...

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves."-- John 14:8-11

I'm not sure just what was going through Philip's head. He is still hanging on to his old pessimism, and maybe some unbelief. I'm not sure. Whatever the case was, we tend to look down on Philip after this. I mean, what happened to blindly saying "Come and see"? All of the disciples had their moments, and this was one of Philip's. He clearly learned his lesson though, and we can assume that he went on to do more evangelism in all the world.

~Nella