Enter the word “qualify” in the search block of an internet search engine and you can get 195 million results or more. What kinds of things do we have to qualify for?
Jobs, mortgages, credit cards, athletic competitions, schools, benefits, loans, health plans, tax credits, insurance, participation in certain sales or auctions, clubs, associations, and the list goes on and on – literally thousands of areas in life where there is a list of characteristics, attributes, traits, or conditions that we have to meet in order to “qualify” for something.
So, how do you qualify to be chosen to be a personal companion and confidant of God-in-the-Flesh? You don’t – you don’t qualify. You can’t qualify. The most amazing position that anyone could have and hold is impossible to qualify for. So, how did these twelve men get to be in the position we find them in in Matthew 10:1-4, where “He gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness”? They got into that position because Jesus chose them.
We’ve been looking at these men whom Jesus chose to be with Him in the closest and most personal of ways; to learn from Him, to be helpers to Him in teaching the world about the good news of the kingdom of God, to be the ambassadors of God to the world. So far we’ve seen that they all had a lot wrong with them, a lot to disqualify them. Yet, Jesus chose them anyway.
This is where we get our own encouragement. None of us has a single qualification for being a disciple of Jesus Christ. He has chosen us, saved us, sanctified us, gifted us, and then commissioned us – it’s been all Him. Just like with the Twelve, He takes the raw materials of a willing heart – which could be the only qualification we can bring, except that even a willing heart is something that is given us by Him – and qualifies that person, molding and shaping their character in the process.
As we have also seen, Jesus refines those raw materials, purifying them like silver; but He doesn’t remove those qualities.
Simon Peter was a man who was a strong, bold, take-charge kind of guy who was always in the middle of things; a man who was dynamic in every area of his life and who was a natural-born leader. Simon Peter who would act and speak without thinking because he was one to always take the initiative and not sit around waiting for someone else to make things happen. He could confront and rebuke and be confronted and rebuked – he was teachable, even in his desire to be in command. He had a love for God and a love for Jesus Christ that was bottomless. Jesus took his weaknesses and foibles and used him to lead the early Church and ensure its survival.
Andrew, everybody’s friend, was quiet and unassuming, gentle and inconspicuous, someone who would never speak boldly to crowds or contribute to the Sacred Scriptures, but Jesus used him to be the bridge between people and Jesus Christ like none of the others could be. His seeming weaknesses Jesus turned into strengths.
James, Son of Thunder, the man who everyone wanted to shut-up, was a man who was uncompromising in his zealous love of Jesus Christ and in his willingness to speak the truth no matter what it cost him. His single-mindedness helped strengthen the others when they came under persecution.
Then there was John, the beloved disciple, the one who had a love for the truth and a heart for making sure that others knew about the love of God, a man who was also known as a “Son of Thunder” at one time. Jesus took his single-mindedness and energetic devotion to the truth of God and transformed him into the second-greatest contributor to the Christian faith and to Christian doctrine recorded for us in the Bible.
These four men were the closest, most intimate group of Jesus’ disciples. They are the ones we know the most about.
Today we turn to the second group of four, a group who was not quite as close to Jesus and whom we know less about than the first four.
The first name we find is Phillip, and he is always listed first in the second group all four times the twelve are listed together. This would indicate that he held some type of leadership position within that group.
What do we know of Phillip? Interestingly enough, even though we know that he was a Jew and was from the town of Bethsaida like Peter and Andrew, Phillip is a Greek name. We don’t know what his Hebrew name was. All we know him as is Phillip, which means “lover of horses”. Perhaps this was something that had been of great significance in his early life, something that distinguished him from his peers. Perhaps it was something that he had in common with the Greeks from the settlement near his hometown.
The gospels don’t tell us very much specifically about Phillip. This is one of the delights of treasure-hunting through the Scriptures – looking at what the texts do tell us and trying to understand the significance of the detail that is included. (So much for Christianity being a “blind faith”, one where you have to “check your brain at the door”, huh?)
The first text I want us to look at is in John 6:1-14, with our focus on verses 5-7. We looked at John’s account of the miracle of feeding the five thousand when we were studying Andrew. Andrew’s response to Jesus’ question is in verse 8. The question Jesus asked was originally directed to Phillip. That question was, “where are we to buy bread, that these may eat?”
Ever had the feeling – after the fact – that you had been chosen for something special and that you’d missed and been unaware you’d missed it until the time had passed? Welcome to Phillip’s world. Now, why would Jesus ask Phillip this question? This is where treasure-hunting comes in.
Jesus is not a fool, and He never wastes His words. His query to Phillip was directed to the man Jesus knew was the most practical, the most observant, the most reasonable and scientific in his approach to life of the Twelve. Jesus well knew that Phillip’s fall-back position was going to be to what he already knew, what he had already reasoned out for himself. Ever-cautious Phillip had already counted the crowd, had already noticed how late the day was getting, and was already trying to figure out a way to fix the dilemma that would soon present itself – feeding all of these people.
Just as Jesus figured would happen, Phillip fell back to his calculations, leaving out the One element that he most needed to includ but ignored. Phillip responded, “Two hundred denarii (two hundred days’ wages) worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.” See how detailed Phillip is in his calculations? Know people like this?
Imagine seeing Phillip at Winco Foods, shopping list in hand, checking off each item as it goes into the basket, not adding anything to the basket that isn’t on the list. A clean-shaven young man with neat, well-groomed hair, clean shirt and casual slacks, shoes that are polished and clean. Pleasant enough, but more focused on the task at hand than on making eye contact with and greeting people. Follow him out to his car and you will find a vehicle that has been recently washed and waxed, tires cleaned, glass gleaming, with an interior that is spotless and dust and dirt free. The gas tank is full, the tires properly inflated, the oil changes and lubrication is up to date, and you can be see this to be true when you look in the little log book in the glove compartment that has nothing unessential in it.
Follow him home and you will see a lawn that is well manicured, no weeds, shrubs trimmed precisely and attractively, with a house that needs no repairs, and has clean windows, gutters and siding. Inside the house, everything is in it place and there is a place for everything. It is comfortable without looking too “lived in”. Everything in the cupboards and in the drawers and closets is arranged with crisp order and precision.
You get the idea. Nothing out of sorts, nothing out of order, nothing that demonstrates riskiness in choices or behaviors. An all-around bright, intelligent, orderly, refined, cautious, precise, well-groomed life. That’s our Phillip.
Look back to where Phillip is first called to follow Jesus. John 1:43-46 records this for us. Verse 43 gives us another little hint about Phillip – it says, “and He [Jesus] found Phillip.” Who was looking for whom? Phillip wasn’t actively looking for Jesus, even though his words to Nathanael (Bartholomew) would indicate that he was in fact looking for the Messiah like the rest of the young men from that area were. It just wasn’t a very active search – more of a waiting-to-see-what-would-happen kind of looking. Phillip was a man of caution – no undo or unnecessary risks.
We also see from this passage that Phillip was well-versed in the Old Testament prophecies and promises about the coming Messiah, for he says, “we have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Phillip had investigated enough to know Jesus’ pedigree and that his life and ministry so far were perfectly in line with the prophecies of old. Nathanael (Bartholomew) asks a question filled with doubt and with an edge of ridicule to it, and Phillip’s response is quite practical; “Come and see.”
No long-winded sermonizing, no argument, just, “Come and see.” He forgot this lesson when Jesus asked him about feeding the crowd that day that Andrew knew about the little boy with the loaves and fishes. Phillip forgot what he had seen and been witness to – forgot about the healings and the casting out of demons and the heart of compassion and the walking on the water and all of the other miracles of “the One promised”.
So like us, don’t you think? So like us to fall back and lean on our own understanding when we face something that we really should be believing Jesus for, something that we really should remember Who it is we serve and Who is orchestrating our lives now.
Phillip’s Greek name was something that came in handy the day the Greeks came wanting to meet Jesus.
Remember that they approached Phillip and said, “Sir; we wish to see Jesus (John 12:20-22).” They were from a Greek settlement near Bethsaida where Phillip was from, and it was quite likely that they were familiar with Phillip already. So, they approach him. His response? He takes them to Andrew. Why would he do that instead of taking them to meet Jesus himself?
My best guess is that Phillip was a bit timid, hesitant in his faith still, apprehensive about where he really stood with Jesus. He had to take it really slow, really cautious, not be risky in this. He had to reason this all out. Hadn’t Jesus said he had been sent to the house of Israel? Then what was He going to say to Phillip if he brought Gentiles to meet Him? Better ask Andrew – he was closer to Jesus and would have a better idea of what to do. Things just aren’t that plain to Phillip yet.
We see just how unclear all of this is to Phillip when we fast-forward a few days beyond this incident to the evening of the Last Supper.
Phillip is still in the circle of intimates known as the Twelve, still part of the special group that has walked and talked and studied and witnessed the life and ministry of Jesus the Messiah all of this time. Still, Phillip isn’t really sure yet what all of this means. Despite everything he has been a part of for three and a-half years, Phillip’s view of Jesus is still foggy.
Look at John 14:7-9. Jesus has just given his disciples the assurance that they have known and seen the Heavenly Father and that that is where their hope has always lain. Phillip pipes up with, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
Jesus is incredulous. He almost can’t believe it. How long has Phillip been around? Since the beginning, hasn’t he? How can he have missed this? Jesus replies, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Phillip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how is it that you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” Here they all are, the last time they will all be together before His resurrection, and still they don’t know for sure who He is.
Jesus is here letting Phillip know that the time for caution and dissecting and scrupulously examining everything is over – it’s time to look at what is in front of him and accept it all by faith. Quit trying to figure out every detail, Phillip! Accept the truth that is right in front of you! Stop thinking everything to death!
Every feel like Phillip? Ever sit and think things to death by over-examining, over-reasoning, by inspecting every detail from every angle? That’s leaning on your own understanding – that’s not accepting and acknowledging Him at face value.
There are a lot of Phillip’s around us these days.
There are a lot of people who are practical and pragmatic, people who live well-ordered lives and who do not want the world they have become comfortable in to be disrupted and shaken. Well, Jesus came to shake up the status quo and to disrupt our comfort zones.
You cannot encounter Jesus Christ and not be changed unless you refuse the call to discipleship. Refuse that call and life can remain the same for you – for now. But, be prepared for the day when it all comes apart at the seams and remember: If you have seen Jesus, you have also seen the Father – what are you going to do with that?
Let’s move to Bartholomew, who is called Nathanael when we first meet him along with Phillip in John 1:43-46. Remember that Phillip has just told his best friend that they have found the Messiah, and that it is Jesus of Nazareth. Bartholomew’s response is one of derision; “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”
A man of prejudice it sounds to me. And his prejudiced comment has been recorded for all time. Why would Jesus choose a man who was a bigot and who was prejudiced against Him from the outset simply because of where He comes from?
And why would Nathanael, son of Tholmai (or, Ptolemy) – hence Bartholomew – be so hateful toward Nazareth? Part of it, I think, is that he, too, knew the prophecies of the Old Testament and knew that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem in Judea, not come from some jerk-water town in Mobile Home-ville Galilee.
Again we have to go treasure-hunting in this passage to understand the character and personality of Bartholomew. Notice what Jesus says when Phillip brings Bartholomew to meet Him and the brief conversation they have as a result of it: “’Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile!’ Nathanael (Bartholomew) said to Him, ‘How do You know me?’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Before Phillip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.’ Nathanael (Bartholomew) answered Him, ‘Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.’”
Jesus is amazed at how easily Bartholomew believes in Him and accepts Him for who He is. He even comments on it. Then Jesus promises this man of simple, guileless faith that he is going to see greater and more wonderful things than he has already been able to perceive. Jesus promises Bartholomew that he is going to be witness to visions like that of Jacob when he saw the ladder going up into heaven, as recorded for us in Genesis 28:10-22.
Let’s unpack this and examine the treasure here.
First, Jesus gives Bartholomew one of the greatest compliments He could give to a Jew of that day or any other – a true Israelite, in whom is no guile. Guile is deviousness, deceitfulness, trickiness, cunning, craftiness, slyness and characteristics of that sort. Jesus saw right into the man’s heart and knew that there was none of that in him. Could that really be so? As far as was humanly possible, yes. There are some who by nature have far less a tendency toward dishonesty and deceit than others. There’s no reason for it other than that is how God made them. Their childlike innocence has not been spoiled and tainted. They have not been robbed of the base of frank honesty that seeks to do no harm and to cause no hurt. Jesus saw this in him.
Jesus had seen Bartholomew ‘sitting under the fig tree’. This isn’t just a reference to what Jesus physically saw or saw through the divine part of His mind. This is also a reference to the kind of life Bartholomew was devoted to. “Sitting under the fig tree” was a euphemism for the ponderers, the dreamers, the visionaries. It refers to those who live with their head in the clouds, the ones who become the absent-minded professors. Where Phillip was neat and orderly and precise in his life, his friend Bartholomew was the opposite – disheveled hair, wrinkled clothes, shoes laces untied, that sort of thing. There was a dreamy quality to his life, as if he were always musing over deep and intricate truths that others ignored or were ignorant of.
Jesus recognized this about Bartholomew, and He called him to be one of the Twelve. What possible use could he be in this mix? Not a hypocrite, but indeed quite prejudiced; nothing phony, but heavily biased in his view of people based on inessentials. Yet Jesus took these raw materials and made an apostle and a saint out of this man.
Bartholomew is the forerunner of the great men and women of the faith that will come after him whose lives will be so focused on heaven and the things of God that they will be possessed of qualities the rest of us struggle to gain.
The Bartholomew’s of this world are the ones who write the great inspirational works of the faith that show the rest of us what it is to be untainted by the world we live in. They show us what it is to be uncorrupted by the desires of the flesh and to prefer the company of angels to that of men. They inspire us to desire to be more Christ-like than ever before because they show us that it can be done by a weak, sinful human being if the heart is surrendered to Jesus Christ in the right way.
It is the Bartholomew’s of the faith who become the ones we can easily see as “saints”, more so than we can ourselves, even though God sees us as the saints we will one day be. Bartholomew shows all of the Christians who will follow after him that being a dreamer, being a visionary is a good thing, just as being a leader or a preacher or a friend or a helper is. As long as it is a life surrendered to the Master, it is a life that He can mold and shape and use.
He is showing us that no matter the raw materials we are made of, it is the calling by Jesus Christ that makes us more than we are and qualifies us to be servants of the Most High.
May we all one day hear Jesus say to us, “Behold, a Christian indeed in whom there is no guile.”
