Jesus Calls His First Disciple
ONE
After the temptations of Jesus and before the Wedding at Cana, Jesus begins to call his first disciples.
John 1:45-51
Philip found Nathanael and said to him; “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, the one about whom the prophets wrote: he is Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” “From Nazareth?” said Nathanael. “Can anything good come from that place?” “Come and see,” replied Philip. When Jesus saw Nathanael coming he said of him; “There is an Israelite who deserves the name, incapable of deceit.” “How do you know me?” said Nathanael. “Before Philip came to call you,” said Jesus, “I saw you under the fig tree.” Nathanael answered; “Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel.” Jesus replied; “You believe that just because I said: I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” And then he added; “I tell you most solemnly, you will see heaven laid open and, above the Son of Man, the angels of God ascending and descending.”
TWO
Philip led Nathaniel to Jesus. However, Many of us think it is not our job to lead people to Jesus.
We may think it is the job of the Church or the priest or some program or video or book.
The fact is: People come to God through other people – usually people they know, people whom they trust, and most importantly people who have delighted in them.
Many people do not think their lives are of great value. They find it hard to believe that God delights in them.
They need to know from some human that they have value before they will believe God thinks they are valuable. So that is the first step in our mission. Show people their worth by delighting in them. When you are with another person, be interested in their life and express to them that you think it is fantastic just being with them. Start with the people closest to you. Let's practice appreciation rather than annoyance.
Be Apostles of Delight
THREE
When Nathaniel objected and made excuses, Philip invited him to come and meet Jesus for himself.
We may think we can’t take people to meet Jesus because he is in Heaven. However, prayer puts a person in immediate contact with Jesus.
It does not matter where you’ve been or what you have done, if you speak to Jesus, you are in immediate contact with him. That is prayer.
FOUR
Consider a three-step process:
One - Spend time with people sharing life together – meals, take a walk, watch a game or a movie. Most importantly, talk to each other. Be interested in the people you're with and find out what is going on in their lives.
Two – If they express things for which they are concerned, tell them you will pray for them. Then follow up later asking how that situation is going.
Three – Since you have been praying for them, ask them if you can share the Rosary Podcast with them.
If a Rosary is too big of a leap, ask them if they would consider praying one decade of the Rosary each day. If you invite four others to pray one decade a day, together you will pray one full Rosary each day. Now you have your Rosary team.
I am hearing from all kinds of people, especially parents of kids who were totally disinterested in the Rosary, that they asked if they would pray one decade, and the kids said yes!
FIVE
Christianity was first introduced to the country of Armenia by the Apostles Nathaniel and Jude in the 1st century.
In 300 AD St. Gregory converted the king of Armenia, and subsequently the entire nation to Christianity. This was the first nation to become Catholic.
In spite of being conquered by Islamic invaders in the 7th century and under the Iron Curtain of the Atheist Soviet Union from 1920 to 1990, the vast majority of Armenians (90-97%) are Christian, members of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which is one of the oldest Christian churches dating back, as we said to 300 AD.
The Armenians have withstood the most unimaginable attacks on their faith and retained it as a nation.
It all began with Philip inviting Nathaniel to meet Jesus. Imagine if he had not.