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Stories of Jesus: The Disciples: Philip and Nathanael

Characters:

Robbie: Hi, I'm Robbie. When Jesus was about 30 years old, He began teaching the people about God and about how they could be saved. He also went from place to place healing the sick, raising the dead and performing miracles that only God could do! It would have been great to travel with Him. In fact, I want to take you with me back into time through the power of our imaginations to meet the men who walked with Jesus and saw Him teach. These men were called the 12 Disciples. Let's go!

(Funny sound is heard to indicate traveling in time. Nathanael appears.)

Nathanael: Oh, Hello! Who are you?

Robbie: My name is Robbie. I am from the future and came back to talk to people who met Jesus and walked with Him in person! (Looks around in confusion.) Hmm... that's strange!

Nathanael: What's the trouble?

Robbie:I... Well, I had a bag of Skittles with me but now their gone. I must have dropped them in the future. I hope they are still there when I get back.

Nathanael: Oh, of course... So you know Jesus the Christ? Hey, that's great. My name is Nathanael, though you may know me as Bartholomew. Sometimes the Bible calls me that name.

Robbie: Nathanael? Bartholomew? Neither of those ring a bell. I've never heard of you before!

Nathanael: (Laughs.) Gee. Thanks, Robbie!

Robbie: Sorry. That's ok, though. If we knew all about you, we would have no reason to come back in time to meet you!

Nathanael: Good point! What would you like to know, my friend?

Robbie: Well, first of all, how did you meet Jesus?

Nathanael: Ah, yes. I love this story. It is told in the book of John in chapter 1. There I was, sitting and thinking under a fig tree when here comes my best friend, Philip. I could tell he was excited about something. He had been running from somewhere because he was out of breath. Nate! Nate! he exclaimed! We've found Him! Messiah, the one Moses and the prophets wrote about! He is here!

Robbie: Messiah. Kids, do any of you know that word? I think Andrew told us what that word meant when we talked to him. (Note: Answers will vary but should be the Christ, the Savior, the Promised King or something similar.)

Nathanael: Yes, the Messiah was the one that we Jews were waiting for to appear. He would be sent by God to save us.

Robbie: Wow! So when Philip told you he had found Messiah, did you jump up and run to go meet him?

Nathanael: (Sheepish laughter.) Not exactly.

Robbie: Oh. What did you do?

Nathanael: Well, Philip went on to tell me that the "Messiah" he had found was from a little town called Nazareth. Nazareth was the smallest, most unimportant town I could think of. I sneered and said in disbelief Nazareth? Can anything good come from there? but Philip just smiled and said Why don't you come and see for yourself.

Robbie: So what happened then?

Nathanael: I was in for a surprise. I walked over the hill with Philip and there stood a very normal looking man in his early thirties. That's him, Nate! Philip whispered.

Robbie: It was Jesus?

Nathanael: Yes. As I walked up to Him he said to me Now here is a good Israelite man. He is honest and true!

Robbie: He was talking about you?

Nathanael: Don't act so surprised! Yes. He was talking about me. I was confused that he would say something like that so I asked how he knew about me since I had never seen him before. He then told me exactly where I had been and what I was doing when Philip came over the hill. I was amazed! He said I saw you sitting under that fig tree before Philip came and talked to you. He also told me that I would see great miracles as I walked with Him as a disciple!

Robbie: Oooh!

Nathanael: Yeah. We became his next 2 disciples right then and there. We joined Simon Peter and Andrew who were two of our colleagues... we were all fishermen you see.

Robbie: I see. So tell me about your friend Philip. Where can we read about him in our Bibles?

Nathanael: Well, it mentions him in my story starting in John 1:45. He was called just a few verses before that by Jesus. Jesus passed by him and said follow me. So... Philip did!

Robbie: Wow. Is there anything else about Philip?

Nathanael: Well, there was that one time when he... Oh, I'd better not tell.

Robbie: What? C'mon, we want to know!

Nathanael: Oh. Yes. Well, I guess it was told in the book of John in chapter 14 verses 7 through 9. Well, OK. You see, after we had been following Jesus for quite a while, Philip asked Jesus to show us God the Father and then we would all be convinced that Jesus was the Messiah.

Robbie: But... Jesus is God!

Nathanael: That's exactly what Jesus said. Philip kind of got in trouble that evening because Jesus asked him how he could see all the miracles and still need to see the Father. Jesus wasn't too happy.

Robbie: Oh, well I bet He forgave Philip though. Jesus always forgives!

Nathanael: He sure did, Robbie. He forgave him immediately. In fact Philip got to see Jesus rise up to heaven after Jesus rose from the dead! We will never forget that day. And Philip and I have been teaching others about Jesus ever since!

Robbie: Awesome! Well, it sure was nice talking to you today, Nathanael. We need to be getting back to our own time again. Ducks out.

Nathanael: Nice fellow... a little strange. And just what in the world are Skittles, anyway?

The end!