Forty-third Sunday.
THE CALLING OF THE DISCIPLES.
FIRST READING.
"Behold the Lamb of God."—John 1:36.
NOW that John the Baptist knew that Jesus was, indeed, the Son of God, whom he had been sent to proclaim, he began to point Him out, saying, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." There were two poor fishermen, who had come out to listen to John, who heard, and who went to Jesus and asked, "Master, where dwellest Thou?" He said, "Come and see."
Their names were Andrew and another John. They stayed all one night with Him, and saw and felt that He was so great and holy that no one else could be the Christ who had been promised to come and save the world; and John was always the nearest and best loved of all to Him.
Andrew went and told his own brother Simon, whom our Lord named Peter, which means a rock; and they brought two more of their friends to see Him, whose names were Philip and Nathanael. When Jesus saw Nathanael coming, He said, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!"
Nathanael asked how He could know him. Our Lord answered, "Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee." Then Nathanael said, "Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel." For he had been alone under the fig tree, and nobody who was not God could have seen or known he was there; and our Lord said that because he believed, he should see greater things than these.