Our text opens this morning with Philip, a disciple of Jesus, being recognized by someone from his home town.  He hadn't counted on that.  He thought that he could move around Jerusalem incognito at the time of the Passover, for the city was filled literally with tens of thousands of pilgrims from all over the world who had come to the Holy City on this most holy of seasons.

Andrew is with him.  Andrew is also from Bethsaida.  They expected to pass anonymously in this crowded city, because Bethsaida is a long way from Jerusalem, way up in the north.  It is on the northern most side of the Sea of Galilee. 

Bethsaida was thought to be a city with a large ethnic Greek population.  In fact, Philip and Andrew are Greek names.  Of course, they are practicing Jews, but part of a large Greek ethni…