Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.
If Jesus said, “What do you want?”, what would you say?
That’s the first question Jesus asked his disciples. When John introduced him as the lamb of God, two of John’s disciples followed Jesus, so he said, “What do you want?”
Taken aback, they replied, “Uhhhh–like, where are you staying?”
“Come and see,” he said (John 1:39). And they spent the day hanging out with him.
So begins John’s story about Jesus’ disciples. He doesn’t start with a splash, like Matthew and Luke, where Jesus calls busy fishermen. John starts with curious disciples trailing Jesus.
One of the most amusing and mystifying features in John’s gospel is how he contrasts Jesus’ greatness in heaven with his low profile on earth.
- Jesus was the creator, but his creation didn’t recognize him.
- He was eternal, but he functioned on an earthly clock, all the way from a baby to a man.
- He was full of grace and truth, but the Jewish religion thought him a scammer.
- His home was heaven, but he invited the first disciples to his residence on earth.
“What do you want?” he asked them. Does he ask you that? Do you know what you want?
Continuing the story, one of the two who followed Jesus was Andrew. He made a detour to collect his brother Simon. And Jesus gave Simon a new name, Peter, the rock (John 1:42). Does Jesus give you a new name?
The next day, Philip invited Nathanael saying. “Hey! We found the Messiah. He’s Jesus of Nazareth.”
Listen to Nathanael’s shocked unbelief. “A messiah from Nazareth? Nothing good ever came from that place” (John 1:46).
Jesus, a commonplace man from a disreputable village. In Matthew, shepherds heard angels and believed who Jesus was. In John, Nathanael heard Philip and disbelieved his testimony.
Jesus responded to Nathanael, “I saw you under the fig tree. I know you are a man without pretensions” (John 1:48). Amazed, Nathanael said, “Rabbi, you are the son of God, the king of Israel” (John 1:49).
John doesn’t describe the logic, the reasoning, that lifted Nathanael from “Nazareth? Unbelievable” to “I believe in you, Jesus.” But perhaps that’s what meeting Jesus can do.
Let’s pray.
O Jesus, you invited the disciples to “come and see” where you were staying.
Two thousand years and half a world away, we still hear your invitation. We come, we see, we believe you live among us and in us.
O Jesus, speak to us as you spoke to Nathanael, words that turn our hard unbelieving hearts to faith, that turn our harsh unyielding realism to gentle openness, that turn idle curiosity into living discipleship.
Amen.
I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.
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