Authority

I like to cook.

I do not make a large variety of things, and even after years of cooking, I still ask advice from the family expert, my wife.

One of the things I like to make is Chicago style stuffed pizza.  It takes a few hours.  First, I make the dough.  This takes about 2 hours because after kneading it until it is just right, I let it rise.  When the dough is about done rising, I mix basil, oregano and garlic with tomatoes to create the sauce.  Then I prepare the filling; usually sausage or hamburger.  Splitting the dough into two lumps and rolling out the first lump, I put the first layer of what will be the crust in the bottom of the pizza pan.  Meat and cheese go on top of this.  Then the top crust is rolled out and put over the filling.  Sauce on top and then it bakes for about 45 minutes.

This is a rough outline of the baking process, and the pizza is quite good.  The part not yet told is the total disaster area that the kitchen becomes.  Flour, tomato, spices, meat and cheese packaging litter the kitchen, and measuring cups, mixing spoons, frying pan and every surface in the kitchen are a mess.

It takes more work to clean up the mess than it does to make it.

Life also gets chaotic.

If a person does not know the recipe or follow directions, he or she ends up with an unidentifiable mess.  Bad ingredients or the wrong ingredients will also lead to a mess.

The process of living creates messes.  Misunderstandings, mistakes and offenses of all sorts just happen.

A large number of people have recipes for success.  Friends and parents share their recipes informally as advice often whether we ask for it or not.  Many write books, articles, and blogs sharing their recipes for success.  The recipes cover many, many subjects.  There are recipes for success in business, relationships, marriage, finance, sales, and as many other subjects as one cares to mention.

If one reads a couple books on any subject, he or she will soon discover that the recipes are not the same. 

Not all pizza recipes are the same, so one would not expect all the recipes for relationships to be the same either.  However, it also is apparent that not everyone is equally qualified to speak to any given subject.

To solve this problem, we look at credentials.

The person who started a chain of pizza restaurants in Chicago wrote my pizza cookbook.  I know he knows how to make pizza, because I have eaten his pizza.  I follow his recipes, but his pizza is still so much better than mine is.  His pizza is the best in the world.  If you do not believe me, visit Giordano’s in Chicago and check it out for yourself.

Pizza is one thing, but what about relationships; who is the authority we should turn to for relationships?

The bigger questions concern truth, reality and God.  Who can speak to these subjects?  Who can tell us with certainty how to be right with God?  Who has ever gone up to heaven and brought back a report?  Who can say what truth is?

Pilot asked, “What is truth?”

The more we know about the universe, the less certainty we have in describing what it is. The more we learn about the atom, the more of a mystery it becomes.  If we are at a loss to explain the physical world, how can we speak with any amount of certainty about things we cannot see?

James warns us, “. . . not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.  Indeed, we all make many mistakes.”[i]  (James 3:1&2, NLT)

Unlike any other person in history, Jesus had the authority to teach.

His recipe for life is the perfect recipe.  He is the One who came down from heaven and can give us a report. He can say what truth is.  He can tell us with certainty how to be right with God.

At the outset of his public ministry, Jesus demonstrated His authority.

Mark 1:21-28 tells the story of Jesus beginning his teaching ministry.

Verse 21 says, “Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum.  When the Sabbath day came, he went into the synagogue and began to teach.”  (NLT)

Wherever Jewish people settled, they built a synagogue.  A synagogue was a place of gathering, worship and learning.  The questions addressed in a synagogue would be questions about truth, reality and God. 

Verse 22 says, “The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike the teachers of religious law.”  (NLT)

Here we see that those present immediately recognized something different about Jesus’s teaching.  They saw He taught with real authority.  This was different from the teachers of religious law.

The teachers of religious law mentioned here are those who are also known as “scribes.”  These men studied the Old Testament and all that the rabbis said about the Old Testaments. They were experts in the Old Testament.  If any man was qualified to teach what the Old Testament scriptures mean, these men should have been.  Later in His ministry, Jesus chastised them with these words, “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life.  But the Scriptures point to me!  Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.”  (John 5:39-40, NLT)

We face this problem as teachers.  How can the one who has never made a pizza teach how to make a pizza?  How can the one who does not know God teach how to know God? 

This brings us to the question of authority.  Mark 1:22 says Jesus taught with authority.

First, let’s ask, “What is authority?”

According to the dictionary, a simple definition is “the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience.”[ii]  This is a start.  I want to know more.

The Greek word used by Mark is “ἐξουσίαν.”  This is a word created by combining two words, “ek” and “eimi.”  “ek” means "out from," and it intensifies  “eimí”, which means "to be.”  In other words, “eimi” means “I am.”[iii]  The Greeks did not use “I am” to refer to God the way the Hebrews did, but I find the connection curious.  The king has authority by right of who he is; being is enough.  The ultimate meaning of this would be God, and actually, there is no authority without God.

However, there is more meaning to the word authority.  The dictionary said, “the right to give orders.”  Giving orders, means to impose one’s will on a situation and thus bring organization or order to an otherwise confused situation.  It is to establish order.  This is what authority does.

The authority of the recipe brings order from the chaos of my kitchen to produce a pizza.  The authority of the pizza chef resides in him as knowledge gained by experience.

The authority of God brought order out of the chaos of what was formless and void to produce the creation.

The Scribes did not have it within their being to produce order out of the chaos of teachings surrounding truth, reality and God. 

Everything was different with Jesus.  All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge dwell within Him.  All the answers people gathered in the synagogue to get, dwelt within Jesus.  His teaching with authority brought order to the mess of confusion surrounding the scribes’ teaching.

The people were amazed.  They were dumbfounded; open mouthed, slack jawed, thunderstruck.

We have an enemy.  He is the enemy of our souls and of the truth.  He is the father of lies, the deceiver of the brethren. 

When Jesus started teaching the truth, Mark tells us, “Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit began shouting, ²⁴’Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth?’”  (Mark 1:23&24, NLT)

Is it not interesting that the demons should ask, “Why are you interfering with us?”  All Jesus was doing was teaching the truth.

The author of all the chaos and confusion in our world is Satan.  This does not excuse those who do his will, but he is behind all of it.  He lies, confuses and twists the truth so badly that the whole world lies in darkness.  Metaphorically speaking, the kitchen is a mess and no one can make a pizza.

In this synagogue, Jesus brought order and truth.  He shut the demons up and imposed His will on them.  Doing this, He demonstrated His authority.  By the right of who He is, He spoke and taught with authority.  As a result, the people said, “What sort of new teaching is this?  It has such authority!  Even evil spirits obey his orders!” (Mark 1:27, NLT)

Whatever mess you might be in, whatever question you may have, whatever you may be seeking in life Jesus is where you need to go for answers.

His authority can bring order to our chaos.

Do not go looking for the recipes of life from those who have never made a pizza.

Look to Jesus.  He is the way and the truth and the life.

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[i] Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.  All rights reserved.

[ii] https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=authority

[iii] http://biblehub.com/greek/1849.htm

Following Jesus

There were two men. 

Starting out in life, they each needed to build a house.  One took the fastest way possible, and did not take the time to build a solid foundation.  The other, being wiser, took the time to dig down and establish a firm foundation.  

The first strong Kansas thunderstorm that came along blew away the house without a good foundation, and the man who had built quickly lost everything.

You recognize the story that Jesus told of the two men who built houses.  (Matthew 7:24-27)  This story teaches several truths.  One is that it is important to build a firm foundation.  Second, times of testing come into all of our lives.

Testing can take many forms.  Loss of health, loss of a loved one and financial hardship are storms that we all face.

At the outset of Jesus’s ministry, there were political storms raging.  In this atmosphere, Jesus gathered His first disciples and challenged them to follow Him.  Mark chapter 1 verses 12 through 20 tell the story in which we can discover his call for ourselves.  If we heed this call, we will establish a foundation that will keep us from being shaken when storms come.

Before Jesus gathered followers, before He began His public ministry, His foundation was tested.

Mark 1:12 and 13 say, “¹²The Spirit then compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness, ¹³where he was tempted by Satan for forty days.”[i]  (NLT) 

Satan tested Jesus for forty days.  Satan is the one who tested Job.  He is also the one who tested Peter.  In Job and Peter’s cases, Satan got permission to test them.  In Jesus’s case, the Spirit compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness.

In Job and Peter’s cases, foundation problems were exposed and corrected.  Both men were stronger and better able to help others because of their testing. In the case of Jesus, there were no weaknesses exposed.  This gives us the confidence that He is able to teach us and worthy to lead us in the building of our own foundations. 

The testing Jesus endured in the wilderness also assures us that: “This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.”  (Hebrews 4:15, NLT)

Soon after John baptized Jesus, Herod arrested John and put him in jail. Mark 1:14 marks this as the beginning of Jesus’s public ministry.  Matthew 14 gives us more details about John’s arrest.

 ³For Herod had arrested and imprisoned John as a favor to his wife Herodias (the former wife of Herod’s brother Philip).  ⁴John had been telling Herod, “It is against God’s law for you to marry her.”  ⁵Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of a riot, because all the people believed John was a prophet.

⁶But at a birthday party for Herod, Herodias’s daughter performed a dance that greatly pleased him, ⁷so he promised with a vow to give her anything she wanted.  ⁸At her mother’s urging, the girl said, “I want the head of John the Baptist on a tray!”  ⁹Then the king regretted what he had said; but because of the vow he had made in front of his guests, he issued the necessary orders.  ¹⁰So John was beheaded in the prison, ¹¹and his head was brought on a tray and given to the girl, who took it to her mother.  (NLT)

At the point in time that Mark is recounting in chapter 1, John was in prison, but still alive.  It was not a safe time to draw public attention.  Matthew recounted the story of John’s beheading in order to make it clear the kind of negative attention Jesus’s public ministry was getting from those in power.

In Mark’s account of the beginnings of Jesus’s public ministry, this political environment is important to understand because it makes it clear that for those Jesus called there was a great risk or hazard involved.

When Jesus calls us, He asks us to risk everything.  In some countries, this means a person can lose his or her life for choosing to follow Jesus. In all countries, it is a call to follow no matter what the cost.

What is building on the right foundation worth?

If we build on the wrong foundation, will we not lose everything in the end anyway?

Jesus is seeking followers.  However, it is not for His own sake that He seeks followers.

People seek followers for many reasons, and it is usually for their own profit.  Paul warned the believers in Galatia (Galatians 4:17) and Philippi (Philippians 2:21) about those that preach the gospel out of their own self-interest.  This is something that is a danger for any in leadership, whether it is in business, church or home. The parents are there for the benefit of the children and not the reverse.  The CEO is there for the benefit of the company, not the reverse.  The teacher is there for the benefit of the disciple, not the reverse.  The pastor, elder, deacon, etc., is there for the benefit of the church, not the reverse.

Jesus called disciples in Mark chapter 1 for their benefit and ultimately for our benefit.  He came not to be served but to serve.  He came to save the world, and in order to save us, He calls us out of the world to be His followers.

Let us look at the call he makes to His first disciples.  In this call, we will find what is to be the foundation of our discipleship and our lives.

First, there is a call to repentance.

We find this in Mark 1:15.  “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced.  “The Kingdom of God is near!  Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”  (NLT)

This call to repentance is an announcement of good news.  The time promised by God is the time when God restores a right relationship with him for all people.  Throughout history, people have been disappointed, angry or separated from God.  In Isaiah 1:18 God says, “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the LORD.  “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow.  Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.”  (NLT)  God is saying He wants to settle the differences that keep us from Him.  In Romans 5 we find this has happened when it says, “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”  (Verse 1, NLT)  In addition, “So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” (Verse 11, NLT)

This is the Good News that Jesus announced.  This is the message He proclaimed.  This was the core of His ministry and it was the foundation that the disciples were called to build upon. 

Repentance is changing our minds.  Repentance means being willing to let the Spirit of God convict you where your thoughts, motivations, attitudes and beliefs have been wrong.

Conviction is painful.  Letting the words of Jesus in, is the first step.

Having established the focus of His ministry, Jesus invited certain ones to follow Him.  First, Mark tells us about Simon and Andrew.  Mark says, “One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living.  Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!”  (Mark 1:16-17, NLT)

In this invitation to Simon and Andrew, we see that the call of Jesus was a call to learn from Him and a call to give up themselves.

These two go together.  Learning from Jesus means learning to give up one’s self.  The Apostle Paul puts it this way, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.  Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.  You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.”  (Philippians 2:3-5, NLT)

We see this attitude in Mark when Jesus invites these fishermen to learn to fish for people.  Proverbs 11:30 tells us that he who wins souls is wise, and there is some personal benefit for the one who wins souls.  However, the purpose of Jesus’s ministry and the purpose of winning souls is for the benefit of the soul won.

The call to follow Jesus is always a call to give up our own selfish ambitions and to learn from Him.  We are not better than our Teacher.  He gave His life so that others could live.

This is the only firm foundation on which we can build.  All other foundations will fail in the end.

We have seen that the call of Jesus is a call to repentance, a call to learning from Him and a call to give up ourselves.  We have also been talking about following Jesus.  This talk about being His follower is important. 

Mark also mentions the calling of James and John.  Jesus’s words are not recorded in this case.  It just says he called them and they followed, leaving their father behind in the boat with the hired men.

The invitation to Simon and Andrew was to follow Jesus, and the note about James and John says they followed Jesus.  With all this talk about repentance, learning from Him and giving up ourselves, it hardly seems necessary to say it, but the whole point is to be followers of Jesus.  The repentance, the learning and the giving up are all about following.

When the storms and testing come, and they will, each one stands or falls based on whether or not he or she is following Jesus.

I do not know where you are at in your life today.  I do not know what tests you are facing.  However, Jesus does.  Let me leave you with His words.

“Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers.  Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!”  (John 15:6-7, NLT)

Choose to follow Him today.

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[i] Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.  All rights reserved.

What Do You Want?

Read John 1:35-51

³⁵The following day John was again standing with two of his disciples.  ³⁶As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and declared, “Look!  There is the Lamb of God!”  ³⁷When John’s two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus.³⁸Jesus looked around and saw them following.  “What do you want?” he asked them.  They replied, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”  ³⁹“Come and see,” he said.  It was about four o’clock in the afternoon when they went with him to the place where he was staying, and they remained with him the rest of the day.⁴⁰Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of these men who heard what John said and then followed Jesus.  ⁴¹Andrew went to find his brother, Simon, and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means “Christ”).⁴²Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus.  Looking intently at Simon, Jesus said, “Your name is Simon, son of John—but you will be called Cephas” (which means “Peter”).⁴³The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee.  He found Philip and said to him, “Come, follow me.”  ⁴⁴Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter’s hometown.⁴⁵Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about!  His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”  ⁴⁶“Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael.  “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”  Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied.⁴⁷As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.”  48“How do you know about me?”  Nathanael asked.  Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.”  ⁴⁹Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!”  ⁵⁰Jesus asked him, “Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree?  You will see greater things than this.”  ⁵¹Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.”  (NLT)[i]

 John saw Jesus walking by and told his disciples, “Look, there is the Lamb of God!”

Two of John’s disciples followed Jesus. 

Jesus noticed these two following and turning asked, “What do you want?”

Would Jesus ask us this today?  Would Jesus ask you this today?

The men who were asked this question were following Jesus.  They were not committed disciples at this point.  They were curious. 

John told these men that Jesus was the Lamb of God.  This was enough to stir up their curiosity.

In church, we talk about disciples.  A disciple is simply a student, a learner.  We say of ourselves, “We exist to make disciples.”  This means our job is to produce students or learners.  In order to become a student or learner, at some point our curiosity has to be stirred up.

These two disciples of John took action.  These two were curious.  These two sought to know more and were rewarded with the question, “What do you want?”  Jesus was asking them what they desired, what they were seeking.

There were many people in Judea during Jesus' time.  Great crowds followed him out of curiosity during the three years of His ministry, but only a small number actually became His disciples, His students.  The invitation to come was always on Jesus' lips.  On more than one occasion, He invited all who would to come.

In John 1:35-51, John tells the story of the gathering of Jesus’ first disciples, His first devoted followers.  We see in this story that what these first disciples were seeking was vital to them becoming devoted students of Jesus.  From this, I draw the conclusion that what we want is vital to our becoming devoted students of Jesus.

In this story we see that these first disciples came seeking different things.  I will look at three of these today.

First, John the Baptist’s two disciples were seeking evidence. 

They heard the testimony of John, but that was not enough.  When Jesus noticed them and said, “What do you want?” they did not say, “John told us you are the Lamb of God, so we want to be your disciples.”  They did not answer the question.  They deflected the question.  They said, “Where are you staying?”

Jesus has an advantage on us here.  He knows what we are thinking.  I am a very poor mind reader; in fact, whenever I try it I am wrong.  I have a 100% failure rate at reading minds.  Yet, how many of us say what we really want?

The Greek statesman, Demosthenes said, “Nothing is easier than self-deceit.  For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true.”  Even before Demosthenes, Jeremiah the prophet said, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?”  (Jeremiah 17:9, NIV)[ii]  We deceive even ourselves about what we really want.

This is a vital consideration.  In chapter 6 of his book, John tells of a time when Jesus fed thousands of people with five loaves and two fish.  The people wanted to make Jesus king and were ready to attach themselves to Him.  However, His response was; “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs.”  (John 6:26, NLT)  Here were people following Jesus who never became disciples because what they wanted was not to be a learner or student, but they wanted free food.

The two disciples of John were seeking answers and perhaps they did not even know what they were seeking, but Jesus provided what they needed.  They asked, “Where are you staying?”

Jesus responded, “Come and see.”

John stirred up their curiosity by saying, “Look, The Lamb of God!”  Jesus invited them in so they could see the evidence for themselves.  The text tells us that they spent the rest of the day with him.  The evidence they observed that day moved them to faith.

The Lord invites the seeker in to see the evidence.  He let these men into His private life so they could see for themselves that He was indeed the Lamb of God.

Later in the story, Jesus invited doubting Thomas to put his hand in Jesus’ side and his fingers in the nail holes.  God is not stingy with evidence for the seeking heart.

Not everyone is in search of evidence.  John tells us that one of the men who followed Jesus and was invited to spend the day with Him was Andrew.  Andrew had a brother named Simon.  When Andrew introduces Simon to Jesus, we see that Simon was seeking recognition or someone who would see him.

I know I am reading a lot into this passage.  I am also pulling from knowledge of Peter’s personality and position among the disciples and early church. 

The interaction between Jesus and Simon is brief if John is recounting the whole story.  Andrew tells Simon that they found the Messiah, the One foretold by Moses.  Andrew then takes Simon to Jesus.

Two parts of the interaction caught my attention.  First is the way Jesus looked at Simon; and second, is the way Jesus spoke to Simon.

First, it says, “Looking intently at Simon. . .”  There is special emphasis placed on the way Jesus looked at Simon.  The word the translators rendered “Looking intently” has a dictionary meaning of: to stare (look) at with a "locked-in gaze"; look at in a sustained, concentrated way, i.e. with special "interest, love or concern.  Jesus stopped and considered Simon.[iii]

In consideration of what He saw, Jesus said, “Your name is Simon, son of John--but you will be called Cephas" (which means "Peter").

Jesus shows a deep comprehension of Peter’s personality and what he is all about and renames him on the spot.  Peter was a devoted follower from that point on.  I believe it was because Jesus saw him, really saw him.  For some, being recognized and accepted is what they need in order to commit to being a disciple.

Jesus put Peter in a position that recognized his particular gifts and personality.  The name that Jesus gave him reflects this.

John’s disciples needed evidence, Peter needed recognition and Nathanael needed integrity.

This could be called consistency or justice, and I will attempt to show you how I came up with this from the text. 

45Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about!  His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”

46“Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael.  “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” 

What are we to assume Nathanael meant by this question? 

The Jewish people living in Judea despised those living in the region of Galilee.  Nathanael came from a neighboring town.  Therefore, he was from the same area.  Some commentators believe that Nazareth had a bad reputation, but this seems to come only from Nathanael’s comment.  Most extra Biblical histories do not mention Nazareth and those that do represent it as being a pleasant small town. 

Matthew 2:23 says that the prophets said that Jesus would be called a “Nazarene.”  There is much speculation as to the meaning of this statement and what prophecies it is referring to.  The most popular one is Isaiah 11:1 which says, “Out of the stump of David's family will grow a shoot--yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.”  The connection in this prophecy to Nazareth is the similarity of the word “branch” in the original language to the name “Nazareth.”

Nathanael’s exclamation seems to me to be shock and surprise.  I think he was looking for hope and help for his people, but he expected it to come from Jerusalem, or some place farther removed from home.  His question was a sincere puzzlement over how hope, help and salvation could come from a small, seemingly insignificant town.

In response to Nathanael’s question, Philip said, “Come and see.” 

When Nathanael arrived Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.”

This statement seems to have no context.  Why would Jesus greet anyone like this?  This is exactly where Nathanael goes.  “How do you know me?”

Jesus replies, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.”

I am still speculating, but I think whatever Nathanael was thinking about under the fig tree and Jesus' greeting were connected.  Jesus showed Nathanael that He knew what Nathanael was thinking.

Two things are evident.  One is that there was something significant to Nathanael about a genuine son of Israel.  Being from the region of Galilee, one of the prejudices that Nathanael experienced was that the Galileans were not true children of Israel.  The second thing that is evident is that integrity was important to Nathanael. 

We know from Philip’s invitation and Nathanael’s response that he was looking for the Messiah, the hope of Israel.  Putting all these things together, I think that Nathanael was concerned about things like justice, integrity, consistency and the related social issues that surround these issues.  What was a true son of Israel?  Where was hope and help to come from?  When would help come?

Jesus showed Nathanael that He knew His concerns and thoughts, and Nathanael immediately believed.

What Nathanael wanted was integrity, something real.  Peter wanted to be recognized, and John’s two disciples wanted evidence.

Do you know what you want today?

All of these men found what they were looking for by first responding to the “Come and see.”  

When they saw they believed and then Jesus promised even more.  He said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.”  (John 1:51, NLT)

To the one who believes, Jesus shows more.

The issue that makes the difference is “What do you want?”

What are you searching for?

If you will “come and see,” in other words, ask Jesus to show you himself, He will.  But be prepared, He will be honest with you.  If you just want free food, He will point that out.

In His day, Jesus turned many away, not by refusing them, but by them refusing Him.  He was not what they wanted.

What about you?  What do you want?

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[i] Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.  All rights reserved.

[ii] Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

[iii] http://biblehub.com/greek/1689.htm