The call of His presence

Philip: "We have found Him..." John 1:45

TODAY’S SPECIAL: John 1:35-51

TO CHEW ON: “Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, ‘What do you seek?’ They said to Him, ‘Rabbi,” (which is to say when translated, Teacher), where are you staying?”
He said to them, ‘Come and see.’
They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (Now it was about the tenth hour)” John 1:38,39

John’s gospel starts out telling the story of Jesus quite differently from Matthew, Mark, and Luke. There is no record of His birth. There is no mention of the 40 days of fasting in the desert that culminated in His temptation. We don’t see Him preaching in Galilee, calling the disciples from their boat, or teaching in the Caperaum synagogue

We do see him with John the Baptist who identifies and baptizes Him, and then on the next day, as Jesus walks by, speaks of Him to two of his own disciples - John 1:36.

On their own initiative those disciples follow Jesus who turns out to be a man of mystery and few words: “'What do you seek?… Come and see.'”

I like what the IVP Commentary says about this aspect of John 1:

John puts a great emphasis on Jesus' almost mysterious silence...

Jesus in John appears as one hidden and aloof. These first disciples, therefore, are characterized by initiative and willingness to examine claims they have heard concerning this silent one. Most importantly, they are not put off by his silence, nor do they seek to break it. Rather they are humbly receptive, seeking only to be where Jesus is staying….

…here at the outset John gives us a glimpse of the enormous depths of silence that lay behind all that Jesus does. Jesus is fully engaged in his historical circumstances, but he is not centered in them nor controlled by them. …

These disciples, who will shortly be so full of words, opinions and activity, are characterized at the outset by a desire for the presence of Jesus more than for answers to questions. Their immaturity will become evident immediately, but the crucial issue in discipleship is not whether we are mature but whether we desire to come and see and then abide in the divine presence, the only source of eternal life and growth in grace and truth (IVP Commentary on John 1:35-51 accessed through Biblegateway.com) - emphasis added.

Nathanael illustrates this desire so beautifully. He goes from skepticism about this Man, that his friend is so high on, to outright worship in a heartbeat (John 1:46,49). What brings about the change?

The Bible doesn’t clearly tell us. But we infer from Jesus' and Nathanael’s back-and-forth that Nathanael recognizes Jesus is supernatural from His personal knowledge of a specific moment (“under the fig tree”) and what it meant to him.

I would submit that that is often the way Jesus still calls us to himself… not with many words but in the stillness of personal encounters that tell us He sees us, knows our deepest secrets and invites us to be with Him.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, help me to hear You over the noise of everyday life and live in Your presence. Amen.

MORE: Feast of St. Batholomew

Today the church celebrates the Feast of St. Bartholomew (another name for Nathanael).

The liturgy for the day begins with this prayer:

Almighty and everlasting God, who gave to your apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach your Word: Grant that your Church may love what he believed and preach what he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

I see you

TODAY'S SPECIAL: John 1:29-51

TO CHEW ON: "Nathaneal said to Him, 'How do you know me?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.'
Nathaneal answered and said to Him, 'Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!'" John 1:48,49

This little interchange makes me curious. What significant thing was going on in Nathaneal's* mind or heart while he was sitting under the fig tree? It mist have been important for Jesus' mere mention of it to change his attitude from cynicism to worship.

This vignette speaks to me of how God knows us inside and out. David says it so well:

"You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar of.
You comprehend my path and my lying down
And are acquainted with all my ways" - Psalm 139:2,3.

It's easy to lose sight of God's intimate knowledge of us—until something reminds us. Something like the verse we notice in our Sunday devotions is the exact verse on which our pastor preaches, or God answers our prayer pointedly and directly.

I love the answered-prayer story  Kim Collingsworth tells on the "A Decade of Memories" DVD. In 2000 Phil and Kim Collingsworth quit their jobs and and began a full-time family singing ministry. One evening in the early days, after putting the kids to bed, Phil told Kim the sobering news. They were short $300 to pay the bills that month. "It might as well have been $3,000 it seemed like so much to us," Kim relates. 

What to do? All they could do was pray. They did,  asking God to supply their specific need.

The next morning when Kim went to get the mail, there was a pink envelope from someone they knew but hadn't heard from in years. In it was a cute card and, you guessed it, a check for $300! An elderly friend said she had been impressed to send them this money and hoped they could use it.

Let's be encouraged that God knows us just as well. Don't be surprised if He gives you your own "… when-you-were-under-the-fig-tree-I-saw-you" experience!
*Nathaneal is also called Bartholomew

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for how intimately and completely You know me. Help me to follow in the train of Nathaneal, to whom You promised, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these!'" Amen.

MORE: The Feast of Bartholomew

Today the church celebrates the Feast of St. Bartholomew. The liturgy for the day begins with this collect:

Almighty and everlasting God, who gave to your apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach your Word: Grant that your Church may love what he believed and preach what he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Handel's Messiah Alert!

John the Baptist's words in John 1:29 of our reading are part of Handel's Messiah—the beautiful chorus "Behold the Lamb of God" performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus.

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The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.

It's not a competition

TODAY’S SPECIAL: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

TO CHEW ON: “But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.” 1 Corinthians 12:18

It’s a rare person who doesn’t sometimes look at him- or herself and wish to be different. I’ve had such thoughts: If only I were funnier, more flexible, less serious, had a talent for drawing, found it easier to make small talk… Even being part of a church, where we know we should have a realistic view of ourselves, doesn’t do away with the tendency to compare ourselves with others – and feel we come up short.

But those are not God’s thoughts about us. Rick Warren says it so well:

“You are not an accident.

Your birth was no mistake or mishap, and your life is no fluke of nature. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did…..

God prescribed every single detail of your body. He deliberately chose your race, the color of your skin, your hair and every other feature. He custom-made your body just the way he wanted it. He also determined the natural talents you would possess and the uniqueness of your personality. The Bible says, ‘You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.’” The Purpose-Driven Life – pp. 22-23

What is true of you in general is also true of you in the church. Whether you are most comfortable hidden away working with the babies in the nursery or heading up some high profile ministry, you don't have to justify yourself or compete with others. Rather do your job, whether hidden or public, without apology. In this way you will fulfill your own destiny and God’s destiny for earth and its people as He accomplishes it through His body, the church.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me find my place in Your body. Help me to be content with who I am, knowing that someday I will need to account for what I’ve done with the strengths and talents you actually gave me – not the ones I wished I had. Amen.

MORE: Feast of St. Bartholomew

Today the church celebrates the Feast of St. Bartholomew. The day's liturgy begins with this collect:

"Almighty and everlasting God, who gave to your apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach your Word: Grant that your Church may love what he believed and preach what he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen."

(From the archives)

Discipleship challenge

Jesus appointing His disciples
- by James Tissot

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Matthew 10:1-25

TO CHEW ON: "'And you will be hated by all for My sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.'" Matthew 10:22

Imagine you are one of the disciples getting these instructions and warnings from Jesus. You are to go on a mission trip but take no money and no extra clothes. Whether or not you have a roof over your head will depend on the hospitality of someone you pick as a "worthy" person (i.e. your ability to judge human nature?).

The ultimate outcome of this foray into the world will be arrest and public scourging by religious leaders. There will be trials for which you are to prepare no defence but depend instead on the moment-by-moment inspiration of the Holy Spirit for what to say. Further, you are to expect betrayal from your own family and hatred from all, simply because of your association with Jesus and all He stands for.

If you had been one of the twelve hearing these things, would you have stuck with Jesus, let alone gone on that mission?

Though the Bible details the death of only two these disciples (Judas by suicide, James put to death by Herod Agrippa I in 44 AD), tradition substantiates the fulfillment of Jesus grim prediction for most of them.

Persecution of Jesus' followers has continued over the centuries. The relative lack of persecution in North America in our generation may well be a blip in history. Even here, ambivalence, tending toward hatred of Christians simmers just below the surface in many places. We should not be surprised or taken off-guard when it erupts. Jesus has warned us. Will we stick with Him like these twelve (later minus one) did?

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, I confess I am soft. Your list of things that disciples should expect chills me. Help me to stay loyal to You one day at a time, as unencumbered by this world's stuff and loyalties as the disciples were to be. Amen.


MORE: Feast of St. Bartholomew

Today the church celebrates the Feast of St. Bartholomew. He is mentioned in the Bible only in lists of the disciples' names. (Bartholomew also goes by the name Nathaniel, according to some Bible scholars)

Tradition tells of him taking the gospel to Armenia and India. Some say that he came to a painful end. The artist Michelangelo's depiction of him on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel shows him holding his own flayed skin; the face is Michelangelo's self-portrait.

Here is the collect that begins the liturgy for the Feast of Saint Bartholomew:

Almighty and everlasting God, who gave to your apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach your Word: Grant that your Church may love what he believed and preach what he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.