In our chat today about John 1, I’d like to focus on a very interesting detail that sometimes gets glossed over by many readers. It’s the issue of Natanael’s location when he heard about Jesus the Messiah. Believe it or not, its got a lot to do with you today…right now…right where you are.

Take a look at this chunk toward the end of John 1…
48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”
50 Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that.”
51 He then added, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Its interesting because when Philip told Nathanel about Jesus, Nathanael was under a fig tree. “So what?” you might ask. “What’s the big deal?” Well, we’re told that Nathanael was alone under the fig tree. Read a few verses before verse 48 and you’ll see some of the thoughts that Nathanael had while under the fig tree. Not to mention that fig tree branches often grew to the ground, so being under a fig tree was actually a very common place that people would go for privacy and quiet for thought.

Whatever the reason, whatever it was that was conveyed by Jesus to Nathanael, it was more than sufficient for Nathanael to make the declarative statement in verse 49: “It’s YOU! You’re the Son of God! The King of Israel! You’re the ONE!” And it was the simple reality that Nathanael knew that he was known that brought him to this conclusion.

That’s powerful isn’t it? Think about it. God knows you. God knows where you are right now. He knows the thoughts in your head. He knows the desires of your heart, no matter what they are. He knows how you feel about Him. He knows your past. He knows your future. He knows every hair on your head. He knows your tomorrow. He knows your yesterday. He knows your secrets, even that one that you’re trying so hard to keep from everyone else. He knows you.

And He loves you. He cares about the things that you think, the things you face, the things you do, the things you say. He cares about you. He loves you and the fact that He knows every intimate detail of who you are does nothing to diminish His love for you. He’s going to keep on loving you with an everlasting love until you will turn to Him and receive Him and His love, and allow Him to lead you in life, just as He led Nathanael, starting that very moment.

In today’s verses, I’d like to focus on something that I find astounding. Take a look at John 1:37-39. This should be pretty familiar to you if you took the challenge to read John 1 everyday this week. Just last night, I spoke with one of our leaders who took the challenge and she’s really getting a lot out of just this one chapter. That really encouraged me. Here are the verses:

John 1:37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

John 1:38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?”

John 1:39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.

This took place soon after John had introduced Jesus to the crowd as “the Lamb of God”. There were 2 disciples who were following Jesus, kind of “star struck” at the Messiah. It’d be like seeing your favorite celebrity at the mall, but being a little timid about just going right up to them and starting a conversation.

So, let’s look at a few things that are really incredible here. First in verse 38: “Turning around…” You need to know that Jesus NEVER turns away a sincere and searching heart. If you’re honestly searching for Jesus, He will meet you right where you are. And these 2 men were honest in their desire to know Jesus. Are you really honest, not holding anything back, as you follow Jesus today? I love that even though these men were following Him, it was Jesus who initiated the conversation. And Jesus’ question was a powerful one…

“What do you want?” Wow. Can you imagine Jesus asking you that question? What do you want from Jesus today? What is it that you need from Him? Remember, Jesus draws near to honest hearts.

Their answer was interesting. They said, “Where are you staying?” Basically they were asking where he was living, probably so that they could set up a time to come by and see Him and get to know Him, but not wanting to bother Him right then. It was kind of like, “Jesus, give me your cell number so I can text you when you’re not so busy.” They were interested in who Jesus was, they were honest, but they weren’t wanting to bother Him.

Jesus answer was so Jesus: “Come and see.” Jesus was telling them to forget about later, forget about appointments, forget about bothering Me….come now! Come and follow Me and watch Me, and know Me, and learn from Me….and come NOW!

As you come to Jesus, come honestly. Come with an open, searching heart. But most importantly, come now!

I found a cool website that makes these “wordles”.
Since we’re talking about the Bible, I made one with words that come to mind when I think about the Bible.

What words do you think of when you think about the Bible?

Well, I hope that you have taken the challenge I gave you on Sunday to read the first chapter of the book of John everyday this week. If you haven’t, or if you didn’t know about it, you can read it now. It’ll only take a few minutes. Click here to go to John 1.

After reading verse 1, you might get confused if you don’t know that the word “Word” is actually referring to Jesus. John here echoes Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning…”, but the difference is that John identifies Jesus as existing eternally by using the words “WAS the Word…”. That word “was” shows that Jesus already WAS there before the world, the universe, before anything. And throughout the book of John, he focuses on the relationship between God the Father and God the Son.

Today, I’d like to look at verse 5: “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend (or understand) it.”

Have you ever felt misunderstood? Have you ever felt like what you were saying wasn’t being heard, or appreciated, or agreed with? What was it about?

I recently had one of our students tell me about a time when she shared her belief about something and people got really offended by what she was saying. It’s not that she was trying to be offensive; she was just speaking from her heart and was speaking the truth.

The truth about Jesus can sometimes be an offensive thing. As followers of Jesus, we’re not trying to be offensive. Of course not. But we’re also not supposed to be afraid of speaking the truth because someone might not agree with it.

Where in your life can you live the truth and speak the truth and shine the light, even if “the darkness does not understand it?”

Share your thoughts in the comment section, if you’re willing!

Today was a monumental day. It was the day that my wife and I together walked out to our respective cars and climbed in as we headed off to work. It was monumental because today was my wife’s first day at her new job. So, dressed for success, she got in her van and I (dressed more like a youth pastor) got into my trusty steed: my ’92 Crown Vic.

At the turn of the key, I heard the usual rev of the V8 engine for a split second–and then a loud and omenous “THUD.”

I kid you not–the special moment of us climbing in our cars and heading off to work was interrupted by a *POOF*–a cloud of fine, white hair coming out from under the hood of my car. Not a half a second later, like a bullet, a cat shot out from under the car and scampered into the neighbor’s yard.

Shocked and dazed, I got out (my car still running), opened up the hood and lifted it to see what I’d find. I seriously thought I might see a tail. Upon lifting the hood, another *poof* cloud of white cat hair rose from the revving engine. Despising cats as we do, my wife and I looked at each other with a contented look in our eyes. I thought, “Well, I guess that cat won’t sleep under MY hood again.” And off we went to work.

But later that morning I was on my way to pick up my son for a doctor’s appointment when all of a sudden my engine began to shriek. Checking the gauges, the exhaust, and anything else I could while driving down the road, I didn’t see anything else out of the ordinary, so I decided to keep going (carefully) to my destination. When I got there and opened the hood I found that the serpentine belt was 2/3 of the way shredded and belt shrapnel was all over the inside of the hood, and hanging underneath the car. I thought to myself, “I hate cats.”

So, I limped the car home after cancelling my son’s appointment, and just got a call from my mechanic that the new serpentine belt is going to be $100 installed. I should have asked him if he wanted to trade instead for a used cat.

The first picture here is what’s left of the belt, and the second picture is of another part of the engine…notice the white hair.