Jesus and the Skeptic: The First Disciples

John 1:35-51 Jesus and the Skeptic (The First Disciples) Introduction: This section describes the earthing of the ministry of the Divine word in human life. Here’s where we begin to see Jesus interact with normal everyday people. People in search for truth, people hurting, people wondering about the meaning of life. People looking for hope in the midst of hopeless times. (This Gospel) “brings together the heights of heaven and the depths of earth, the glories of God and the agonies of humanity” -Milne 1. Who is Jesus? 1. What this section makes me want to ask is, who exactly is Jesus? Is he really all that everyone is saying he is? 1. That’s what everybody in this section is wondering and pondering and the invitation to us is: come and see. 2. In this first chapter of John’s gospel we have had many people testify to who Jesus is: 3. John the evangelist has testified in the first eighteen verses: Jesus is God, with (toward) God, the creator of everyone and everything, the revelation of God to man, God come in the flesh. 4. John the baptizer calls him: The lamb of God; the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit, God’s son or anointed servant. 5. Andrew testifies: “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 6. Philip testifies: “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 7. Nathanael testifies: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 2. Everyone Knows Jesus - He’s from Nazareth. 1. Everybody in this chapter is talking about Jesus, and each has some idea of who he is. a bit of the irony that John puts in the =is letter is that everyone thinks they know who Jesus is and where he’s from. The truth is at this time they didn’t and couldn’t fathom the depths. 1. The Lamb of God - ultimately referring to his atoning sacrifice. 2. Rabbi - ascribing to him the place of teaching and wisdom. 3. Messiah (the Christ) - acknowledging him as the answer to Israel’s political problems. 4. Jesus of Nazareth - son of Joseph, which reminds us of his incarnate humanity. 5. The fulfillment of the law and the prophets - the one to fix and organize our religious lives. 6. Son of God - referring to his deity. 7. King - which is pretty self-explanatory. 8. Each of these thoughts or expectations on Jesus are correct but they’re only a part of who he is. A piece if you will of his fulness of his awesomeness. 1. So we have quite a bit of positive assertions about Jesus. But in the midst of all this we also have a skeptic. 2. Nathanael obviously has some major preconceived ideas, and skepticism about Jesus. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” It’s obvious from Nathanael’s response that he is a intellectual snob or at the least, just a bigot. He scoffs at the Messiah being from Nazareth. Galileans were considered low society. The elite Jews scoffed and mocked the Galilean’s and apparently the Galileans had this same contempt for people they considered lower than them- people from Nazareth. It’s kinda like the way we think of the central valley and people in the central valley think of Fresno, Bakersfield, or Modesto; even they despise these places. 3. Nathanael is quick to discount Jesus because he’s from Nazareth - nothing good can come out of Nazareth. 1. People still carry the same contempt for Jesus and Christianity today. They dismiss it as fairytale and myth, they roll their eyes at our claims of who Jesus is, what he has done and what he can do for them. Jesus is still from Nazareth. 2. Tim Keller says: 1. “This kind of dismissiveness is always deadly. It absolutely kills all creativity and problem solving…” 2. “By despising Christianity you sever the living taproot to what are probably many of your core values: That you should love your enemies and not kill them; that every single human being, regardless of talent or wealth or race or gender has dignity and rights; that you should take care of the poor. This teachings come from Christianity and no where else.” 3. “In pre-Christian Europe, when the monks were propagating Christianity, all of the elites thought that loving your enemies and taking care of the poor was crazy. they said society would fall apart, because that’s not the way the world works. The talented and the strong prevail. The winner takes all. The strong prey on the weak. The poor are born to suffer.Isn’t that how everything’s always worked? But the teachings of Christianity revolutionized pagan Europe by stressing the dignity of the person, the primacy of love, including toward enemies and the care of the poor and the orphans.” -Tim Keller 4. Nathanael is doing to Jesus what many are still doing to him today. They know what God should be like..and Jesus is definitely not their ideal. They think that they have Jesus and Christianity all figured out, been there done that, heard it, not interested….. 5. People think they know what Jesus is all about. Been there done that, heard it, not interested. We either discount him or try to claim him for ourselves and our cause; Everyone from Sara Silverman, to Thomas Jefferson, to the random guy on the street. - he’s a guru, he’s a peacekeeper, he is a moral teacher, he is a savior type, he’s a model to follow, He’s just a man, he’s just a leader of a dead religion, he’s a hundred other things and so many groups put their claim on Jesus. 3. Jesus’ Own Testimony 1. Since everybody has an opinion about Jesus, it’s best to go right to the source. The Gospels and especially this gospel are full of statements that Jesus made about himself, and about his mission. we do well to listen to Jesus. And to direct people straight to Jesus - to his word and his self testimony. 2. Finally Jesus testifies himself: “ 1. Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” -John 1:47-51 2. First, No one knows what nathanael was doing under the fig tree. the pint is that jesus has super natural knowledge, which causes Nathanael’s profession. 3. The reference to Jacob’s ladder here seems so obscure. But Jesus actually introduces the subject of Jacob at the beginning of their conversation. Jesus calls Nathanael an Israelite in whom there is no deceit. He is contrasting him to Jacob the father of the nation who’s name was changed to Israel. Jacob was a deceiver, and because of his deception he had to flee his home, fearful of his life and penniless. It is in his flight from his brother that Jacob has a a dream where the angels of God are ascending and descending on him. God comforts Jacob, saying “I am here whether you know it or not, I am at work in the world, to bring you back to your land to prosper you”, -He awakes and calls the place Bethel: The house of God. 4. But when Jesus retells the story he says that Nathanael is going to see the angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man (a messianic title Jesus continually uses for himself ). Jesus is saying, I Am the true dwelling place of God. God’s true temple. The place where heaven and earth intersect. 1. “You can almost hear Jesus laugh as he responds to Nathanael. He says, in effect, Oh My! You think I’m the Messiah. You probably think I’m going to get on a horse and throw down the Roman oppressors. But I’m going to show you far greater things than that. Doing that would not change the whole human condition, defeat evil and death, and renew the world. I tell you, I am the Axis mundi (the center of the world, the link between heaven and earth). I have punched a hole in the slab between Heaven and Earth. Through my incarnation as a human being, and through my death on the cross, which you haven’t even seen yet, I can bring you right into the presence of God.” -Tim Keller Conclusion: Jesus, like with Nathanael, always exceeds are expectations…Jesus is going to do a much greater work and deeper work than the people of Israel can possibly imagine. And in our lives too, there are a myriad of reasons why we come to Jesus, what we expect from him and what we think he’s capable of but guaranteed he will exceed all those expectations. Come and See. It is our calling, just like the early disciples to invite people to “come and see” to ask them to think again to challenge their preconceived ideas about Jesus and Christianity.