Sunday 18 January 2009

Background

John's Gospel is very different from the other Gospels. Here inchapter 1 we already have the call of Jesus' disciples. NoChristmas tableau here, no choirs of singing angels, no shepherds,no wise men (as there are in Matthew and Luke) - just those starkwords announcing the coming of God into the world in human form,"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and theWord was God" (John 1:1).

The Gospel writer John pays great attention to the ministry ofJohn the Baptist and his disciples. This is an important reminderto us that it was not just Jesus who had followers - all rabbis(teachers) attracted followers and John, with his ascetic life inthe desert, was no exception.

It reminds me of the fact that although Methodists concentrate onJohn and Charles Wesley (the founders of Methodism) and theirimpact on 18th century England, we need to remember that this was atime of religious ferment and there were many travelling preacherswho had followers. That is why Methodists have this strange term -connexion - which describes preachers 'in connexion' with MrWesley, as opposed to being attached to other preachers of theday.

People in the time of Jesus were looking for a messiah, for aprophet sent by God. What the disciples Simon, Andrew, Philip andNathanael did not realise was that the tables were turned, and theMessiah was looking for them. In their excitement they were eagerto respond and follow Jesus but they had no idea what they wereletting themselves in for. Nathanael lived in Cana, just up thehill from Nazareth, and perhaps they were rival villages. Was hiscomment serious or just a local joke - "Can anything good come outof Nazareth?"

Whatever the case, by the end of the passage Nathanael isacclaiming Jesus as the Son of God. Jesus was surprised by this -perhaps he was musing that this would certainly not be the lasttime that a disciple was going to make a claim he did notunderstand.

To Ponder

Are there times in your life when you have feltyourself to be sought out by God, rather than you being the onedoing the seeking? What happened?

Who has influenced your Christian life most? Howhave they had an impact on you?