Advent Calendar:
Celebrating Meeting Jesus
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| * Days 1-9 | * Day 10 * Day 11 * Day 12 * Day 13 * Day 14 * Day 15 | * Days 16-25 |
Now a follower of Jesus, Philip looked for Nathanael to tell him this Jesus was the one Moses and the prophets had promised.
Nathanael was skeptical. "He's from Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" "Come and see," said Philip.
Although they had never met before, Jesus recognized Nathanael.
When Jesus said he had seen Nathanael under the
fig tree before Philip found him, Nathanael was sure Jesus was the
Son of God and King of Israel. Jesus promised that Nathanael would see greater
things.
(for more information, read John 1:43- )
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So Nicodemus came secretly, at night, to talk with Jesus.
"You must be born again," Jesus said, and knocked Nicodemus for a loop.
"How could I do that?" he wondered. "Go back into my mother's womb when I'm old?"
Nicodemus listened to Jesus explain about two different kinds of births.
The first is of the flesh, when we are born of our mothers.
The second is of the spirit, when we can be born of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus' answers made Nicodemus have more questions until there was nothing more to ask. He just wasn't going to understand all this in the way he usually learned things. Meeting and talking with Jesus only once wasn't going to be enough for Nicodemus. (John 7:45-52 and John 19:38-42) It was like Jesus was giving Nicodemus an "e equals mc squared" formula of a spiritual truth, and understanding how that would change his understanding of God was going to take more than one lesson.
Jesus talked of heaven, Moses, the Son of Man, light,
dark, truth, and love. Check out their conversation at John 3. Jesus let Nicodemus meet Him in secret even though eventually Nicodemus would no longer want to hide his encounter, or his faith.
Using scripture to recognize the Jewish Messiah - the top 10 promises and the Anatomy of the Messiah
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Have you heard that Jesus not only asked a tax collector to be one of his followers, but he also ATE with him and a bunch more tax collectors?
Wait a minute... someone just asked him why he lets tax collectors and sinners hang around him. What did he say?
"Healthy people don't need a doctor - the sick do. I haven't come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Wow. That's just like when John the Baptist was preaching, before he was thrown into jail. Lots of tax collectors came to hear him, believed what he said, and were baptised. But the people who always say they know what's right, the Pharisees and the experts in the law, kept finding something wrong - first with John, then with Jesus.
But if Jesus is really breaking the law, how come he understands it so well? And how come he heals sick people? I even hear he brought a little girl back to life. Only God can do that.
What do you think?
(for more information, read
Matt 9,
Mark 2,
Luke 5:27-39,
Luke 7:16-30)
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The head tax collector in the old city of Jericho was a very rich and a very short man named
Zacchaeus. OK, so tax collectors were not popular people with the Jewish people. They were
collecting money for the Roman government that ruled Israel then. Even though, technically,
they were Jews, they represented a foreign establishment - and they were hated.
Maybe that compares a little to people who are citizens of a country that is at war with the country where their parents or grandparents were born. Some people may ignore who they are, and just hate them for how they look or what they do.
The day Jesus came through Jericho, Zacchaeus really, really wanted to see him, even just for a glimpse. But there was no dignified way to politely ask taller people to move and let short people up to the front of the crowd. No one granted favors like that to tax collectors!
So Zacchaeus saw the direction Jesus was going, and ran ahead to find a tree to climb along the way. Soon, Jesus and his disciples walked by, with the crowd following right along. Jesus looked up at Zacchaeus, called him down, and said he wanted to stay at his house the rest of the day.
People in Jericho weren't much different from people where Levi lived. They probably expected Jesus to stay with someone respectable, not a tax collector sinner.
Zacchaeus didn't want anything to stand between him and Jesus. He gave half of what he owned to the poor, and promised to pay back with interest anyone he had overcharged on their taxes. Now Zacchaeus was a tax collector with an obvious difference. His relationship with Jesus had replaced his unfair policies and greed. He became a new man - a friend of Jesus AND an honest tax collector.
(for more information, read Luke 19)
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The woman coming to Jacob's Well in the heat of the day had a very bad reputation - so bad, that she got her water when she knew no one else from her town nearby would be getting theirs. She had never met the man sitting by the well while his disciples went into town, Sychar, to buy food. "Will you give me a drink?" he asked.
She was shocked! The man was clearly a Jew, and she was a Samaritan woman. Most Jews refused to use dishes Samaritans had used. Now why would this man talk with someone his own people would look down on, scoff at, and ignore? How strange.
Jesus caught her interest, telling her of living water, eternal life, and never thirsting again. Jesus caught her attention by telling her he knew what kind of woman she was - she had had 5 husbands already and was living with yet another man. And Jesus caught her loyalty by answering her question about the kind of worship God wants. She didn't have to be bound by her previous immorality, or by the traditions of her people. She had met the Messiah, the Christ. And this meeting, with this person, was making a big difference in her future.
The woman hurried to tell everyone in town about the man at the well. They didn't exactly take her word for what she told them - they all knew what kind of woman she was. But Jesus caught THEIR interest, too, and they asked Jesus to stay and talk to them. And like the woman, their faith changed from hearsay with lots of questions, to first hand belief that Jesus is the Christ.
(for more of the story, read John 4)
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Take for instance Herod, a son of Herod the Great (also see the Magi). This Herod (Antipas) was in Jerusalem when Jesus was brought before Pilate for trial. The two leaders were enemies when Pilate sent Jesus over to be questioned by Herod.
Of course, Herod had heard about Jesus. He had been curious about Jesus, especially about the miracles people said he could do. But it had never seemed proper nor been convenient for Herod to seek Jesus out until now, when Jesus was forced to appear before him. Herod asked Jesus lots of questions.
"How did you make a blind man see?" asked Herod.
The chief priests and teachers of the law yelled, "He did it illegally - it was on a
day of rest!"
Jesus said nothing.
"What went on when you called that dead man Lazerus out of his tomb? Was he
really dead?" asked Herod.
The chief priests and teachers of the law yelled, "It was a trick." And they remembered
thinking, "If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." (John 11:48)
Jesus said nothing.
"How are you planning to defeat the Empire to become King of the Jews?" asked Herod.
The High Priest, Caiaphas, yelled, "He's going to ruin everything for ALL of us! Let him die and save our nation!" (see John 11:50)
Jesus said nothing.
"It must be tricks," said Herod. "Look, everyone. He can't do a thing here!"
Someone put an elegant robe on Jesus, and Herod sent him back to Pilate.
That day Herod and Pilate agreed against Jesus and thus became friends.
(for more information, read Luke 23:8-12 and
Acts 12)
More on Herod Antipas
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