{"id":521,"date":"2023-03-24T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-24T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy-cam.tempurl.host\/gospeladventure\/?p=521&2023"},"modified":"2023-03-21T18:00:17","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T00:00:17","slug":"diffusing-skeptics-john-1-35-51","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/diffusing-skeptics-john-1-35-51\/","title":{"rendered":"Diffusing Skeptics: John 1:35-51"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"spoiler spoiler-style-2\"><div class=\"spoiler-title\">Focus Passage: John 1:35-51 (CEV)<\/div><div class=\"spoiler-content\">\r\n<p><sup>35\u00a0<\/sup>The next day, John was there again, and two of his followers were with him.  <sup>36\u00a0<\/sup>When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, \u201cHere is the Lamb of God!\u201d  <sup>37\u00a0<\/sup>John\u2019s two followers heard him, and they went with Jesus.<\/p> <p><sup>38\u00a0<\/sup>When Jesus turned and saw them, he asked, \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/p><p>They answered, \u201cRabbi, where do you live?\u201d The Hebrew word \u201cRabbi\u201d means \u201cTeacher.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>39\u00a0<\/sup>Jesus replied, \u201cCome and see!\u201d It was already about four o\u2019clock in the afternoon when they went with him and saw where he lived. So they stayed on for the rest of the day.<\/p> <p><sup>40\u00a0<\/sup>One of the two men who had heard John and had gone with Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter.  <sup>41\u00a0<\/sup>The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother and tell him, \u201cWe have found the Messiah!\u201d The Hebrew word \u201cMessiah\u201d means the same as the Greek word \u201cChrist.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>42\u00a0<\/sup>Andrew brought his brother to Jesus. And when Jesus saw him, he said, \u201cSimon son of John, you will be called Cephas.\u201d This name can be translated as \u201cPeter.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>43-44\u00a0<\/sup>The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. There he met Philip, who was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. Jesus said to Philip, \u201cCome with me.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>45\u00a0<\/sup>Philip then found Nathanael and said, \u201cWe have found the one that Moses and the Prophets wrote about. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>46\u00a0<\/sup>Nathanael asked, \u201cCan anything good come from Nazareth?\u201d<\/p><p>Philip answered, \u201cCome and see.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>47\u00a0<\/sup>When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said, \u201cHere is a true descendant of our ancestor Israel. And he isn\u2019t deceitful.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>48\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cHow do you know me?\u201d Nathanael asked.<\/p><p>Jesus answered, \u201cBefore Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>49\u00a0<\/sup>Nathanael said, \u201cRabbi, you are the Son of God and the King of Israel!\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>50\u00a0<\/sup>Jesus answered, \u201cDid you believe me just because I said that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see something even greater.  <sup>51\u00a0<\/sup>I tell you for certain that you will see heaven open and God\u2019s angels going up and coming down on the Son of Man.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"passage-read-more\">Read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=John 1:35-51&amp;version=cev\" title=\"Read the passage on BibleGateway.com\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"hyperlink-underlined\">John 1:35-51<\/a> in context and\/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\r\n<p>Of all the disciples to follow Jesus, Nathanael\u2019s invitation is one of the most interesting and puzzling to my mind. After accepting Philip\u2019s invitation to come and meet Jesus personally, Nathanael hasn\u2019t really let down his guard, because he is skeptical about whether a Messiah would, or even could, come from Nazareth.<\/p>\r\n<p>But like Jesus typically did, He speaks to the heart when talking to the person, and when Jesus saw Nathanael, His first words were, \u201c<strong>Here is a true descendant of our ancestor Israel. And he isn\u2019t deceitful.<\/strong>\u201d (v. 47) <\/p>\r\n<p>Jesus\u2019 opening line about Nathanael breaks the initial tension of the moment, but it also diffuses Nathanael\u2019s skepticism. Jesus\u2019 statement turns Nathanael\u2019s skepticism into curiosity. The way past a skeptical mind is to help it rediscover a childlike curiosity.<\/p>\r\n<p>However, the part that I don\u2019t really understand is Jesus\u2019 response to Nathanael\u2019s question. Jesus says, \u201c<strong>Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.<\/strong>\u201d (v. 48b)<\/p>\r\n<p>Why this is significant, I am not entirely sure. Maybe the fig tree was where Nathanael went to pray, or maybe it was very secluded or hidden from the outside world. This answer spoke to not only Nathanael\u2019s mind but to his heart as well, and it lead Nathanael to accept Jesus as being the Messiah at the beginning of His ministry.<\/p>\r\n<p>It is interesting that aside from John the Baptist, the skeptical Nathanael is among the first to call Jesus \u201c<strong><em>the Son of God and the King of Israel<\/em><\/strong>\u201d (v. 49) Nathanael may have been the first disciple to describe Jesus with these words.<\/p>\r\n<p>This leads to the big point I see in this portion of the passage: <strong>Sometimes skeptics are the best people to have on your side, because once they are convinced of the truth, they are 100% dedicated to the mission. In this way, Nathanael is one of the first disciples who is 100% committed to Jesus and His mission.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<div id=\"aj-wrap-up--521\" class=\"aj-wrap-up\"><p><em>This thought was inspired by studying the <strong>Walking With Jesus<\/strong> \u201cReflective Bible Study\u201d package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, <a class=\"underline\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/\" title=\"Check out Reflective Bible Study!\">click here<\/a> and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!<\/em><\/p><p><em><a class=\"underline\" href=\"javascript:void(0);\" onClick=\"rbs_aj_inline_subscribe(this, '521');\">Subscribe<\/a> to this blog and never miss an insight.<\/em><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Of all the disciples to follow Jesus, Nathanael\u2019s invitation is one of the most interesting and puzzling to my mind. After accepting Philip\u2019s invitation to come and meet Jesus personally, Nathanael hasn\u2019t really let down his guard, because he is skeptical about whether a Messiah would, or even could, come from Nazareth. But like Jesus [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-text"],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":false,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Diffusing Skeptics: John 1:35-51 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/diffusing-skeptics-john-1-35-51\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Diffusing Skeptics: John 1:35-51 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Of all the disciples to follow Jesus, Nathanael\u2019s invitation is one of the most interesting and puzzling to my mind. 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