Gtcotr/ss121618
It
is reasonable to believe that Jesus began His public ministry in the fall of
the year, around the end of September or the first part of October, when He
turned 30 years of age. At that time He went to be baptized by John in the
Jordan River near Jericho.
After
water baptism, Jesus immediately entered the wilderness of Judea which
stretches from the Dead Sea near Jericho all the way south and westward across
the barren foothills and desert lands to Jerusalem. Jesus was in the desert,
fasting and praying for 40 days. After that time, Jesus was tempted by the devil
and defeated every temptation with the Word of God. These 40 days plus the
temptation period would have likely occurred in the months of October and
November, making it early in December when Jesus returned to Nazareth and to His
mother’s home.
His
first Sabbath at home, probably early in December, Jesus entered into the
synagogue at Nazareth where He was raised, and was asked to read from the
scriptures. He found the passage in Isaiah 61 and
read:
“The Spirit of the LORD is
upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the
brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the
captives And recovery of sight to the
blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year
of the LORD.”
Then
Jesus closed the book and sat down, and all eyes were on Him and He said, “Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your ears.”
Those
who heard Him were immediately filled with anger and rage. They laid hands on
Jesus and forced Him out of the synagogue and brought Him to the edge of the
hill so that they might throw Him off the cliff. However, Jesus, passing
through the midst of them, left the city and walked a day’s distance to the
town of Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee.
The
following Sabbath, and for two or three weeks after, Jesus attended and taught
in the synagogue which was in Capernaum. (Luke 4) It was during these days,
perhaps near the end of December, Jesus began calling His first disciples. It’s
here we pick up with today’s Christmas message.
The Gospel of John takes us back to the very
beginning. John records Jesus calling His first disciple with the words:
Come and See
John 1 NKJV
Bear
in mind, the lessons taught to us by Jesus in this account are fundamental to
the spread of our Christian faith. Christianity is never more complex than the
simple steps we find in this passage.
35 Again, the next day, John
stood with two of his disciples.
36 And looking at Jesus as He
walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!”
Note
here, John the Baptist used his influence to point his friends to Jesus.
37 ¶ The two disciples heard
him speak, and they followed Jesus.
Notice that John’s friends were intrigued by his
testimony and they decided they would investigate Jesus for themselves. People
will still do this …
38 Then Jesus turned, and
seeing them following, said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to Him,
“Rabbi” (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), “where are You staying?”
It is evident Jesus took note of their
interest in Him. It’s the same truth taught by the account of the prodigal son.
If a person turns towards home, God is always welcoming, encouraging and
willing to listen.
39 He said to them, “Come and
see.” They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day
(now it was about the tenth hour).
Jesus shows us what most people need … Most
people only need an invitation to “come and see.” Come and see for yourselves …
And, once a person sees the real Jesus and
realizes that they are really welcomed and accepted by Him … it’s hard for them
to leave.
40 One of the two who heard
John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.
41 He first found his own
brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is
translated, the Christ).
It is evident Andrew and Peter were more than
mere biological brothers. They were friends and even chose to work alongside
one another as fisherman. When Andrew found Christ, he went immediately to tell
Peter what he had found. I imagine Andrew told Peter about the whole day.
42 And he brought him to
Jesus.
The
greatest opportunity anyone can give another person is to tell them where they
can find Christ. Everyone is looking for Jesus …
·
You
can influence others to come and see.
·
Simply
tell someone what you found when you found Jesus.
·
It
can begin with your family and spread to your friends, new acquaintances, and
even to others you’ve never met in person.
We begin our walk with Christ as Believers in Him.
We continue our walk
with Christ as Followers of Him.
We fulfill our
walk with Christ as Witnesses for Him.
This
is the Christmas Message for today …
Can
you think of someone who would benefit from being in a Church service like
this? Someone who may have lost their way, or someone unchurched, unhappy, or
just in need of some answers in life? I’m going to challenge you today:
Don’t say no to Jesus for someone else. How could we ever do that? We say
no for them when we decide that they would only say no if we ask them, and so
we don’t ask. At least let them say no for themselves. However, most people
won’t say no, most people will say yes … just like Andrew and Peter and Phillip
and Nathaniel did in John chapter 1. All they needed was somebody to ask them to
come and see.
Invite
someone to Church in this special Christmas season. Tell them that you’ve found
Christ and simply invite them to “Come and see!”
Sitting
in the midst of the welcoming and loving Spirit of the
Lord that’s in our Church and hearing the Word of God preached under the
anointing of the Holy Spirit will be exactly what they need to go back to their
homes and invite their family and friends to “come and see”!
