![]() ![]() Jesus responds with this: Oh, I saw you sitting over there, under that fig tree, you know, before Philip found you.Īnd all of a sudden Nathanael is completely changed: Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry. But what happens next is just a little odd. There’s even people in out lives that we have come to expect negative reactions from. He can’t even take a compliment from a stranger. Puts off his praise like a surly old sourpuss, curmudgeon. Pretty high praise from Jesus, right? And Jesus has never even met Nathanael.Īgain, Nathanael is the skeptic: Who are you? You don’t know me? Who do you think you are? We haven’t even met! And when they get close, Jesus calls out: Hey! Here’s a real Israelist! A true believer! An honest citizen! A man you can trust! They go off to meet this Jesus character. Why you gotta be so negative? We are talking about the messiah here. I can imagine his friends saying: Really Nathaniel. This is the one! The answer! The Messiah!Īnd Nathanael completely puts out their fiery passion: Yeah, right. He’s the one that Israel has been waiting for, the one whom Moses spoke about, the one whose the prophets prophesied about. His friends are all amazed and excited and they tell him about this amazing man they met. He’s a skeptic, a critic, a pessimist, a killjoy, a curmudgeon, a buzzkill, a wet blanket, a Negative Nancy, if you will. Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these! I assure you that you will see heaven open and God’s angels going up to heaven and down to earth on the Human One.” ( John 1:43-51) Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are God’s Son. Jesus answered, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Here is a genuine Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” Nathanael responded, “Can anything from Nazareth be good?” Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law and the Prophets: Jesus, Joseph’s son, from Nazareth.” Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. The next day Jesus wanted to go into Galilee, and he found Philip. Today I want to share a story about a skeptic. Skepticism. It’s about a questioning attitude or doubt. Speaker: Pastor Jason Category: Choices, Transformed, Welcoming Everyone January 16, 2018 ![]()
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