Daily Dose of the Word of God - John 1: 50-51

Justin Paul Lawrence, Executive Director

Transcript

JPL 0:07  

Welcome to Elmhurst CRC’s Daily Dose of the Word of God. Today is Friday, September 19th, and Sunday is coming! I’m Justin Paul Lawrence. Our Bible reading today is from John 1:50-51.

JPL  0:22  

Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on ’the Son of Man.”

JPL  0:42  

Figs have been on sale at the grocery store recently. My wife grew up in the South and her grandmother had a beautiful fig bush just across the driveway from their front porch. I like them too, but my nostalgia comes from Fig Newtons, a tasty snack that was a favorite of my father when I was growing up but vastly inferior to fresh figs. Still we both love them and having a bowl of them on our counter speaks to a certain welcome abundance in this season. Figs were cultivated all over the middle east in Jesus’ time too.  There are 48 mentions of figs in the Bible and when the prophets speak of being at peace, they talk about each person being under “their own vine and fig tree.” To have a fig tree signaled peace, repose, god’s favor. Not to mention shade in a hot country. And years of tasty snacks. So Nathaniel was in this place of favor under a fig tree when Phillip found him and told him that he had found the one that Moses and the prophets wrote about - Jesus of Nazareth. Of course, Nathaniel was skeptical - after all Jesus was from Nazareth, not Bethlehem or Jerusalem. Still, Jesus sees him and knows him. And he sees his rest under the fig tree - but gives him an even better opportunity - going all the way back to Joseph, he talks about the ascent and descent of angels -  the true meeting of God’s world and ours, this time not just in passing in a dream, but in real life in the flesh and blood of Jesus.   In the same way, sometimes we think we’ve arrived. That we’re in the place of having our own vine and fig tree. And that might be the place that Jesus wants us. And that’s OK. But sometimes, maybe, There’s a call from friends, or even from Jesus, to follow him to see something greater. To see the heavens opened and angels ascending and descending in the work of Jesus in the world. And for us to be a part of it. 

JPL  2:43  

Lets Pray. Lord, you called Nathaniel to follow you out of the shade of his Fig Tree. Help us to hear your call just as clearly in this season. And to follow you to the wonder of your Kingdom.