Hi First Presbyterian Church, 

It’s time for our Mid-Week Meet-Up! This Sunday will be busy! We will be baptizing a little child, ordaining and installing our new church leadership, and continuing the two-week sermon series answering your questions about the Old Testament. In case you missed last week’s sermon on the apparent violence of God in the Old Testament, here’s a link to the recording: Sunday, January 5, 2025. This Sunday, I’ll be trying to answer the question: Why do women appear to be devalued in the Old Testament? 

Today is Day 122 of our one-year Bible-reading plan. This week, we started reading the Gospel of John. I love this Gospel. It’s different from the other three New Testament Gospels in such meaningful ways. I want to focus on the beginning of the Gospel, which illustrates one such way. In John 1:40, we learn that one of Jesus’ disciples (Andrew) actually used to be a disciple of John the Baptist. We’re told that, before Andrew actually believed in Jesus, he expressed a sincere interest to want to know more about him (1:37-38). In response to Andrew’s interest, Jesus simply says to Andrew, “Come and see,” and then Andrew spends a whole day with Jesus (1:39). What did Andrew see that day? What did he hear Jesus say? Whom did he see Jesus interacting with? The Bible doesn’t say, but whatever he experienced that day with Jesus, it was enough to totally transform his life. After just one day with Jesus, he didn’t just say, “Jesus is a good person,” or “Jesus has such a compelling personality,” or “Jesus has some interesting things to say.” No, after just one day with Jesus, Andrew said, “We have found the Messiah” (John 1:41).  

Likewise, another of the twelve disciples (Philip), follows Jesus and is convinced he is the Messiah, and he goes to another person named Nathanael and tells him, “We have found the Messiah.” Nathanael doesn’t believe him. What does Philip say to Nathanael in response, “Come and see.” After just one interaction with Jesus, Nathanael declares, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:49). All it took was just spending even a little time with Jesus, and Nathanael became a believer. 

I think sometimes we overcomplicate the path of discipleship. To be fair, Jesus asks us to do very difficult things. However, our mission is actually very simple. Our mission is to simply invite people to “come and see” Jesus for themselves. He is sufficiently gracious, powerful, and beautiful on his own to bring people to believe. Our job is simply to point the way.  

My prayer for you today is that you will be able to point the way to Jesus for someone today.  

Peace to you,

Pastor Aaron