WORD! - John 1

Before we crack open the first chapter of John, let me first make some clarifications:
-this book is one of 4 accounts of Jesus' life here on earth
-the author of this book's name is John; he was one of Jesus disciples
-the John referred to in this chapter isn't the author, he's John the Baptist. Totally different guy.

Chapter one always raises a couple key questions:
Who or what is the Word?
Why does John call Jesus "The Lamb of God"? (verse 29)

My personal favourite part of this chapter is:

44Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

46"Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked.
"Come and see," said Philip.

Apparently, Nazareth was the Langham of that area... just full of rebels!!! (just kidding Dawn, Melissa and Jessica..)

47When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."

Let me just speculate that Jesus is being sarcastic. (Credit that thought to Paul.) Why would Jesus say this to Nathanael after he just cut down his hometown? TOTALLY sarcasm.

48"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."

49Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."

50Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." 51He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Now it sounds to me like Jesus wasn't in eyeshot of Nathanael when he was under that fig tree. So obviously there's some divine intuition at play here. And that's why Philip is quick to call Jesus the Messiah, or Saviour. And Jesus? He just says, "You ain't seen nuthin' yet." Certainly no lie, as we're about to see.

So what are your thoughts? What are your answers to my two questions? Anything to add? Any more questions? Looking forward to hearing from everyone!

Join the Journey through John

Over the next month or so Greg and I are going to read through the gospel of John. We would like to invite you to join us on the journey. We will make comments on each chapter and you can feel free to leave your comments and questions as well.
To get things started does anyone want to guess which John wrote this gospel? And what makes this gospel so different from Matthew, Mark and Luke?

The Camp Cold

"Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness." Hebrew 12:10

As many of my friends know, I've had this annoying camp cold for a looong time. Since the last week of camp, actually. It's a sinus infection that the doctors (seen them 4 times) can't cure: they're sending me to a specialist. I gotta admit, sometimes it feels like God's punishing me.

This time of year reminds me of Sept. 11th, 2001. "The day the world changed." (Well, it did for America, at least.) What struck me is that in the weeks and months after the attacks on the Twin Towers, some popular Christian speakers/pastors said that this was God punishing America for turning away from him. Some even went into specifics (allowing abortion, promoting homosexuality, and all those other controversial sins).

So what do you think? How does God discipline people? Is it possible that God sent this cold to punish me?