"Can anything good come from there?"

Reading John 1:43-46
"Philip 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.' 'Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?' Nathanael asked."

Prejudice (pre-judgement) can blind us to so many good things. Nathanael didn't need to meet Jesus to know that he could not be a source of good. Nathanael knew the town where Jesus grew up and what could be expected from a start like that. Luckily Nathanael was introduced to Jesus and was able to see past his prejudice to the person who stood before him. The point, however, is that he nearly missed God because he had a pre-conceived idea about the way in which God should show himself. How many times do we miss God because we think we know how God would speak, act, react in some particular circumstance?

Jesus was conceived before Mary and Joseph were married. Can anything good come from that?

Jesus "came eating and drinking, and they say, 'here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and 'sinners.'" Can anything good come from that?

Jesus had no job, home, or family, and accumulated no material possessions. Can anything good come from that?

Jesus broke the Jewish sabbath laws time after time and offended the leaders of his own religious upbringing. Can anything good come from that?

Jesus shamed religious leaders but forgave a woman who was caught in the act of cheating on her husband. Can anything good come from that?

Jesus lived only thirty three years, his ministry lasted only about three years, and he was executed before he had a chance to create any kind of organizational structure to his movement. Can anything good come from that?

Jonah had the same problem with God. God wanted to show kindness to Israel's worst enemy and spare them from destruction. Could anything good come from that?

Elijah had the same problem with God. God had allowed the forces of evil to grow so strong that Elijah thought he was the only one who was left who had been faithful to God. Elijah was reduced to the point of despair and suicide. Can anything good come from that?

Eve had the same problem with God. Here was all this wonderful fruit that was "good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom..." Yet God was withholding this treasure from her. Could anything good come from that?

Saul had the same problem with God. All those wonderful possessions that they had captured in battle could surely be used for some good purpose. Yet God had ordered them all destroyed. Could anything good come from that?

I have the same problem with God. His ways are just not my ways and his thoughts are just not my thoughts. God has allowed so much evil in the world. Can anything good come from that? God has taken me through so many dark places. Can anything good come from that? God has allowed people that I love to be hurt or to hurt themselves through so many foolish choices. Can anthing good come from that?

I know better than God what would be good for me. I'll just go my own way and do what I think is best. But can anything good come from that?

For those who walked with Jesus and trusted him through his life, death, burial, and into his resurrection: everything good came from that!