Are you a follower of Jesus? What are you following him for? What do you want from him? After John had baptized Jesus he saw Jesus passing by the next day and pointed him out, saying, "Look, the Lamb of God!" At this point two of John's followers left him to follow Jesus. Jesus, aware that they were following, turned around and asked them: "What do you want?" (John 1:38).
What makes a person want to follow Jesus? What makes a person leave what was previously important to him and take after this very unusual man? These two people had been a part of the revival movement that John had instituted and yet at the sight of Jesus they were prepared to leave John and start over with Jesus. How do they answer Jesus' question? They respond by asking him where he is staying. They cannot articulate their reasons. Does this make them irrational and unstable? I don't think so. I think that they have sensed something about the uniqueness of the person of Jesus. They are not now following any program, revolution, philosophy, political pathway, or specific teaching. Jesus himself is the attraction and they want to know where he is staying because they want to be with him. This is fundamentally what it is to have an encounter with God. We come under the influence of his person, his authority, his greatness, his way with people, his immense love and his undeniable intention to be with us (Immanuel). Throughout the gospel story we learn much of what it means to follow Jesus but the draw of Jesus is nothing less than the weight of his personality. Here is a most remarkable person who invites us to "Come...and see" (John 1:39).
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Joseph Philpot (1802-1869) wrote: "To be much with Jesus is to be made like unto Jesus; to sit at Jesus' feet is to drink in Jesus' words; to lean upon Jesus' breast is to feel the warm heart of Jesus pulsating with love; and to feel this pulsation, causes the heart of the disciple to beat in tender and affectionate unison; to look up to Jesus, is to see a face more marred than the sons of men, yet a face beaming with heavenly beauty, dignity, and glory. To be a disciple, then, of Jesus, is to copy his example; to do the things pleasing in his sight; and to avoid the things which he abhors. To be a disciple of Jesus, is to be meek as he was; humble as he was; lowly as he was; self-denying as he was; separate from the world as he was; living a life of communion with God, as he lived when he walked here below.
To take a worm of the earth and make him a disciple of Jesus is the greatest privilege God can bestow upon man. To select an obstinate, ungodly, perverse rebel, and place him in the school of Christ and at the feet of Jesus, is the highest favor God can bestow upon any child of the dust. How unsurpassingly great must be that kindness whereby the Lord condescends to bestow his grace on an alien and an enemy, and to soften and meeken him by his Spirit, and thus cause him to grow up into the image and likeness of his own dear Son. What are earthly honors and titles when compared with the favor thus conferred upon those whose foundation is in the dust? Compared with this high privilege, all earthly honors, titles and robes, sink into utter insignificance."
"To be much with Jesus" is my only hope and the only hope for a world that is being crushed under its own weight. James, this is a great reading to have before us as we enter into another year in this weary world.
Oh Watcher what is left of the night?
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