Day 6: When you "drop everything"
“Inconceivable!” So goes the line from the movie The Princess Bride as one unlikely story after another is offered to the skeptical Vizzini. You might use it, too, as you continue reading John’s Gospel. Today, we read that JB pointed at a stranger, told his friends that Jesus is the Lamb of God and then they “dropped everything” and followed. “Inconceivable?” Possibly.
I am writing this on a plane. I have paid a $200 fee to change my earlier reservation and dropped everything. Why? Because The League has a vision to present Jesus in the U.S.A. It is crazy big. A person who could help called and said, “I would be happy to meet you on Tuesday.”
I dropped everything.
This behavior does require some discernment. People drop everything when an emergency arises, or a threatening situation appears, or when the vision of the future is big enough. Without prayer and godly counsel, I could spend my life running from one ill-advised big dream to another.
I want to suggest Andrew, Simon, and Nathaniel have just come face-to-face with the biggest dream in their world. It is so big they do not fully understand. A Rabbi has called and said come, but this is even bigger. They trust JB. He not only shares their dream, but he is on-point, telling everyone it is about to happen... and then it does!
Let me just get a little technical. In verse 36 the word you are reading as “behold” is to be read like someone is shouting at the top of their lungs, “Look!” or “Stop!” This is big news. JB, Andrew, Simon and Nathaniel, and in fact the entire Jewish population, know something. They knew it then, and we know it today, don’t we? We are in trouble. The world is broken, and people keep hurting each other. We cannot seem to get out of our own way. We try, but we fail.
Their big story – it’s our big story, too – says, don’t worry: God knows. He has promised to send someone to rescue us from this mess, to put things right. It is a big vision. The rescuer goes by a few names: Messiah, Christ, even Lamb of God.
JB screams out, “Look! He is here!”
Let’s be clear. JB, Andrew, Simon, Nathaniel and the rest have no clue just exactly what the Messiah will look like, nor do they know Jesus’ plan. They have in their own minds what Jesus should do. It will take them three years, seeing this man die on a Cross and more, to figure it out. No worries. God, Jesus, is patient with them – and He is with us, too.
In our world, do you think you need to be rescued...or do you think you just need a little help?
People look to God in a variety of ways, and they often have no resemblance to how the Bible reveals God to us. (Sidebar: that is one of the Bible’s main purposes...to show us God.)
If you do not think you need to be rescued, please keep reading in the coming days. I want you to meet Jesus. Today, if you find him inconceivable, at least for now, consider reading on. There is this big story that I am inviting you to consider.