EXTERNALS CAN MISLEAD US
John 1:43-52

Can anything good come from Nazareth? v. 46

We tend to judge and reject the familiar, the mundane, the common, thinking that nothing extraordinary can come out of the person or place we think we know.

DO WE JUDGE BY ASSUMPTION?

Many of the Jews did the same thing with Jesus. They assumed they knew all about him. As the Gospel of Matthew says, "Where did this man get such wisdom and miraculous powers? Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn't Mary known to be his mother and James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas his brothers? Aren’t his sisters our neighbors? Where did he get all this?" They thought they knew Jesus, but they did not. They assumed he was only a simple carpenter and only from Nazareth. They assumed he was only a Galilean. Their assumptions were wrong.

'EVERY STORY YOU MUST NOT BELIEVE'

Jesus said of his spiritual origins, "So you know me, and you know my origins? The truth is, I have not come of myself. I was sent by One who has the right to send, and him you do not know. I know him because it is from him I come: he sent me." As to his vast spiritual wisdom: "The Jews were filled with amazement and said, 'How did this man get his education when he had no teacher?' This was Jesus' answer: 'My doctrine is not my own; it comes from him who sent me.'" Not only was their judgment about earthly origins incorrect, their spiritual judgment was wrong as well. Like them, we will probably misjudge circumstances if we do not wait to know all the facts first. As Sirach said, "Admonish your friend--often it may be slander; every story you must not believe."

JUDGE BY THE SPIRIT NOT BY EXTERNALS

Do we see the extraordinary working of Jesus through ordinary people? Are we sensitive to the cosmic origins of the Spirit, or do we judge everything according to externals? Remember: "The wind blows where it will. You hear the sound it makes but you do not know where it comes from. So it is with everyone begotten by the Spirit."

Do we judge by the Spirit or the flesh? Only judgments made by the Spirit can be trusted.

John Michael Talbot