Many times as we pass through the maze of life, we are presented with too many things to take in. However, we are all too aware of the brevity (Psalm 90:10) of our lives that we don’t want to waste any of it. If we could have photographic memory to help us assimilate and store, with accuracy, everything we cast our eyes on, oh how enlightened we would be.
Unfortunately, our finite nature dictates that for everything that we have to know, it has to take our devotion and time to study, over and over again.
Because of this limitation, as humans, we have developed methods of reducing the time spent on non-beneficial objects or scenarios so that we can maximize our energies and time on the beneficial objects or scenarios. However, there is no way of universally categorizing scenarios. Because of this, we have found ourselves dwelling too long on scenarios that we should have let go of immediately, even leaving us wanting to kick ourselves.
Many times we have found ourselves shouting “just tell me” with the hope that by taking in another person’s effort to study a scenario, we can save ourselves precious time and energy of self-study of scenarios. This is all in the hope to optimize our expenditure of energy and time.
We have even gone a step further by “bookmarking” places, people, and objects so that if the call for attention is from these, we can immediately dismiss them and save ourselves precious time and energy.
It was in this same vain that when Philip said to Nathaniel that “we have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (John 1:45), Nathaniel retorted “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46).
Nathaniel’s dismissive response was not a lazy one. It had come from years of study and experience. Years of bookmaking had led him to dismiss Nazareth as a possible birthplace of the Messiah he had so eagerly hoped to see. Therefore, his response was intended at optimizing his energy and time in his wait/search for the Messiah.
While the natural help from Philip would have been to share his reasons for believing that the son of Joseph was the Messiah, he merely said “come and see” (John 1:46b).
The bookmarking of the possible characteristics of the Messiah was so widespread that it could almost accurately be deemed as a national calamity. Luke 4:22 says that “all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, is not this Joseph's son?”
The people had become too dependent on their shortcuts (bookmarks) through the maze of life to the extent that no amount of “witness” or “wonders” or “gracious words” could divert their minds to the Messiah, who they so much waited for because he was “Joseph’s son”, “whose father and mother we know” (see also Luke 3:23).
How wrong were they!
While their effort to decipher the Christ pointed them to one who would be born in the family of David, their eagerness to save on energy and time dismissed Joseph’s son! The fact that they knew that he was the son of Joseph put them so close to knowing their Messiah as both Luke (Luke 3:23 – And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,) and Matthew (Mt 1:16 – And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.) recognize Christ as a Messiah by this very link – the reason for the whole nation’s dismissal of the Christ.
When Nathaniel approached Jesus (John 1:47 – 48), his created bookmarks of the Messiah were verified and he could now exclaim “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel” (John 1:49). This, Jesus recognized, was “Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou?” and assured him of even more wonderful things to come (John 1:50).
The same can be true with our experience with Jesus. While we might not be as fortunate as Nathaniel was in his encounter, the lesson for us is clear. If we want to rely on the bookmarks made through our varied lives to find a way to the Messiah, we might so easily dismiss HIM and instead of saving on time and energies, we might actually miss on eternity and life.
It is not by past experience or the most well formulated bookmarks that we will be able to recognize Him. It is only when we become open to accept that we cannot be too in a hurry to go through the maze of life to study and dwell on the thought of the Messiah. If we are too self-sufficient with the bookmarks we have made we could be wrong about our perception of the native of Nazareth. Too quickly satisfied with what we know and easily dismissive of any “other” beliefs.
We should be willing to explore, with an open mind, beliefs that we could so easily dismiss, with our footing firmly grounded in the inspired word of God (Isaiah 8:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; Philippians 4:8; 1 John 4:1). By so doing, we will positively respond to the call “COME AND SEE”. And how marvelous and wonderful will be the glory we shall behold for we “shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”
