Connecting With Others

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples.  When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.  Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”  They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”   “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”  So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.   Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus.  The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).  And he brought him to Jesus.  Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).   The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”   Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida.  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.  “Come and see,” said Philip.   When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”   “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.  Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”   Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”   Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.”  He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”  John 1:35-51

 

. Read Mark 4:35-41, “That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”  Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped.  Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”  He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”  They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

and read Luke 9:12-27,  Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging because we are in a remote place here.”   He replied, “You give them something to eat.”  They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.”  (About five thousand men were there.). But he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”   The disciples did so, and everyone sat down.  Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people.  They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were leftover.   Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”   They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”   “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”  Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.   Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone.  And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.   Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.   For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.  What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?  Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.   “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

What do these passages speak to you?  What do they teach about following Jesus?  These passages teach Jesus is actively and intentionally cultivating a relationship with His disciples.  There are so many more in the gospels.  He connected with His disciples.  What does it mean to connect?  Now the word is not found in the bible.  In the dictionary.com, the meaning to connect is to join, link, or fasten together; unite or bind, to establish communication between; put in communication, to have as an accompanying or associated feature.  I have bolded word that to me show a connection to His disciples and to the others who followed Him.  Jesus called His disciples away from their old life.  They joined Him in doing the work for His Kingdom.  Jesus prayed with and for His disciples.  He taught them.  He cared for them.  He challenged them.  Jesus walked with each of them in the ups and downs of their life.  Jesus devoted time, energy and passion to His relationship with His disciples.  Jesus invited them to walk with Him.  He poured life into His relationships.  Jesus’ intimate relationship with the Father, poured into intentional relationships with His disciples.

Why are relationships with other Christians nonnegotiable for Jesus followers?  What do we gain when we invest in other Jesus followers?  How are you investing in other Christ followers?

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for sending Jesus down to earth.  I pray that we will invest like Jesus did to other fellow believers.  I pray that we will love them as Jesus loves.

In Jesus Name

Amen