Willow Creek Weekend Podcast

JOHN 1:35-39 | JAN 26-27 | MIKE BREAUX

John’s book begins like a movie. A dramatic and poetic
prologue sets the scene. A supporting player summons us
to anticipate the arrival of a promised hero. And then, as
that hero steps into the light, we wonder who he might be,
awaiting his very first line. Those first words come in the
form of a question: What do you want? That question is
closely followed by an invitation: Come and see. Over the
next six weeks, let’s try to answer Jesus’ question and
even accept his invitation to come and see who he really is.

Before this was the calling of
Martin Luther King, Jr., it was the
message of Jesus.

Jesus brought a message of
justice and crossed lines of
prejudice. When we take a look
at the stories, he told we find that
many of the main characters, the
heroes aren’t who we’d expect.
They’re the down-and-out and
the disenfranchised, the hated
and the hurting.

But Jesus didn’t just tell stories
of those kinds of people, he
entered into their stories with
them.

In fact, he went out of his way to
do so.

In John chapter 4 we read the
account of when Jesus took the
path no one expected him to
take so that he could enter into
the story of a lonely woman at a
well. Throughout their encounter,
Jesus knocks down stereotypes,
prejudices, and expectations,
and through this scene, we begin
to see answers to some of our
biggest questions.

We are a body of many parts, but diversity alone does not guarantee that all those parts will work together. True community requires diversity, humility, empathy, and... most of all... love. Love is the rebar in the concrete of community, the undergirding for all of it. And without love, well, we’re nothing but clanging and chaos. Will we let love come alive among us?

    - “Two are better than one.”

    - “Three strands are not quickly broken.”

The message is clear... we need one another. Life will inevitably bring calamity, but who will be there with you when it comes?