More Than the Jesus You've Heard About

"When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!"" — John 1:36 (NIV)

You know a route well enough that you stop opening the map before you leave. The turns are familiar, the slow spots easy to expect, and checking again feels unnecessary when you already know the way. Then a road closes or traffic is redirected, and the directions that once worked are no longer enough for the road in front of you. What you knew may still be true and still not be enough when the road in front of you changes.

Early in the story of Jesus, a man named John had one main role, to point people toward Him. One day, as Jesus walked by, John said to the two friends beside him, "Look, the Lamb of God!" (John 1:36, NIV). They could have simply agreed, showing interest, and stayed where they were. Instead, "when the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus" (John 1:37, NIV). Just hearing this compelling claim about Him was not enough. They wanted to draw closer to Him and discover more.

Jesus turned and asked them a question that goes deeper than it first sounds. "What do you want?" (John 1:38, NIV). They did not ask for an inspiring lesson or sign. They asked, "Rabbi… where are you staying?" They wanted to know where to find Him when the crowd thinned, whether there was a place they could be with Him. If John was right about Him, His nearness might change how they understood God, themselves, and the life ahead. It is one thing to agree that Jesus is worth knowing. It is another to want to be where He is.

Jesus did not give them an address or send them off with instructions. He said, "Come… and you will see" (John 1:39, NIV), and "they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him." What they learned that afternoon did not come from being told. It came from being there, watching how He treated people and how He spoke when no crowd was near. By evening they knew something about Him that John's words could not have taught. The day itself had shown them.

We can carry a great deal of true information about Jesus and still move through a day as if we were on our own. Most of us feel it quietly. What those two men found is that being with someone is not the same as knowing about him, and it tends to begin on an ordinary day that asks a little more of us than the one before. Something opens up or grows larger than expected. That is often where He is nearest, where the habit of keeping Him as someone we know about gives way to going to Him and staying awhile. And the longer you stay near Him, the more you long to know His voice when He speaks.

Prayer

Jesus, when the road asks more of me, keep me from going on with only what I know. Turn me toward You in it, and teach me to stay near enough to see. Amen.