Sunday Devotion: 17 January 2021, Second Sunday after Epiphany
Sunday Devotions
The first great preachers of the Gospel
Written by clergy and lay people across our Diocesan community, ‘Sunday Devotions’ is a column of short reflections based on a Lectionary reading of the day, suitable for small group discussion or personal use.
Main Readings: 1 Samuel 3.1-10 (11-20); Psalm 139.1-5, 12-18; 1 Corinthians 6.12-20; John 1.43-51
Supplementary Readings: Psalm 119.129-136; John 4.1-14; Deuteronomy 10.12-11.1; Psalm 47; 1 John 2.3-11
“We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” (John 1.45)
Typically, whenever a position needs to be filled within an organisation, advertising is widely distributed so that the best person can be selected from as big a pool of possible candidates. This is obvious to all of us; however, in this week’s Gospel reading we get a sense of God’s unique providence as he selected the first great preachers and missionaries of the Gospel who started what is still being finished today before Jesus comes again.
This reading follows a simple account of Jesus collecting His first followers. We meet a small group of Jews who were true believers in the Old Testament as Jesus says of Nathaniel, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit” (John 1.47). We know Andrew, Philip, Peter, Nathaniel and John would have all been present. So, these five Galilean fishermen ultimately gave testimony on Jesus being the Son of God, the Messiah and Saviour.
It’s an amazing reality, that the Lord chooses these insignificant people, and he doesn’t have to search through the whole country. He doesn’t have to find the best person in every city or every country. He can take four or five guys who know each other, that live in the same area, make their living the same way as fishermen and turn them into world changers.
Consider God’s divine nature in the selection of the disciples and the amazing fact that he can take anybody and use them for the purposes of advancing the kingdom, spreading the Gospel from one person to the next.
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