In the Neighborhood: The One who Lives Next Door

One on One in His Ministry Years—Day 1

First there was Bethlehem, and now, 30 years have gone by. Turn the page and Jesus is a middle-aged man, working for a living in northern Israel. He’s active in the synagogue, respected by the community, and the patriarch of His family. The Gospels pick up here in Jesus’ life as He begins His ministry as an itinerant teacher on the road—a road that eventually leads to Jerusalem and the reason He came in the first place.

To be clear, He came to be with us. Turns out Isaiah’s prophecy was spot on. Jesus is Immanuel—God with us. Literally, He moved into the neighborhood. His reason for coming? So we could someday be with Him in His neighborhood.

Here is where our 35 days One on One with Jesus in Ministry begins. The with says it all. When you walk with someone, you tend not to be in such a hurry. Conversations come more relaxed. We’ll walk with Jesus as He talks with people one on one on the streets of Jerusalem and in the villages of Galilee. Each person feels like He’s intentionally penciled in a meeting with them on His calendar.

Just ask anyone in Galilee and they likely heard of Jesus. In these three years, He’s the famous, hometown boy: Jesus—the next-door Savior who captured the heart of a nation.

Those whom Jesus touched would just tell you how He loved them, simple as that. To hear Him teach captured their attention. And to hear Him pray? It was like He was right there in heaven talking to His dad. No one ever prayed like that before.

They watched Jesus grow up so they knew He was human but could He also be the promised Messiah—the Christ, right under their noses? That question swirled wherever He went. Yes, perhaps He could be Messiah, many thought—but not like they were expecting. Nothing about Jesus was as they expected.

No one expected the wind to listen when He said “hush.” Or for thousands to be fed from a boy’s lunch of fish and crackers. Or for bodies ravaged by severed spinal cords, detached retinas, and ovarian cancer to be made whole in a snap. No one dreamed their dead child would again sit beside them at the supper table and laugh and snort milk out their nose.

To be honest, no one expected this Messiah would really see them—the lost, the wounded, the one barely hanging on. But He did see them. Imagine that—He still does.

Because He came to be with us. One on one.

So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him. John 4:28-30

Tomorrow: One on one with Jesus in the water

Let’s talk about it:

1. What do you hope to learn or experience as you discover more about Jesus’ ministry years?

2. Do you think Jesus sees you?