Has anything ever opened up your understanding in a flash by relating something new with something familiar, especially if you never would have thought of them as being connected in any way? One little cross-reference did that for me.

By a cross-reference I mean a little notation at the bottom of a page of scripture, referring to another place elsewhere in scripture to go to for further information.

When I began my journey of investigating Christ, just such a little set of letters and numbers enormously changed my sense of Who and What He is.

I was reading John 1, the last verse in the chapter: Nathanael is coming to investigate Jesus. His friend Philip has just told him excitedly that he and some others have found the long-awaited Messiah. Nathanael is skeptical.

Philip is claiming that their found Messiah is Jesus of Nazareth. Nathanael’s incredulously responds, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

Nevertheless, he goes along with Philip to see for himself.

As he approaches this ordinary-looking person, the man turns toward him and announces, “Behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile.” (It bears mentioning that representatives of the Pharisees have just paid Jesus and his followers a visit.)

Despite his skepticism, Nathanael’s curiosity is aroused. He can’t help asking, “How do you know me?”

The man then answers, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

There’s a lot of knowledge packed into Jesus’ two sentences, and evidently they’re enough to knock Nathanael right off his disbelief. I think I hear him gasping as he blurts out, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (A lot packed into his two statements, too!)

It really doesn’t seem to take a lot for Nathanael to believe after all, does it? But this man before him makes the bits of evidence he’s already given Nathanael seem small change. He goes on to say, “Do you believe because I said I saw you under the fig tree?” (Then comes the statement that got me seeking my first scripture cross-reference, because to me it was a most cryptic gathering of words:) “Most assuredly I say to you, you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

“What?” I wondered. “What on earth (or in heaven) could he have meant?”

If you’ve ever read John 1, have you wondered? Nathanael, however, may not have wondered. He may have understood at least what Jesus was referring to.

Nathanael would likely have been familiar with a certain pivotal event in early Israelite history. He, as about every Israelite of his time, was probably clinging fiercely to their history, for this was a time of great political tribulation, of suffering under and longing to break free from an oppressive foreign power. At such a time, your own nation’s history becomes more than dull textbook facts. I’m quite sure Jesus’ words would have brought to Nathanael’s mind their ancient history, and he’d know what He was referencing.

But it wasn’t my history, and I didn’t know. So, to the cross-reference: Genesis 28:12.

What questions and thoughts go through your mind as you look up that reference and read it and its surrounding context? What claim do you think Jesus was making in John 1?

Intriguing, compelling, it was for me. And though I couldn’t be sure exactly what He meant, I felt the force of its importance. And I thought I got His drift.

That’s when I got hooked on cross-references. What important and  sometimes fascinating background information they often led me to!  After while I found my mind automatically cross-referencing from what I was reading to things they reminded me of reading elsewhere. They’re really a lively understanding aid. If you don’t use them, I invite you to start.

And The Gospel of John is a great place to do it.

—-

{Note: Different Bibles and versions of Bibles often have different cross-references. If you become (or are already) quite familiar with much of the Bible, some will come to your own mind that aren’t noted down in your footnotes. I’ve added some of my own to my Bible’s footnotes. You could, too.}