The next day, John was standing with two of his disciples, when he spotted Jesus
as he walked. “Look! There’s the Lamb of God,” John exclaimed. When they heard
this, they turned and began to follow Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them
following Him, he asked, “What are you looking for?” They replied, “Rabbi,”
(which means Teacher) “where are you staying?” Jesus responded saying, “Come and
see.” So they went and saw where He was staying, then spent the rest of the day
with Him. It was about the tenth hour.
One of the two disciples who heard John speak, and then followed Jesus was
Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. The first thing that Andrew did was to find his
brother Simon, and he said to him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which is
translated, the Christ). He brought Simon to Jesus, who studied him intently,
then said, “You are Simon, John’s son? You shall be called Cephas, (which is
translated: rock).
(John 1:35-42)
One of the first things a reader might note about these passages is that three times in just two paragraphs; John translates and defines Hebrew words. This demonstrates to us that John’s gospel was written with Greek-speaking Gentiles in mind. Christianity, which had originated in Judaism, had gone out into the Gentile world. It has been estimated that by the time John’s gospel was written, thought to be around 100 C.E., there were more Gentile Christians than Jewish. Most Gentile Christians were converts, with no cultural relationship to Judaism. Most likely, they would have had no emotional ties to King David, if indeed they had ever heard of him, no concept of a Messiah, and no relationship to Moses or the Passover. Rather than write a primer of the history of Judaism for the Gentile converts, John moved the converts forward, just translating of some of the significant terminology.
These passages begin by telling us that John the Baptist was engaged in conversation with two of his own disciples when he spotted Jesus. It would be strange that John’s disciples would drop everything and turn to become followers of Jesus, based on John’s identification alone. It wouldn’t be far fetched to imagine that what John was recounting to them was that the Jesus, whom he had baptized, the same Jesus for Whom God had opened the heavens, the same Jesus on Whom the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove had alighted, that same Jesus had returned from the desert. Surely, Jesus’ baptism would have been the talk of John’s group all the previous month while He was gone. And now He was back!
We must remember that John saw his mission to be the herald of the Messiah. For a period of time now, John had been preparing for the appearance of the Messiah, preparing not only his disciples but anyone who would listen. “Look! There’s the Lamb of God,” John exclaims, pointing in Jesus’ direction. A day earlier John had used the words, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!” John’s repeated use of the term lamb served to emphasize, perhaps not only that the Lamb would be offered in sacrifice, but that Jesus would be the bearer of divine forgiveness of sin.
Perhaps the disciples had asked John to point Jesus out to them, as they might not have recognized him. As soon as John identifies Jesus, the disciples turn and begin to follow Him. Now it is Jesus who turns around and asks, “What are you looking for?” Were these people merely celebrity hounds, following Jesus out of curiosity, or were they seeking something more?
There’s a key point, here. Later, Jesus would remark to His disciples, as recorded in Matthew 7:7 and Luke 11:9: “Seek, and you will find…” As John’s disciples begin to follow behind Jesus, He immediately turns and asks them what they seek. Jesus stands ready to answer their needs. It is a point we would do well to remember. Anytime we would undertake to seek to follow Jesus, to seek to draw closer to Jesus, He stands ready to turn around and ask us, “What are you looking for?” Jesus stands ready to reach out to us, any time we attempt to reach out to Him.
That question brings up another question we need to ask ourselves; what is it that we are looking for? What is it that we want out of life? It is difficult to ask God for what we want, when we don’t know ourselves what it is that we do want. Indeed, not all of the disciples wanted the same things–perhaps some of them thought that by associating with Jesus they would have power, some were seeking a military leader who would help them overthrow the Romans, some came around just to be fed or healed, some looked for peace and security, and some came not knowing what they wanted.
John the Baptist’s disciples knew what they wanted–they were touched by what John had told them, and they wanted to learn more. “Rabbi, where are you staying?” they ask. They weren’t looking for a brief chat. They wanted to sit down and spend some time with Him. Jesus’ response was a friendly invitation, “Come and see.” So they went to where he was staying and spent the day with him.
The literal translation of the Hebrew, Rabbi is Master, or, as John puts it in the Greek, Teacher. It was a term of respect given by students to their teachers.
Scholars disagree as to what John meant by the tenth hour. Some believe that hours were by Roman reckoning and meant ten in the morning; others believe that it was Hebrew reckoning, which would have made the time four o’clock in the afternoon. If the latter is correct, then it may be that the disciples even spent the night with Jesus. In fact, some of the early manuscripts lead one to believe that they did do so. The N.I.V. uses the phraseology: The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon…, and it coincides with some of the Greek manuscripts. However, other Greek manuscripts use the phraseology: early in the morning. It is easy to imagine that John’s disciples sat up with Jesus until the wee hours of the morning listening and learning, before falling asleep. Then, early in the morning, Andrew arose and raced to find his brother, Simon Peter, to share the good news. He apparently was so impressed by what he heard and saw of Jesus that he dropped everything and went to find his brother to bring him to see Jesus for himself. Imagine how excited Andrew must have been to tell Simon, “We have found the Messiah!”
That must have been quite an interesting first meeting. Simon Peter lays his eyes for the first time on the One Andrew says is the Messiah, and the first thing Jesus does is give him a nickname. The words, Cephas in the Aramaic, and Petros in the Greek, both mean rock. One wonders if perhaps Jesus wasn’t using a little tongue-in-cheek in calling Simon the rock. Jesus could have meant that Peter was strong and dependable like a rock, or on the other hand, perhaps Jesus meant that Peter was stubborn and hardheaded, just like a rock, or perhaps a little of both. Perhaps Jesus was just letting Peter know that He had looked into Peter’s soul and knew who he was.
Andrew, the first called to follow Jesus, was a living example of what a call to discipleship means: he came to listen, he came to believe, and then he went out to share what he learned and to bring others to Christ. Little is known about Andrew. Tradition tells us his mother’s name was Joanna; his father’s name was John. He was born and raised in the fishing village of Bethsaida. He spoke and was culturally Greek along with his brother, Simon Peter, Andrew became a fisherman and became partners with two men, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. However, when he heard of John the Baptist, he left Bethsaida and went to Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, to become John’s disciple. He remained with John until he learned about the Lamb of God and began to accompany Jesus.
John, the author of this gospel, doesn’t tell us who the other disciple was. It could very well be that it was John, himself. He is interested, not so much to tell his story, but to explain how Peter and Jesus first met.
This ends our study for today.
Points to Ponder