Day 784: Finding the Messiah - John 1 vs 35 - 42

35-36 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37-39 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. (About 4 pm)

40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas”, which means Peter. (Cephas and Peter are the word for 'rock' in Aramaic and Greek) John 1:35-42 English Standard Version

In today's verses, and the ones that follow, the apostle John tells of the first people who began to 'follow Jesus'. We're told in vs 40 that one of them was named Andrew, but not who the other one was. I suspect it was the apostle John himself. He was from the same town as Andrew and, like Andrew, was also a fisherman. What did they call Jesus in vs 37-39 that shows why they wanted to follow Him?

They called him Rabbi, which was a respectful term for a religious teacher. The word disciple (used of their relationship to John the Baptiser) came from a Greek word which spoke of ‘mental effort to think something through’. So people would become a disciple of someone whom they believed could teach them important spiritual truth. Andrew, and probably John, had been disciples of John the Baptiser because they believed he was sent by God. But John had turned their attention to Jesus and said 'Look, there goes the Lamb of God'.

We see in vs 37-39 that Jesus was staying somewhere nearby at the time, and He invited Andrew and the other person to spend the rest of that day with Him. We can only imagine what a conversation must have followed! Perhaps they asked Jesus many questions to which He gave wise answers. Perhaps He asked them some questions and then explained things from the Bible. What a wonderful thing it is when the light of truth begins to shine in one's mind. How do we know that the conversation that day made a powerful impact on Andrew? (vs 40)

The first thing he did next day was to find his brother and excitedly tell him “We've found the Messiah!” That was like someone today who has won a mega-lottery, or discovered a cure for cancer. He would surely only have come to such a bold conclusion if what Jesus had talked about had made a profound impact. The gospel of Luke tells us how, a few years later, two of Jesus' disciples said “Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the road, while He opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32) And during His life, when officers sent by the Pharisees to arrest Jesus returned empty handed, and the Priests asked why they hadn’t arrested Him, the officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” (John 7:46)

No wonder Peter was willing to meet the man who his brother believed was the Messiah. And he was not disappointed. Jesus spoke to him with tenderness, but also with absolute authority. He gave him a new name in Aramaic – one which over time was to become full of significance. The day would come when Jesus would say to him: “I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18)

Many preachers have used this incident to point out the importance of telling members of our own family about Jesus. But few of us will have had as dramatic an encounter as Andrew had. We certainly didn't have a long evening face to face with Jesus as he did. So we mustn't go on a guilt trip if our witness was not as exciting as his was. But it is true that when we became convinced that Jesus is the Messiah, there would've been a desire to tell any family members who are not disciples of Jesus what a wonderful Saviour He is. And, as we grew in Christ, so too the desire to tell others of Him should have grown as well. Has it been so?