The First Followers of Jesus from Jesus as seen by John

One of the first sermons that I preached in Seminary was on this passage. I focused in on Peter and titled the sermon "While he was still shifting sand, Jesus named him Rocky." I don't know how good the sermon was -- probably not very good, but there was some truth to the title.   Let's take a look at the passage:

 

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”
   They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
   “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”
   So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.
 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.
   Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).                                                   (John 1:35-42 -- NIV)

  At this point in the gospel, John the Baptist still seems to be the major point of interest, but this was about to change. Jesus was about to come to center stage. As the passage begins, John is still baptizing in the river Jordan. He was with two of his disciples, when he saw Jesus approaching. We know that one of the disciples was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. The other one is not named although tradition tells us that it was John. This makes sense since the Zebedee brothers were close to Peter and Andrew. Also John never mentions himself in the gospel. John did what he always did, he pointed to Jesus. Once again he names Jesus "the Lamb of God."

I don't know how John felt about this, but the response of the disciples was immediate; they left John and went after Jesus. I wonder how long and far they followed Jesus before he noticed that they were following and spoke to them. Jesus asked them what they wanted and they responded by asking where he was staying. In the traditions of the day, they were really asking Jesus if they could follow along and be his disciples. Jesus responded favorably to their request and told them to come and see. It was late in the day and they went with him. Did they spend the night? Probably for disciples walked with, talked with, and stayed with their master. They were hooked.

The first thing that Andrew did was to find Peter, his brother. He told Peter that they had found the Messiah. Evidently Andrew really believed Jesus! A real disciple. Andrew brought Peter to Jesus. I actually don't think that Andrew had to work very hard because we see in the scriptures that Peter was quite impulsive. I can imagine him saying, "Yes, let's get going, I need to see this for myself." Jesus took one look at Simon and gave him a new name. He named him the Rock. Peter was anything but a rock, but Jesus saw something in him that no one else did. Certainly later on Peter did become that rock.

What does this passage say to us. When we meet Jesus, we need to follow him as a disciple and get to understand who he really is -- teacher, savior, friend -- of course, but also Son of God, Master, Lord. We need to learn to be followers of Jesus, not just church members. Church membership is fine and good -- but we are not members of some kind of club, we are followers of Jesus. We need to also be sure that our belief in him is not some kind of mental assent -- belief means to place our trust in him and follow him. We need to be like Andrew. Have we told our friends and family that we have found Jesus. Do we bring them into the presence of Jesus and introduce them to him? Lastly, do we accept Jesus' judgment of our character? He saw something in Peter. He also sees the reality in each one of us. Can we accept that? We ought to -- it is a good thing. Jesus always brings out the best in us.