Last week, we heard about John the Baptist baptizing Jesus in the River Jordan. At the beginning of the Gospel for this Sunday, we hear about John the Baptist again:
The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples,
When we listen to the Holy Bible, we often hear about disciples. Disciples are people who follow someone. We hear today that John the Baptist has people--disciples--who follow him.
as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.
John the Baptist calls Jesus the Lamb of God. Another name for Jesus! John the Baptist points his disciples towards Jesus and they go follow him. Hey! They used to be following John the Baptist, but now they are following Jesus!
When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’
The two disciples are curious about Jesus. They want to know where he is living. They want to know him better. And Jesus says,
‘Come and see.’
Jesus invites them to come. What will they do? Who will they follow, John the Baptist or Jesus?
They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day.
They stay with Jesus. John the Baptist points the disciples to Jesus because that's what he does. He always points to Jesus, because Jesus is the one to follow.
We already know that Jesus is the one to follow, don't we? When Jesus tells us that he is the Good Shepherd, he says that,
He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. (John 10:3b-4)
Jesus' sheep follow him, and Jesus' disciples follow him. Both. The sheep follow the Good Shepherd because they know his voice. I wonder why the disciples follow him?
What the disciples will do now that they follow Jesus?
One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon...He brought Simon to Jesus
Andrew is one of the disciples. The first thing he does after staying with Jesus, is to go and get his brother Simon Peter. Why does he do that? Andrew seems to want his brother to know Jesus, too. He wants to share Jesus with Simon Peter. Now more people will follow Jesus!
When Simon Peter comes to Jesus, Jesus looks at him and says,
‘You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas’ (which is translated Peter).
Simon Peter has never met Jesus before but Jesus knows his name! That Good Shepherd! We know he calls his sheep by name, and now we see that he calls his disciples by name, too! He must know each one so well.
I wonder if he calls anyone else by name?
I wonder about Andrew and that other disciple. They follow Jesus because they want to know him better. They must really like Jesus. We really like Jesus, too. We love him! Maybe we want to know Jesus better, too. Will Jesus tell us to come and see? What will we say to him in our prayer?