John 1:29-42

John 1:29-42 (NRSV)

²⁹ The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ ³¹ I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” ³² And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. ³³ I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

³⁵ The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, ³⁶ and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” ³⁷ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸ 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?” ³⁹ He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. ⁴⁰ One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹ He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). ⁴² He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter). 

Year A

Second Sunday after Epiphany

January 15, 2017

Cross~Wind

Title: Following Jesus – Why are You Here?

(based on John 1:35-42)

Prayer for Illumination

Come and see! We have found the Messiah!
He is present to us in the word read and the word proclaimed.
Come and see! The living God awaits us here in these pages.
Let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts bear witness to you, O God, and to the Anointed One, Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Introducing the Passage 

We have a testimony by John the Baptist to Jesus. Jesus is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. John the Baptist encounters divine revelation in order to see who Jesus is. In Isaiah 53:7, the suffering servant is willing to sacrifice his life for the people of God. The Passover lamb that the Jewish people eat is a sign of deliverance. I would refer to I John, where we find Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world (2:2), that God sent the Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins (4:10), and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1:7). John recognizes that Jesus has priority. He saw the Spirit of God come upon Jesus at baptism. This reminds us of the servant of the Lord in Isaiah, on whom the Spirit of the Lord rests (11:2, 42:1) and thereby anoints the servant to bring good news to the oppressed, to bring healing to the brokenhearted, and to release people from the prison they have made for themselves (61:1). The Spirit is empowering the Son to glorify the Father. The Spirit fills Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry. At the beginning of his gospel, John continues to make clear who Jesus is.

After a testimony like that, we ought not to have surprise that some of the disciples of John the Baptist begin to follow Jesus. John the Baptist points to Jesus, declares him to him as the Lamb of God, and two of his disciples follow Jesus. Andrew was one of them, and he will bring his brother Simon to Jesus. Jesus will immediately give him a new name, Cephas or Peter. John is inviting us to put ourselves in the position of these first disciples. They have made the decisive step. We need to keep our eyes open to see Jesus for who he is and to follow Jesus.

Introduction

"What are you looking for?” [1]

In verse 38, we get Jesus' first words in John's gospel.  As the men begin to trail after him, Jesus turns and asks them, "What are you looking for?"  It may in fact stand as the initial question confronting all readers of this gospel and all future disciples of Jesus Christ.[2]

I invite you to ponder the scene with me. Frankly, if this were a spiritual formation time, I would invite you to close your eyes, imagine, and then write in your journal. Please, do not close your eyes. However, if you have time, soon, ponder this passage.

Application

The first response by the disciples to the question by Jesus is Rabbi, where are you staying. Let us ponder for a few moments what motivated the disciples to ask that question.

First, could the question of the disciples be a diversion?

After all, why did they not tell Jesus what they wanted? They could have been honest and said, "Uh, we're wondering if you knew where to find the nearest Starbucks? How about an ice cappuccino?"

Truth is that it is quite possible they - like many of us - did not know what they wanted or what they were looking for. Perhaps they had a vague sense that they wanted what most people want: a comfortable lifestyle, good health, children who are successful, security for our golden years, and have some fun along the way. Almost as an afterthought, somewhere in us, we want to help other people. 

Maybe we want nothing from Jesus, except to leave us alone. We want no challenges, no discomfort, and no directing us away from our desires and wants.

Maybe the question of the disciples was a diversion.

Second, could the question of the disciples simply express caution?

I like this option. In other words, "Where are you making your home in the world?" Jesus said to them, as he says to us, "Come and see," and he took them to where he was staying. Jesus showed them hospitality. He took these disciples where they were, in order to give them an opportunity to go where he wanted them to go. They stayed with him for a whole day, and, as it turned out, stayed with him for the rest of their lives (vv. 38-39).

Caution is a good thing. God often whispers and we are not always good at listening. People can say God has spoken. Yet, we might legitimately ask, upon reflection, “Did God Say That?”[3] We need to be careful when we think we are hearing the voice of God, and maybe that is what the disciples were doing here.

Maybe the questions of the disciples express caution.

Third, maybe the question of the disciples was an expression of commitment.

Maybe they were saying, "Teacher, let us join with you and be your students."  His answer is an invitation, "Come and see."  They may have known it would take time to know what it meant to follow.

Is that, perhaps, the reason you came to church today?  You may want to continue your spiritual search. At one time, we were all seekers, and then some of us have “found” that which we sought in Jesus Christ. Yet, in one sense, you never stop being a seeker. You may be here to tend to your lifetime mission of growing a soul.

Jesus can be difficult for us to see, but often because we look for him in all the wrong places and in all the wrong ways.[4]

The point is this: Disciples are those who want to stay with Jesus, wherever that stay may be and wherever it may take them.

Fourth, Jesus knows what you want.

In fact, Jesus knows what you really want, better than you do.

Among the disciples were some who looked for healing, a fight, entertainment, an easy way into heaven, and loaves and fishes. Among us are some who want health and wealth guaranteed, or a quick and easy route to God and the will of God. Jesus asked a question for the ages: "What are you looking for?" Quite honestly, you will not find it at the mall, Wal-Mart, or your favorite on-line store. Each one of us has a hole in the heart that only Christ can fill.

Yet, Jesus calls what he offers "abundant life" (John 10:10). We think we want so many things. Jesus knows we want “abundant life.” Therefore, when Jesus calls us to "Come and see," he is talking about that abundant life. Come and see what abundant life is all about. Come and see what a life of meaning and purpose and service to God looks like.

I could stop here and offer an invitation, and I will make an invitation at the close of this message. However, I would be less than honest if I did not make a proper warning when it comes to following Jesus.

Fifth, if you are to follow Jesus, Jesus may lead you to challenging places.

I want to share a little history, but not the dry rendition of facts. I want to share a history that is also a powerful story.

Suzanne and I saw a wonderful movie this weekend called Hidden Figures. It is a story of three people behind the scenes working to get astronauts into space and home again. Along the way, it showed what race relations were like in Virginia and federal government institutions in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Thankfully, the country has come a long way. However, we need to remember that journey had a high cost. Many Christian leaders were willing to go to challenging places.

When Jesus asked Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to "come and see," King had no idea that the place Jesus wanted him to see was the inside of a Birmingham jail. The jail was not a particularly charming or comfortable place to lodge when he checked in during April of 1963. King was part of the civil rights protests staged in that city. Police commissioner "Bull" Connor pledged to incarcerate every African American who challenged segregation. On Good Friday afternoon, King was among 54 marchers whom the police arrested and threw in jail for violating an injunction against "parading, demonstrating, boycotting, trespassing and picketing." Authorities forbade them to engage in "conduct customarily known as 'kneel-ins' in churches." They singled out King, denying him the chance to make phone calls or talk to his lawyers. He had no mattress or linen. He slept on metal slats. Yet, Martin Luther King Jr. was staying with Jesus. He wrote his "Letter from Birmingham Jail." It might surprise us now that he wrote the letter to liberal, white clergy who were urging people to withdraw from the demonstrations, which they called "unwise and untimely." In his letter, he stressed that it was always time to do the right thing. The white moderate might be more of an obstacle than is the KKK. They devote themselves to order more than to justice. They try to set the timetable for the freedom of others. Those who have never experienced the oppressive force of segregation find it easy to say to those who do that they should wait.[5]

Back in 1963, who was really staying with Jesus?

            Monday we shall celebrate Martin Luther King Jr Day all across our land and people will tell and re-tell the story of his life and work. I urge you to read his justly famous, “I Have a Dream” speech. In particular, read it to your children and grandchildren. The audio is available.

            Tom Long completes the Martin Luther King Jr. story in a story of which we need to hear more. I like this story because it reminds us that transformation and reconciliation can happen. He happened to be in Alabama on the 25th anniversary of the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery. The man who was the mayor of Selma, Alabama in 1965 was the mayor 25 years later. He was standing on the platform at the anniversary. Beside him was George Wallace in a wheelchair. Behind him were people who had marched, now aging and graying. He looked at the crowd and said, "Twenty-five years ago Governor Wallace and I were wrong. We were wrong. We thought this was outside agitation - we did not know that it was the coming of justice." 

Conclusion

Jesus invites us to "come and see" what he is up to, and he promises that if we stay with him, we will have an even more awesome and life changing experience.

If we stay with Jesus, it may lead to some wonderful places. Yet, it may also lead the Birmingham jail. Undoubtedly, there will be times when Jesus may lead you to places you would not normally go, such as a natural disaster, a ministry among AIDS patients, a demonstration, and a mission trip. We are talking about risk-taking mission and service here. Jesus may lead you to a classroom, a community, the home of a neighbor, a hospital. Whatever.

I hope you get my point. Jesus is a traveling man. We need to keep traveling with him, wherever he wants to take us.

When Jesus finally asks you by name, "What are you looking for?" maybe the best you can say is: Jesus, where will you be staying tonight?

I have shared with you that the most important decision I made was to invite Jesus into my life. I was only 10. I had to keep inviting Jesus to come into more and more of my life. Have you invited Jesus into your life? Have you kept making sure Jesus has more and more of your life?

 

Going deeper

Introducing the passage

We have a testimony by John the Baptist to Jesus. Jesus is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. John the Baptist encounters divine revelation in order to see who Jesus is. In Isaiah 53:7, the suffering servant is willing to sacrifice his life for the people of God. The Passover lamb that the Jewish people eat is a sign of deliverance. I would refer to I John, where we find Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world (2:2), that God sent the Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins (4:10), and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1:7). John recognizes that Jesus has priority. He saw the Spirit of God come upon Jesus at baptism. This reminds us of the servant of the Lord in Isaiah, on whom the Spirit of the Lord rests (11:2, 42:1) and thereby anoints the servant to bring good news to the oppressed, to bring healing to the brokenhearted, and to release people from the prison they have made for themselves (61:1). The Spirit is empowering the Son to glorify the Father. The Spirit fills Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry. At the beginning of his gospel, John continues to make clear who Jesus is.

After a testimony like that, we ought not to have surprise that some of the disciples of John the Baptist begin to follow Jesus. John the Baptist points to Jesus, declares him to him as the Lamb of God, and two of his disciples follow Jesus. Andrew was one of them, and he will bring his brother Simon to Jesus. Jesus will immediately give him a new name, Cephas or Peter. John is inviting us to put ourselves in the position of these first disciples. They have made the decisive step. We need to keep our eyes open to see Jesus for who he is and to follow Jesus.  

John 1:29-34 is the testimony of John the Baptist concerning Jesus. We find a similar account in Mark 1:9-11, Matthew 3:13-17, and Luke 3:21-22.

²⁹ The next day he [The focus of this passage is not Jesus, but rather, the witnessing faith of John the Baptist.] saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! [Interestingly, in the Old Testament, the only expiatory offering for sin was the goat. The title could refer to the Paschal lamb, a sign of deliverance for the Jewish people, offered on the eve of Passover and eaten on the first night of this holy day with bitter herbs and matzo. A second possible reference is to Isaiah 53:7 and the suffering servant, one willing to sacrifice for the people of God. Third, Jewish apocalyptic could refer to the conquering lamb who will destroy evil in the world, a background that would fit the message of John the Baptist. In some ways, if we go to the letters of John, the image of the suffering servant and the Passover may best explain what John means.  

I John 2:2 and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

I John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

I John 1:7 but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

I John 5:6 This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.] 

³⁰ This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ [If we think of what John the Baptist might mean, he was undoubtedly thinking of Elijah, who was “before” him by some 900 years. However, if we think of John the writer of this gospel, he is thinking of the preexistent Logos of the prologue. John the writer is placing profound Christology on the lips of the John the Baptist.]³¹ I myself did not know him; [but he will know him because he gains special insight into the divinity of Jesus.] but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” ³² And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. [The imagery goes back to Isaiah. 

Isaiah 9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness-- on them light has shined.

Isaiah 11:2  The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord

Isaiah 42:1 Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.

Isaiah 61:1 The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; 

Pannenberg will stress that we have here the Spirit already has a part in the mutual glorification of the Father and the Son, for the Son glorifies the Father in the power of the Spirit.^[6]] ³³ I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.” [Pannenberg will also stress that the pre-Easter Jesus is filled with the Spirit.^[7] He also points out that the distinction John the Baptist makes between baptism with water and the Spirit is one that Christian baptism makes outdated. John testifies that this one, Jesus, is the Son of God. We could call this the theological bombshell, in which readers are to make no mistake as to who Jesus is.^[8] Crucial here is the realization that the movement from ignorance to testimony is not merely an intellectual journey. Rather, it is part of coming to terms with divine revelation. We can take or leave divine revelation, but never produce it ourselves.] 

John 1:35-42 has two disciples of John the Baptist and Simon Peter coming to Jesus.

³⁵ The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, ³⁶ and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” ³⁷ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. [In essence, Jesus has his first two disciples due to the witness of John the Baptist.]³⁸ When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” [Such a question may well confront all future followers of Jesus.] They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), (a favorite term in John for Jesus) “where are you staying?” ³⁹ He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. ⁴⁰ One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹ He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). ⁴² He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter). [Jesus knows him and chooses him. Further, we see here a model for discipleship. Readers of this text are called upon to keep their eyes open, be ready to bear witness to their experiences of Jesus’ holiness, and follow when Jesus beckons, “Come and see” (v. 39). Disciples are meant to be actively mindful and mindfully active when it comes to anticipating and then responding to the initiatives of God in Christ.]

[Karl Barth discusses Jesus as the “true witness” to God, but Jesus then calls people to witness in the world with him. Of course, we find no “calling” of Jesus. We do find a calling of the first disciples. In discussing the New Testament basis for his notion of witness, he thinks this passage is the place to begin. He notes that the phrase, “follow me,” so prominent in the Synoptic calls stories, is not present here. John turns to Andrew first, moving the Eastern branch of Christianity to celebrate him as the first one called. He notes that Jesus does not call the first disciples verbally in verses 35-51. Rather, he says that that as soon as they saw Jesus, they spontaneously followed him. In the passage before us, what we see are disciples of John the Baptist who met Jesus in company with John and attached themselves to Jesus when they heard him refer to Jesus as the Lamb of God. Simon comes when Andrew said that we have found the Messiah. Throughout the passage, they have taken the decisive step themselves with an astonishing freedom and necessity. They have no task or mission. He wonders if the passage is even a calling at all. For John, it clearly is. Yet, in this coming of the disciples to Jesus, the decisive acting Subject both in His own sight and theirs is Jesus Himself. Therefore, Jesus is the one doing the calling, even if we find no verbal calling in his presentation. The priority of Jesus is the presupposition of the entire passage. He finds the passage “a strangely original statement” which we need alongside that of the Synoptic Gospels. What the Johannine account intends to say is that the encounter of these people with the man Jesus is strong enough to bring into effect their relationship of discipleship to Jesus as something already resolved concerning them. He calls them as they become aware of the existence of Jesus and of the determination of their own existence for discipleship. He speaks, calls, and summons by the presence of Jesus. What Jesus calls them to is a highly practical recognition of the existence of Jesus and commitment to it. In the confession of Andrew, Philip, and Nathaniel, they have accepted their task and are already engaged in discharging it. 

---

[1] Why are you sitting here in church this morning?  What possibly possessed you to climb out of your warm bed on a dim, cold, quiet Sunday morning, and come to church ... again?!  Christmas is over, remember?  The tree is down, the ornaments put away. There is no big holy day scheduled for this Sunday.  Yet there you sit.  I see you.  Why?  What are you looking for? 

Jesus asks this question of the two men who seemed to be following him. To this query, they answer in effect: "Uh, well, depends. Where are you staying?" (1:38). Typical in this Gospel: Jesus asking a question that cuts to the core of spiritual life, and the response from people is physical. In this case, they are worried about accommodations. As they see Jesus walking by, and John pointing him out, they can see that he is a traveling man. When you travel, accommodations are important, so they have a legitimate concern.

[2] Each of the gospels has their accounts of Jesus taking the initiative and calling the first disciples. As John relates the story in this passage, it provides a model for discipleship. The passage calls upon readers to keep their ears open to the witness concerning Jesus, follow when Jesus beckons, and be ready to bear witness to their experiences of Jesus “Come and see” (v. 39). A follower of Jesus responds to the initiatives they hear from God. The call they hear will come through the testimony of other people, but they will hear it as pointing them to Christ. They will make a move from ignorance of what God was doing in Christ to witnessing to what God was doing in Christ. This will not be simply an intellectual journey. They will need to spend time with Christ in order to discern the ways of God in his life.

[3] Bill Hybels says, “I can’t tell you how many jobs have been lost, educations have been foregone, marriages have been destroyed, bank accounts have been blown, all because someone felt sanctioned by God to take a particular action.”

[4] We want to see Jesus, but our preconceived notions blind us. One thing that bothers me about Christian political organizations, whether “right” or “left,” is that both seem to presume so much about Jesus. They know how Jesus would vote, how Jesus would balance the budget, and on and on. Ultimately, the Jesus we see is all too often the Jesus we make in our own image. 

[5] I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block is not the White Citizen's Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice, who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice, who constantly says "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action," who paternalistically believes that he can set the timetable for another man's freedom. 

[6] Systematic Theology Volume 3, 626.

[7] Systematic Theology Volume 3, 6.

[8] Systematic Theology Volume 3, 260.