John 1:29-42 contains two segments that I will discuss separately.
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 received divine revelation 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.
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 (βλέπει) Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God (ὁ Ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ) 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. Christ is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and for those of the world (2:2), God sent the Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins (4:10), the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1:7), and he came by water and the blood (5:6). 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, a fact he shares with the world (verse 10), although 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 (Τεθέαμαι) the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. The imagery goes back to Isaiah, where people who walked and lived in profound darkness have seen a great light (9:2), the Spirit of the Lord rests upon a new ruler, giving him wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord (11:2), the Spirit of the Lord is upon the chosen servant of the Lord (42:1), and the Spirit of the Lord is upon the servant of the Lord, anointing him to bring good to the oppressed, heal the brokenhearted, and bring liberty to captives (61:1). 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.[1] 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 (ἴδῃς) the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I myself have seen (ἑώρακα) and have testified (μεμαρτύρηκα) that this is the Son of God.” We need to stress that God has filled the pre-Easter Jesus with the Spirit.[2] 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.[3] 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.
After September 11, 2001, my first reaction was anger at what had been done to thousands of my fellow citizens. Yet, I must also confess that another response was one of shame. When authorities identified the hijackers and the media displayed their pictures or the world to see, I felt shame. After all, I am a human being. As a card-carrying member of the human race, I have a stake in humanity doing well and looking good. Those suicidal hijackers, who caused the deaths of so many innocent people, stared back at me from my television screen. How is it possible for members of the human race, fellow citizens of the world, to fill themselves with so much hate, to be so vengeful for people they have not even met, that they would do something like this? Of course, the question is naïve and innocent. The answer is that human beings do this all the time. Pick up a history book and there is the story for all to see.
Fleming Rutledge notes in a sermon that during the genocidal slaughter in Rwanda a few years ago, many people sought refuge in churches. Even the welcome of the churches did not protect them. Thousands were murdered. Journalists were later shown their stacks of mutilated and decaying bodies, the blood-spattered walls of the churches. Rutledge said that a reporter asked a French priest who had survived the massacre if these experiences had shaken his faith in God. “Absolutely not,” the priest replied. “But what happened in this country had destroyed my faith in humanity forever.”[4] Thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, died in Rwanda. This fact repulses those of us in “civilized nations.” Yet it is worth noting that our civilized nation did virtually nothing in response to the Rwandan tragedies, certainly nothing on the scale of our retaliation for the deaths of the Americans killed on September 11.
Many have noted that the 20th century was perhaps the bloodiest century of all of humanity. If you count the killings, the wars, the Nazi Holocaust, the murders, more people were murdered (by their own government!) than in war during. Perhaps we thought with a “new world order” we were growing out of such horrors. And then during the first year of a new century, there was September 11, the destruction of the World Trade Center and the attack of the Pentagon, followed by two wars, and we were off to a new century.
It really is enough to make one have a sense of shame at being a member of the human race. Perhaps I am being too dramatic. Forget how we act on a large scale – in mobs, in violence worked by nations in the name of national self-interest. Look at us as individuals. A number of years ago when novelist William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies, received the Nobel Prize for literature, a reporter asked Golding what he had learned in his lifetime of observing humanity. Golding replied, “I have learned that humanity makes evil the same way that a bee makes honey.”
Likewise, when Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn received the Nobel Prize, during a subsequent interview, Solzhenitsyn said something to the effect that the only difference between an ordinary person and Attila the Hun is that Attila had an army. All of our little, daily meanness and viciousness, our failures at love, marriage, friendship, or even getting along in a Christian congregation – if one really thinks about it, is enough to fill one with shame. It was Paul, Saint Paul, who said so well, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but the very thing I hate” (Rom 7:15).
Christians have a word for the source of this shame – sin. We are sinners, all of us. Some of us sin by dropping bombs from airplanes upon defenseless villages. Others of us sin by commandeering a plane and destroying hundreds of helpless people. Most of us sin in much less spectacular, but in equally hurtful ways. Our little lies, our cuts, deceits, and hurt of others, as Paul says, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
I have all this on my mind because John the Baptist calls Jesus, “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29). As we have noted, the world is full of sin, lots of it – our sin. What does it mean that this “Lamb of God” is able to take away such sin? He came into the world and the world knew him not, the world received him not. And yet, “For God so loved the world,” that Jesus came among us. This world, this hurting, terribly sinful world, is the world that God loves, that God enters, and that God embraces in Jesus. We have slaughtered the Lamb, even as the Jewish people slaughtered the lamb for their sin in the temple on the Day of Atonement. Here is the lamb that takes away the great burden, the great guilt and shame of the world, by entering the world, by becoming human.
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 1:35-42 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 (ἐμβλέψας) Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look (Ἴδε), here is the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus has his first two disciples due to the witness of John the Baptist.38 When Jesus turned and saw (θεασάμενος) 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 (ὄψεσθε).” They came and saw (εἶδαν) 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). Name changes were highly significant in Jewish history. In Genesis 17:5 and 32:28, name changes occur in direct relationship to the individual's role in salvation history. Abram becomes Abraham, since he will be the ancestor of a multitude of nations (Genesis 17:15), and Jacob becomes Israel, since he has striven with God and humans and have prevailed (Genesis 32:28). John makes the connection between Simon's new name and his future role even more acute than the other gospels by giving the Greek transliteration of Peter's Aramaic name - Kepha, a name identical to the Aramaic for "rock" (kepha). (John stretches the pun a bit in Greek where we must compare Petros must with petra.) Simply by having "looked at him" (v. 42), Jesus detected enough of Peter's strength of character to name him as future symbol of an unyielding person of faith. Jesus knows him and chooses him. Further, we see here a model for discipleship. John callus upon readers of this text 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.
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, this passage is the place to begin. 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. Jesus does not call the first disciples verbally in verses 35-51. Rather, 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 John 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. We might even ponder whether this 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. The passage is “a strangely original statement” which we need to set 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.[5]
John the Baptist bears witness to Jesus. He recognizes that the Holy Spirit is with Jesus in a special way, which then allows him to see with clarity. He moves from ignorance to discovery, and in doing so, he helps us make the same move.
He calls Jesus the “lamb of God.” What could John have meant? The Jewish people killed a lamb for a meal that they ate in their homes. It was the “paschal lamb.” Observant Jews are to bring the sacrifice that the Torah mandates on the eve of Passover and eat it on the first night of the holiday with bitter herbs and matzo. According to the Torah, they offered it on the night of the Israelites' Exodus from Egypt. A person with right intention had to be the one to offer the sacrifice. The sacrifice occurred at the temple. A lay person made the sacrifice, but a priest brought some of the blood to the altar and sprinkled it on the altar. In this case, Jesus could be the “lamb of God” who brings deliverance and who establishes community and fellowship as a people of God. In Isaiah 53:7, the servant of the Lord becomes a lamb, willing to offer his life for his people. Later, in verse 10, he becomes an offering for sin. Note I John 3:5, proving that "the sin" is the whole collective weight of sin which burdens humanity. This must mean his vicarious, expiatory or death, note I John 2:2, 4:10, 1:7, 5:6.
In verse 38, we read the first words of Jesus' 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.
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. However, if you have time, soon, ponder this passage. 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 to discern the ways of God in his life.
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? Why did they not tell Jesus what they wanted? Truth is that it is quite possible they - like many of us - did not know what they wanted or what they were looking for. 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. As an afterthought, somewhere in us, we want to help other people. 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.
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, to give them an opportunity to go where he wanted them to go. They stayed with him for an entire 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?” 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. We need to be careful when we think we are hearing the voice of God, and that is what the disciples were doing here.”
Third, the question of the disciples was an expression of commitment. 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 the reason people come to church today? Attending church is not the way to climb in social circle anymore. In many parts of America, attending church is a negative. It may well be that they are continuing their spiritual search when they walk through the doors of our churches. 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. One may be in church to tend to the 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. 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. The Jesus we see is all too often the Jesus we make in our own image.
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, a straightforward 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. 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 called Hidden Figures (2016). 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 an excessive 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.[6] Back in 1963, who was really staying with Jesus? I urge you to read his justly famous, “I Have a Dream” speech. 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."
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?" the best you can say is: Jesus, where will you be staying tonight? We need to keep inviting Jesus to come into increasingly more of our lives. Have you invited Jesus into your life?
[1] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 626.
[2] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 6.
[3] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 260.
[4] (Fleming Rutledge, Selected Sermons, “Dies, Ires,” pp. 1–9.)
[5] Karl Barth (Church Dogmatics, IV.3 [71.4], p. 584-5).
[6] 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.
I enjoyed the interplay with Isaiah. I find this helpful as I read Isaiah as we discussed in St Armands.
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