The First Disciples
35The following day John was again standing with two of his disciples.36As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and declared, “Look! There is the iLamb of God!”37When John’s two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus.
38Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you want?” he asked them.
They replied, “jRabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
39“Come and see,” he said. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon when they went with him to the place where he was staying, and they remained with him the rest of the day.
40Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of these men who heard what John said and then followed Jesus.41Andrew went to find his brother, Simon, and told him, “We have found the kMessiah” (which means “Christ”).
42Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus. Looking intently at Simon, Jesus said, “Your name is Simon, son of John—but you will be called Cephas” (which means “aPeter”).
43The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Come, follow me.”44Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter’s hometown.
45Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”
46“Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
“Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied.
47As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.”
48“How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.”
49Then Nathanael exclaimed, “bRabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!”
50Jesus asked him, “Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.”51Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.”
Jesus’ gathering of he first disciples teaches us so much about how most people come to follow Christ. First, John the Baptist recognizes Jesus for who he truly is: The Savior. John tells those close to him. They make the decision to get to know this person better. They were disciples of John the Baptist. They had a life and a place there. They left the comfort of the known and took a chance in hopes of finding something more. Jesus of course welcomes them and somehow proves to them that he is their Savior, because they then go out and find those they love and tell them about Jesus. The pattern repeats.
- Someone recognizes Jesus for who he truly is.
- That person tells someone else about Jesus
- The person takes personal steps themselves to get to know Jesus
- Jesus welcomes the person and proves he is who he says he is.
Lord, give me the courage and conviction to tell all those around me who you really are. Inspire them to want to know more about you. And thank you for welcoming all those who humbly accept you as their Savior. *obbs*
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