Why Should You Follow Jesus? - John 1:35-51

 Why Should You Follow Jesus?

John 1:35-51

Introduction: We have several “firsts” in the opening chapters of John. We’ve already seen John the Baptist presented as the first “witness,” testifying to the messianic identity of Jesus. Now we see the first disciples following Jesus. We have a different perspective on the call of the first disciples than we see in the Synoptic Gospels. Rather than the call from their fishing boat on the banks of the Sea of Galilee, this initial group are shown to have first sought out John the Baptist and followed him. When two of them heard the testimony of John concerning Jesus, they left John and followed Jesus! This is not a contradiction, as they had to be followers, disciples, before he would call some apart to be “apostles,” sent ones. We’ll see that the first ones they brought to Christ were those in their “sphere of influence.” Andrew brought his brother Peter. Philip invites Nathanael to “come and see.” This scene seems to be the backstory to what we see in the other Gospels, and it explains their immediate decision to leave their father, their boats and their nets, and to follow Jesus when he does call them from their fishing in Galilee.

       We could spend some weeks on these verses, but since this is a communion Sunday, I thought I would use our time to focus in on the One these men are being led to follow. Why should they have followed Jesus? And why should we? We see in this chapter a stunning convergence of titles that illumine our understanding of who Jesus is and what He came to accomplish. As readers of the Gospel, we know even more than these men did at the start. Because of who He is, because of what He has done, He is worthy of our allegiance. 

The Big Idea: Jesus is the Son of God and Son of Man, the Lamb of God and the King. He is the promised Messiah, and He invites ordinary people, like us, to join Him in His mission. So we’ll ask, 1) What does it mean to follow Him (35-39); 2) What a Christ-follower should want to do (40-42); and 3)  When we begin to understand who Jesus is… then what? (43-51).

I. What does it mean to follow him (1:35-39)? In first-century Judaism it was the practice of a young man who desired to learn from a particular rabbi, to ask permission to follow him. Rather than going to Bible College or seminary, the new disciple would learn from the rabbi by following him, spending time together, asking and answering questions. That seems to be what is going on in this scene. To set the context, look back to v.34 and John the Baptist’s testimony in response to the revelation he had received from the Father, “I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God." John had revelation from the Father, and he saw the Spirit descending on Christ, confirming that He is the Son of God. As important as His ministry was, John wasn’t trying to get disciples for himself. It is all about Jesus! Here, in 1:35-36 he pointed them to Christ – He is the Lamb of God – He must increase, I must decrease. 

35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples,  36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!"  37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.

The disciples heard John’s testimony, and responded, they left what they were doing, and they followed him. Jesus asked a question: “What do you seek?” i.e., “Why are you following me, what are you looking for?”  The question was deeper than it might appear on the surface.  Sooner or later, when we consider the question of Jesus’ identity, we come to the point of asking what we really want from Him. To really know Jesus, we must walk with him, have regular and intimate fellowship with him, and learn from him on a daily, ongoing basis.  In other words, be a disciple. 

       John the Baptist’s words concerning Jesus certainly had to intrigue the followers of John who heard his words. How could a man be God’s Lamb? Their interaction, at least initially, in the Jewish context of the first century, is what might be how a prospective disciple would approach a Rabbi, desiring to follow him and learn from him. When they asked, “Where are you staying,” they were saying, can we follow you home? Can we spend time with you and learn from you? Whatever John understood when he called Jesus Son of God and Lamb of God, Andrew and a second unnamed disciple were drawn to learn more, and followed Jesus. What are you seeking? It is a fair question to ask ourselves here and now, Why are we here today?  Is it to see some friends? Is it what one always  does on Sunday?  To get a break from the routine of the week?  

38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?"  39 He said to them, "Come and you will see." So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

CS Lewis said, “There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion (“man’s search for God”!) suddenly draw back.  Supposing we really found him?  We never meant for it to come to that! Worse still, supposing He found us? …One might be in for anything!” 

After a miraculous catch of fish in Luke 5:8 Peter perhaps got a glimpse of his glory and said “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man!”  It is reminiscent of Isaiah’s declaration when he had a vision of the Lord’s glory filling the temple: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isa 6:5).   This is what John is showing us in this gospel: Jesus is the glorious One, revealing the Father, God incarnate. “We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” My hope is that we’ll see His glory more clearly as we study this Gospel together, and that we will rejoice in His grace. *The Big Idea: Jesus is the Son of God and Son of Man, the Lamb of God and the King, the Messiah promised in the Scriptures. He invites ordinary people, like us, to join Him in His mission.

II. What a Christ follower should want to do: point others to Him (1:40-42)!  As we become convinced about who Jesus is, that his word is true, we will want to bring others to him. We don’t need to be an expert. Andrew likely didn’t understand much about the hypostatic union, the person Jesus as fully God and fully Man. The messianic hope for many was surely understood in human terms, a Son of David who would be a king, someone like David or Solomon, and be used of God to bring in a New Age. But he knew enough, he was already compelled to go get his brother and bring him to Jesus.

40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.  41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ).  42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter).

       John the Baptist understood that his calling was to announce the arrival of the Lord. How much others initially understood is another question. Andrew, after hearing John the Baptist, first found his own brother Simon. Let’s think about what Andrew says, “We have found the Messiah” – and then John translates for his Greek speaking readers, “which means Christ.” We are so used to the title “messiah” we might not realize that it is a transliterated word, reflecting the Hebrew title, meshiach, “anointed one.” The word “Christ” is the Greek translation. The Greek word appears over 500 times in the New Testament. The Hebrew Word, “messiah,” only appears twice, both times in John. The second context is in John 4:25 as Jesus is conversing with the Samaritan woman at the well. She says, 

"I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things."

It is in response to her saying that, that Jesus does two things. First, He says for the first time in John, “I AM,” secondly, the full sense of his answer “I AM, the One speaking to you,” is essentially his first overt statement in John that He is the Messiah. And He says it to a Samaritan woman! The way He answers, in the context of John, is affirming that He is the Messiah, the He is much more than a human king or teacher! That’s a sermon for another day. Here in chapter 1 as Andrew uses this phrase, he was likely speaking in Aramaic (a semitic language related to Hebrew). Why does the Gospel writer include the semitic term? He translates everything else into Greek, why give this in Hebrew? It seems likely to me that it is one more way that he is inviting us once to think about the Old Testament, and the messianic hope it presents. Think about this, John started in the Prologue alluding to Genesis and Exodus, inviting us to consider how the Law foreshadowed the coming of the Word made flesh. Then, John the Baptist testifies that his ministry was to prepare the way for the Lord, and was predicted by Isaiah, the longest and foremost of the prophetic books. Now, by using the Hebrew word “Messiah,” and as we’ll see, using it in conjunction with “Son of God” and “King” (v.49) he is inviting us to think of the second Psalm, where the nations are viewed as being in rebellion against Yahweh and his Anointed, who in that Psalm is called Son of God and King! Look at these verses…

Psalm 2:1-7,  Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?  2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his anointed [messiah], saying,  3 "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us."  4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.  5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,  6 "As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill."  7 I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you.

Messiah, King, Son of God, all in close context. Now remember, the Hebrew Bible is in three parts, the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings (cf. Luke 24:27, 44-45). Here, in the first chapter, John has drawn us to think about all three sections of the Jewish Scriptures, pointing to Jesus as the culmination of God’s revelation! The whole Bible points to Him, the promised Rescuer, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

A side point in our context:  This is an example of someone reaching into their own “sphere of influence” and inviting them to come and consider Jesus. Andrew first went to his own brother, he started at home, with the one closest to him. Jesus immediately gives Simon a new name, Cephas, that is, Peter. Think of how the church was subsequently blessed! Jesus had a plan for Peter. He became a key leader in the early years of the church… Acts 2,8,10,15… Peter had a foundational role. His new name indicated something about the plan Jesus had for him. You might think, “well, I’m no Peter.” Maybe not, but are you an Andrew? Who knows how the person you point to Jesus might be used of Him? One historian, E. Gibbon in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire explained the extraordinary growth of the early church when he observed that “…it became the most sacred duty of a new convert to diffuse among his friends and relatives the inestimable blessings he had received.”

What a privilege that is! *Jesus is the Son of God and Son of Man, the Lamb of God and the King, the Messiah promised in the Scriptures. He invites ordinary people, like us, to join Him in His mission.

III. When we begin to understand who Jesus really is, then what? (1:43-51)!  As we hear his voice, and consider what his works and words reveal, we will come to know Him better. John is writing to help us with that (cf. Jn 20:30,31).  

     Philip recognizes He is the One spoken of in the Scriptures (43-46)… 

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me."  44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."  46 Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."

What they professed to recognize at the outset of his public ministry, had to be explained and expounded upon after his resurrection. Though he taught them, only later would their eyes be opened. But He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion! Jesus meets us where we are. He knows what we need. And he’ll use us.

       Jesus called Philip, and then Philip found Nathanael and said to him, 

“Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 

There is some mystery here for us. We don’t know what Nathanael was thinking about under that Fig tree, but he was astonished that Jesus saw him, and apparently knew what was in his heart. He says, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 

       Repeatedly in this Gospel we’ll see that Jesus knows more than any mere human can possibly know. Jesus says in verse 47, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Jesus knew Nathanael’s heart—before he ever met him. The Lord knows the heart. Your heart, and mine. And he loves us!

The use of those two titles together, Son of God/King of Israel (v.49, cf. Ps 2), along with v.41 and the unexpected use of a Hebrew word, the titles Messiah, Son of God, and King all come together as in the second Psalm. Just as Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the spotless Lamb and the servant, he is also the King and Son of God that we see in Psalm 2. The Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms all point to Him. Post-resurrection He says to the disciples, “This is what I told while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms…” (Luke 24:44). 

   Jesus responds to Nathanel’s profession in v.51. John has already reminded us of the Tabernacle when he said Jesus “dwelt” among us (1:14). In John 2 he will get explicit when Jesus says “Tear down this temple and in three days I will raise it up…” John tells us he was speaking of the temple of his body.  Here, Jesus tells Nathanael that He will "...see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man," a clear allusion to Genesis 28, and the vision of Jacob. Jacob called that place “Beth-El” i.e., the House of God.  As the Temple and the Tabernacle represented the dwelling place of God among the people, In Jesus, God came among us. He is the Way, bridging the gap between heaven and earth, between God and humans. He is Emmanuel, God with us! “Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate deity!” 

  Notice also, Jesus used the term “Son of Man” to describe himself. That title is reserved in the Gospels for Jesus, almost always by Jesus Himself. It is a messianic title in Daniel 7:14, the messiah coming on the clouds in glory. We have seen His glory!

What is God saying to me in this passage?  *Jesus is the Son of God and Son of Man, the Lamb of God and the King. He is the Messiah promised in the Scriptures and He invites ordinary people, like us, to join Him in His mission!

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? 

1) Have you decided to follow Jesus?  Later he’ll say in Jn 10:27-28   "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” Nothing can snatch us from his hand – we are forever “In the grip of His grace.” That is peace! 

2) If you have taken that step, is it your desire to walk with him, to have intimate fellowship with him and to learn from him daily? It is a lifetime of learning and growing. We have His Word, and we can spend time with Him in prayer.

3) Who in your sphere of influence does not yet know our Lord and Savior, our King and Creator, Jesus? Who can you invite to come and see? All who received Him, those who believed on His name, He gave the right to become children of God (1:12)! 

4) Let’s worship Him now as we come in remembrance to the Table.  AMEN.