First He Found – John 1:35-42

John Jantsch hosts a website called DuctTapeMarketing.com and a podcast for small business help.  The tagline for his site is, “Marketing a small business shouldn’t be that hard.”  One of his podcasts is about networking, Building Good Relationships Is the Goal of Great Networking.  The internet is full of information about and promotion of relationship networking for business.  But there is a social network of people we have where the relationship already exists and it can be the conduit of gospel proclamation, as illustrated by the disciples of John the Baptist.

The next day, again, John was standing with two of his disciples and when he saw Jesus walking by he said, “Look, the lamb of God.”  And his two disciples heard him saying these things and they followed Jesus.  But turning around Jesus saw them following him and said to them, “What are you seeking?”  And they answered, “Rabbi,” (which means ‘teacher’), “where are you staying?”  And he said, “Come and you will see.”  So they went and saw where he was staying and they stayed with him that day, since it was already the tenth hour.

Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two disciples who heard John and followed Jesus.  First he  found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which means the anointed one).  He led him to Jesus.  Seeing him, Jesus said, “You are Simon the son of John, you will be called Cephas,” (which means ‘Rock’).  (John 1:35-42)

John the Baptist has had disciples following him, learning from him, helping him carry out his work of announcing the kingdom and baptizing those who repent and believe.  Two are mentioned here though only Andrew is named, suggesting the other is the apostle John who writes this gospel.  John’s disciples hear John declare Jesus the Lamb of God and recognize Jesus as Messiah so they follow him, literally, as he walks along the way.  This is likely a symbolic way of saying they are interested in being Jesus’ disciples, as is the question about where Jesus is staying.  Jesus’ invitation to “come and see” would then be an invitation to be his disciple.

They are convinced in this short time that Jesus is the Messiah, and though their confidence in that will be shaken on several occasions, right now that leads Andrew to recruit his brother Simon whom Jesus dubs Cephas (rock), the Greek version being Peter.  This is all the convincing Peter needs, apparently, and he becomes Jesus’ disciple, after probably also being a disciple of the Baptist.

When you find something as good as Jesus you want others you care about to know, also.  Later, these disciples will be asked by Jesus to leave their occupations and follow him full time (Matthew 4).  For now, they continue to carry on their occupations as well as being discipled by Jesus.  We, too, may go through stages of commitment to Jesus, at first just figuring out what it means to know Him, and as we progress realizing that knowing Him demands our all.

Discussion Questions

1. Besides Jesus, whose disciple have you been?
2. What did your discipleship require of you?  What did it lead you to do?
3. What did John the Baptist do to hand off his disciples to Jesus?
4. What do we learn from Andrew about how the gospel most successfully spreads?
5. How have we done with sharing our excitement about Jesus with our family and friends?  What hindrances or successes have we experienced?
6. How can you be more like Andrew?