Nothing witty today, just a story from a faraway place.
John 1:29-42; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; Psalm 40:1-11; Isaiah 49:1-7
It’s a nice day in Bethany across the Jordan. The sun is out; it’s kind of warm. You’re hanging out on the banks of the Jordan river, listening to a guy named John. This isn’t the first time you’ve been here to hear him talk, he even baptized you a while ago. You’re starting to wonder if he is the Messiah — the one who is going to save Israel. It might even be safe to say that you’re one of John’s disciples.
A few times, people come from Jerusalem, asking on behalf of the priests and Levites who John is. First he says, “I’m not the Messiah”. Then, they ask, “Are you Elijah returned to us?” “No,” comes the reply. “Are you the Prophet, the one greater than Moses?” “No.” “Who are you then? We need an answer to bring back to our superiors.” John’s reply was a little cryptic, “I’m the voice crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord!'”
A couple days later, some Pharisees showed up and asked John, “If you’re neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet, why are you baptizing everyone?” John replied, “I baptize with water, but there’s someone here who is coming after me. I’m not even worthy to untie his sandles.” That was kind of an odd thing to say, you think. But wait, didn’t he say someone gathered here?! Who is this person?
The next day, John saw his cousin coming down to the lake. You’ve seen John and his cousin interact a few times, but didn’t think much of it. What was his name? James? Joshua? You can’t remember for sure. But John says something cryptic again (you’re beginning to think cryptic is John’s specialty), “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘Someone coming after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I’m here baptizing so that he can be revealed to Israel.” Wait, John’s COUSIN is the Messiah?! You’re not sure what to think of this! John’s cousin is the son of God.
You go home for the night, and in the morning head back out to Bethany to ask John about his cousin. As you’re talking, Jesus, whose name John had reminded you of, comes down to the riverside again. John says to you, “Look, there he is, the Lamb of God!” You didn’t even have to think about it — you said goodbye to John and walked right up to Jesus and started following him. “What do you want?” Jesus asked you. “Teacher, where are you staying?” you ask. As much as you’ve learned from being John’s disciples, you know that Jesus is the real deal — the Messiah. “Come with me,” Jesus replies, “and you will see”. So you followed Jesus to where he was staying and ended up spending the whole day with him, listening to him teach.
Around 4:00pm it was time to go, but instead of going home you ran off to find your brother Simon. “Simon! Simon!” you exclaim, “I found him! I just met the Messiah!” Simon, justifiably curious, went with you as you ran back to Jesus. Then the strangest thing happened, Jesus took one look at Simon and said, “You’re Simon Johnson, but I’m going to call you Peter now.”
I hope that little narrative gave you a better idea of what happened in the gospel. How would it feel for Andrew, all of a sudden coming across the Messiah — when he least expected it no less. There’s so many things he could have done. He could have just stayed with John. Or he could have followed Jesus and not gone to get his brother. Instead, Andrew’s first act as Jesus’ disciple was to tell someone else what he had found out.
What would have happened if Andrew hadn’t gone and told Simon about Jesus? Yes I know in the other gospels Jesus happens on Simon, Andrew, James, and John fishing one day. But in John’s gospel, this is where Simon Peter becomes a follower of Jesus. Andrew brought his brother to Jesus.
Think back: who told you about Jesus? Was it a parent? A friend? Maybe a Sunday School teacher? I can remember the first time I really heard about who Jesus is — and more importantly what he did for me — it was from my youth pastor, way back in junior high. I would be in a much different place if it wasn’t for him, I’m sure. Most of us didn’t come to know God’s love in a vacuum — and most of the time it was a person who told you about it. Yes, I’ve heard a few people say they first heard the gospel through other means, including once when God used a Dostoyevsky novel, but in my experience that’s a minority.
We all first heard about Jesus because someone told us. In Romans 10, Paul writes, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can they call on one who they haven’t believed in. And how can they believe in someone they’ve never heard about. And how can they hear unless someone tells them.”
That last part is our job. How can people love God if they have no idea who He is? I know I’ve been really pushing this lately, but Christians have 3 responsibilities: Love God, love neighbor, make disciples. Who is it that you’re called to tell about God’s love? Who do you know that needs to hear that their sins are forgiven?