Scripture: John 1:35-42 (ESV)
“The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God!’ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 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?’ 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. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas’ (which means Peter).”
There is something very upside down about the way the world works today. The internet is largely designed to give you the content that is most popular. The original Google algorithm ranked websites on the basis of how many other websites linked to it. In other words the more popular a website was, the more authority that website had. Ever since the invention of social media, this phenomenon has transferred to people. We give people authority to speak on an issue on the basis of how many followers they have. The more followers, the more we want to follow what they say. So what ends up happening is that we listen to the voices that shout the loudest. We are more interested in what a Kardashian says about our health than what our doctor says.
The Christian world is not immune from this. When someone looks up this newsletter, Substack will tell you how many followers the newsletter has, and instinctively if we see that 1000 others subscribe, we are more likely to subscribe too. The more followers, the better the newsletter. The Christian world subscribes to the theology of the mega churches, not necessarily because they are right, but because they are popular. But that’s not the biblical pattern.
But that is not the biblical pattern we find in this passage of John. John is out there in the desert again baptising people. He has gathered his own disciples, but as soon as Jesus comes along he once again points to Jesus and says “Behold, the Lamb of God!”. John’s disciples saw Jesus and immediately leaves John to follow Jesus. But notice John doesn’t say “Hang on, where are you going?” He doesn’t do a Shannon Noll and cry out “What about me?”. In fact, knowing what we know about John the Baptist, it is probably safe to assume that he prepared his disciples to leave him so that they could follow Jesus.
So Andrew and another disciple leave everything, presumably with John’s blessing and follow Jesus. Notice they spend only a short amount of time with Jesus, but it is enough to convince them. As soon as he could, Andrew went to find Simon and tells him: “We have found the Messiah”. Hanging out with Jesus compelled Andrew to bring someone else to come and meet Jesus too. His entire life changed because he spent time with Jesus. Simon’s change is even more dramatic. He simply met Jesus and Jesus gave him a new name and a new identity. Spending time with Jesus changed both Andrew and Simon.
The thing is, that hasn’t really changed. The more time we spend with Jesus the more we too will want to bring others to meet Jesus. The more time we spend with Jesus, the more we will see him as the Messiah. The more time we spend with Jesus, the more we will be willing to lose so that we can follow him instead. The more time we spend with Jesus, the more our lives will be changed to be like his.
So how much time are you spending with Jesus? How much time do you want to spend with Jesus?
Prayer
Dear Lord Jesus, we want to spend time with you in prayer, in reading and meditating on your word, and in serving others. We want to do this because we want to become the people you call us to be. Help us put aside the things of this world to follow you no matter what it costs. Amen
Spiritual Challenge
Today, invite someone to “come and see”. This might look like an invitation to pray, attend church with you, or simply have a conversation about Jesus. Keep it simple and trust God with the results.