Closing in on Jesus the Messiah
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.
John 1:35–39 ESV Read More
How often does one pastor tell his congregation to leave and go to another church? That is close, but since they didn’t really have buildings or congregations, just disciples, this is more like the old pastor pointing out the new younger pastor and acknowledging that he’s going to do a better job.
There were a bunch of people listening to John the Baptist, but here there were only two guys close enough to hear him say “That guy right there, He is the Lamb of God!” If there was a man in the desert that everyone knew was the precursor to the Messiah, why wouldn’t you be within listening distance of him?! Why are there only two people close enough? Even worse, the two people staying the closest, listening to John, responded immediately to what he said and left.
The whole point of John’s life was to point to Jesus. As soon as Jesus was within pointing distance, the people that really got what John said left John to follow Jesus. When they followed Him, a series of funny questions happened.
What are you seeking?
Where do you live?
Come and see.
This exchange seems quick, but it’s a lot like the surface view of a conversation like this:
Non-Profit Director: I’d like to meet you for lunch and talk about our work
CEO: That would be great, how about you meet me at the House of Como, my treat?
NP Dir: Fantastic, I’ll see you there
If I told you that was a $10,000 conversation, you’d understand why. Culturally, we know what it means for a CEO to speak generously about lunch to a director of a non-profit. For these 2 disciples and Jesus, that exchange, culturally, was similar. When Jesus acknowledged them, He was inviting them to clearly state how far and why they were following Him. When they asked where He was staying, they were implicitly saying that they wanted to come into His life and learn from Him every day at His house. When He said “Come and see,” He accepted their request and invited them to join in a mentor/student relationship.
Like I said, on the surface, it’s as plain as a lunch invite at some restaurant, but culturally speaking, these two guys who stayed close to John the Baptist just got accepted into Jesus school.
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