On Sharing a Good Thing
On Sharing a Good Thing – John 1:29-42
Last week we looked at one of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the servant of God. In that we learned something of the nature of the person and the mission of an individual who would listen to the plan of God for humanity and fulfil it perfectly – never allowing anything or anyone to stop him. We also learned that the life and death of this servant and the mission that he was given to fulfil is also to be the life and mission of each one of us. For each of us who have faith in God and in the one sent by God known as Jesus, we bind ourselves to be servants of God as we seek to live our lives by the pattern and practice revealed by Jesus. Doing so involves us in the ongoing ministry of reconciliation and peacemaking among the peoples of this world. We accept that our wills will reflect the will of God and we give ourselves willingly to the service of God. The desire to see a world that reflects the values and vision of God is not something that God does alone; it is something that has ever been done and ever will be done in a relationship between people of this place and God. God will ever help us to stay in that relationship and to live in such a way as to reflect that vision with one another and those we meet but we are not slaves to God’s vision for the world. We come to accept this vision of our own free will and we remain because we have come to believe that this vision of God is the vision we want to see perfectly fulfilled.
John the Baptist gives his disciples a vision. It began with the baptism in water as a sign of preparation for something that had yet to be revealed. There was such a hunger for God to break into the world and save the people that came so that they could be ready. But until they see Jesus, they have no idea how God will come or whom he will send. It is obvious from the text that the disciples of John were not present when Jesus came for baptism. But John is so excited to see Jesus that he blurts out to them the events of that day and what it means for them and the world. In the minds of those disciples, the title Lamb of God would bring them the memory of that great Passover when the blood of a lamb would save the children of the people from the angel of death. It would not be hard for them to then imagine that this same Lamb of God could also be the one to take away the sin of the world. After all, if the blood of a lamb could save the life of the people in one moment in time, the Lamb of God himself could surely save the life of the people in an eternal way – even to the point of removing all obstacles between God and the world. And, of course, who better to be that ultimate Lamb – that Lamb of God - than the one who had the most intimate relationship with God, the one revealed to John at his baptism as the Son of God.
Now it is interesting that the first time John says this of Jesus, his disciples take note of it but they do not follow Jesus. But the next day when John sees Jesus again and repeats his declaration concerning Jesus, then the two disciples who are with him turn and follow Jesus.
The question that Jesus asks them is interesting. Normally when someone follows you and you are curious as to why they are doing that, you might say: “What do you want?” or “why are you following me?” But the question Jesus asks is: “What do you seek?” I am sure that Jesus heard John’s declaration as he passed by. He no doubt was aware of the images and ideas that that statement would have brought to the disciples’ minds. His question to them was a probing one. He wanted to know if they were just curious about him for himself or whether they were curious to know what it meant that God had sent his Son, the Lamb to take away the sin of the world.
Their question to him seems even stranger. You would think that the first question would be: “Tell us what it means for you to be the Lamb of God.” But no, they want to know where he is staying. Jesus not only takes them to where he is staying but they then spend the day with him. What they learned that day we may never know but it obviously made an impression on them for they never left him from that moment on.
Another curious aspect to this story is the introduction of the brother of one of John’s disciples to Jesus. Now we are not sure of where Simon was when Andrew and the other disciple met Jesus but Andrew does not hesitate to go and get his brother. Whatever else their encounter with Jesus might reveal, for Andrew he has discovered one of the best things he could ever have found in life – he had found the Messiah. That was something so good, so wonderful that it required sharing. And so he grabs his brother Simon – whom there is no indication was even a follower of John – and brings him along to where Jesus is staying.
It is obvious that Andrew’s great excitement has been communicated to Jesus and that he has introduced his brother. But then Jesus says: “So you are Simon the son of John.” It’s as if Jesus knew of Simon before Andrew even brought him. Have you ever been introduced to someone whom you’ve never met before and the person seems to know who you are? Well, that was Simon’s first experience of Jesus. But then Jesus proceeds to give him the name by which he will be known in history – Cephas (the Rock) or, as we better him, Peter.
I am not sure if Peter even had a desire to become associated with Jesus or whether he had come only because his brother brought him but we do know that Peter also never left Jesus.
That encounter with Jesus was one that changed their lives forever. And it all happened because John shared a good thing with his disciples and Andrew shared that good thing with his brother.
That good thing would continue to be shared with others in the coming days. Some would be invited directly by Jesus; others would come through the invitation of friends and family. In time the number of the followers would grow tremendously and even spread beyond the borders of Palestine and throughout the world.
Even today the message of John the Baptist concerning Jesus and the hope that is contained in that message can be shared. We can share it with family; we can share it with friends. We can invite them to seek God and the Lamb of God for themselves and we can share with them the peace, hope and forgiveness we have found in our relationship with God.