Strange Encounter
John's description of how Simon Peter and his brother, Andrew decided to follow Jesus may seem a bit odd.
The next day he saw Jesus coming towards him and declared, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.’ And John testified, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.’ The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come and see.’ They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas’ (which is translated Peter). - John 1:29-42
John the Baptist is talking to his followers about Jesus as Jesus arrives. He says this is the Lamb of God, an indication that Jesus is given as a sacrifice, which sounds strange enough.
As Jesus approaches John describes how the Holy Spirit descended upon him when John baptized him, and this intrigues the followers, one of which chooses to follow Jesus. He runs to his brother and tells him they have found the Messiah.
But their idea of what the Messiah would do and who he would be was about to be challenged, for Jesus was not going to rise up as a king in the sense they may have thought. He truly was going to be a sacrifice for all.
When Jesus asks Andrew what he is looking for, Andrew calls him a teacher, Rabbi. He is looking for knowledge and understanding. What is this all about, he may be asking? And so he decides to follow to learn.
When we choose to follow Jesus, we choose to discover God's presence in our lives in a much bigger way than we understood before. And this path of discovery never ends.
We continue to grow in Christ daily, and that means we can become more and more aware of our ministry in the world, our sacrifice for others.
Following Jesus is an active engagement in life, not a static belief. We are called to do.
Saying yes is only the beginning. Then the work begins.
More to come...