Being Recognized
The text this week is John 1: 29-42. This is apparently after John has baptized Jesus. John sees Jesus and proclaims that “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! (Verse29). John then recounts how he was baptizing with water those who came to him and how he then saw the Spirit come down from heaven like a dove. John is publicly recognizing Jesus as God’s son and our redeemer. He states unequivocally in Verse 34 that “I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God”. John’s public proclamation is a teaching to us to publicly recognize and proclaim the same thing so that all may recognize who Jesus is.
An Expanding Circle
The results of this kind of public testimony are then shown to us . John is with two of his disciples and sees Jesus and recognizes Him as the Son of God. The two of John’s disciples heard this and immediately began to follow Jesus. Jesus, of course, invites them to come and see for themselves what is in store for His followers. One of these who was following John was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. Andrew then relays the message to Simon and testified that he has found the Messiah. He then brings his brother Simon to Jesus who right away renames him Cephas (Peter).
There is much to be taken form this paragraph. First, public proclamation and testimony works. People will follow if you invite them via your witness. Second, while it is always the case that Jesus will take us as we are, He will never keep us that way. Jesus will change us the way that He changed Simon into Peter. Finally, we should not forget an overlooked lesson from this passage, the utter lack of an ego on John’s part. He proclaims Jesus as the one. He points his own disciples toward another, who is greater than he. He is fine with not being the big cheese. He is fine with his disciples following the actual Son of God. John refuses to confuse himself with our Lord. John knows that it is all about Jesus doing God’s will. We should all be so humble. Of course, the greatest lesson coursing throughout this passage is that those who heard the word believed, then obeyed.
Praise Be to God
