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“Come, and You Will See.”
John 1:35-42
Mari Ikeda
As it’s the beginning of the new year, I was thinking to speak about the covenant of members of this church. But I decided to continue the series of John’s Gospel first, because I thought the passage to follow in the series was very appropriate to read at the start of a year. The passage is from John 1:35, the scene of the encounter of Jesus and His first disciples. It is illustrated the most in v.38-39, but let’s follow the order and read a little at a time, v.35-37 first.
A. Being sent out by John the Baptist (35-37)
35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” 37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
Do you remember the content of the first part of this Gospel of John that we read before the Christmas? There the main character was John the Baptist. In this passage in v.35-37, the two disciples of John the Baptist left him to follow Jesus. It was the very intention of John himself. It is said that by seeing Jesus John told them, “Look, the Lamb of God!” By telling so, John intended to tell them, “This is the One for you to follow. Go now!” On hearing him, his two disciples went to follow Jesus.
Here again, John gives an example for us to emulate. Like he did, we should hope that people get to know Jesus through us, instead of hoping that people follow ourselves. While it is natural that there is a distinction between those who teach and those who learn when we try to teach about Jesus to people who don’t know Him, once we reach the point where we can see Jesus together, or namely they get to understand Jesus themselves, we must send them off, telling, “Now, you leave me and follow Jesus!” Conversely, those who were learning must now get confident and aware that they are now given the role of teaching to others themselves.
In order to establish such an independent relationship with each other, each of us needs to be able to recognize Jesus well. The following v.38-39 explain how it’s possible, and that is the keystone of today’s message and the source of origin for our life. Let’s read v.38-39.
B. Jesus’ invitation(38-39)
38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” 39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.
1. “What do you want?”
Seeing the two disciples of John following Him, Jesus asked them, “What do you want?” It’s translated as “What are you seeking?” in Japanese, and can be translated also as “What are you looking for?” In other words, Jesus is asking, “What do you want from me? What are you seeking by following me? What are you looking for?”
He asks us the same question. What are we asking for Jesus? What are we looking for when we come to church? How do you answer to Jesus?
2. “Where are you staying?”
The answer the two disciples of John gave was, actually, the question, “Where are you staying?” It sounds irrelevant at a glance as they only answer the question by the question. However, their question was the expression of their desire to know Jesus more, like saying, “Tell us where you stay, so that we can visit you and know you more.” Perhaps this is the best answer to the question of Jesus, “What do you want?”
We ask Jesus for many different things. Healing. Encouragement. Comfort. Guidance. Answer. Hope. It differs from people to people, depending on the time and situations. Jesus always joyfully listens to us when we confess what we want by our own words.
However, it is important for us to emulate the disciples from time to time and have the attitude of asking Jesus, “Where are you? Who are you? I want to know you more,” because our hearts can easily get controlled by the wishes that are not fulfilled and the questions that are not answered.
3. “Come, and you will see.”
Jesus’ answer was simple, “Come, and you will see.” This answer means more than just telling that they will know where Jesus stays if they come with Him. He would have just needed to explain to them by words like, “Go straight this road, turn right at that corner, …” if He were only to tell them where he stayed. But He said instead, “Come with me,” to invite the disciples to stay with Him. The two disciples only ended up finding themselves staying overnight with Him that day.
Jesus is inviting us as well. He invites us to come with Him only to spend time with Him. He never asked the disciples, “Who are you?” or “What qualifies you to follow me?” He is the one who knows very well all about us, who we are, what we have done, and what worries we have, and still invites us just to come with Him and be with Him.
This world is filled with injustice and sorrows. But it was to this world that God came as Jesus. We are so weak that there are countless times that we hurt each other and betray God. But it was the very reason why Jesus came and died on the cross to bear the sins of all of us.
When Jesus invites us by saying, “Come, and you will see,” He does so by knowing all of our sins, weaknesses and imperfection. He tells us, “Follow me, and you will understand,” even when we doubt if God really exists or He really loves us. He keeps calling us, “Come with Me, stay together,” when we don’t know where to go or have no place to go.
This is something that each of us has to test and understand individually. As a start, I encourage you to focus on your one-on-one relationship with Jesus during the worship time we will have shortly, as you sing, read the lyrics, and listens to others singing. Also, I hope you can have a period of time, even 10minutes, everyday to spend with Jesus alone, by praying, reading the bible, or thinking.
Now let’s move on to the last three verses of today, and learn from how the first disciples of Jesus were that we are all so different but all equally accepted and invited by Jesus just as the way each of us is. Let’s read from v.40 to the first half of v.42 first.
C. The first disciples
1. Andrew, who intuitively connects people to Jesus (40-42a)
40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.
Here it’s said that Andrew, Peter’s brother, brought Peter and Jesus together. Although Andrew called Jesus as “the Messiah” here, he should have only expected Jesus as someone who might teach a new thing and possibly make their society better, as no one at this point understood what Jesus was called as the Messiah for.
While Andrew appears in all the four Gospels, he appears in John’s Gospel three times, in all of which including this passage he brings someone and Jesus together. You can find the two other occasions in chapter 6 and 12. It is just my guess, but I suppose Andrew was an intuitive person. Even if he was not sure what good his behavior would bring, he might have intuitively expected and trusted Jesus that He would use anything for good.
What do you think? I’m not comfortable with the way Andrew behaves because it seems to me a little irresponsible and too optimistic, but I guess I should learn from him because he was not wrong in the end.
Now, let’s read the last verse, the latter half of v.42.
2. Peter, the “rock,” who has yet to do anything (42b)
Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).
For some reason, NIV does not translate well here, but Cephas means “rock” in Aramic, which is translated as Peter in Greek.
Jesus said that He would call Peter as “rock,” because Peter would become a person like the rock for the church by building a solid foundation of the church. It also meant that Jesus would make Peter grow to become such a person, but Peter was yet to do anything at this point. Moreover, he would remain an unreliable person who was far from being called as the rock of the church for a long time while he continued to travel along with Jesus. Furthermore, he betrayed Jesus and ran away when Jesus was arrested, and denied he knew Jesus three times. Even after he became a leader of the church after the resurrection of Jesus to spread Jesus’ teaching widely, he continued to be an imperfect person being criticized by Paul for his cowardice. While he must have been transformed greatly and grown strong incredibly by his encounter with Jesus, Peter remained just a weak person from his beginning to his end.
Why does Jesus still want to keep us human beings so weak beside Him? Why does He still rejoice to be with us?
Hear the calling of Jesus, “Come, and you will see.”
（Prayer）
Dear God, who created this world and came to this world, I ask you to reveal Yourself to each of us in our everyday life. Please show us Yourself by the way each of us can clearly see. Help us have the conviction that You are with us in any situations, so that our heart may not be controlled by anxieties and sorrows. Guide us to heal each other as well so that we can all rely on you. Dear our Lord Jesus, we pray in Your name, Amen.
Summary
What are we asking Jesus for? What are you looking for when you come to church? We all look for comfort, healing, encouragement, hope, answers, guidance. But it all starts with us hearing the call of Jesus, “Come, and you will understand.” We get so caught up in wishing and searching that we tend to forget that Jesus is the one who invites us to be with him. Listen to what Jesus is offering you and grow to understand all that his invitation entails.
For Discussion
1. What are you asking Jesus for? What are you looking for when you come to church?
2. How can we listen to Jesus’ call?