Episode 19 - What are you seeking?

John 1:35   The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 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?” 39 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. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

My desire in this episode is to call your attention to something that jumps out at me. What should be obvious by now is that we see some repetition again, don’t we? We see John the Baptist telling two of his disciples the same message he shared the day before. “Behold, the Lamb of God!” His disciples got the point. They learned something from their teacher and that was they should follow another teacher who could offer them so much more. 

In other gospel accounts, Jesus invites people to follow him. In John’s account, we see two people who’ve been directed to Jesus. I believe this is an important point for Christians. Sometimes people will come to us to learn something about the Bible and the Christian faith. We should understand and value that our greatest privilege and responsibility is to point them to Jesus. We should not become so caught up in our own ego and pride and try to keep people under our teaching and our control. The extent to which the Lord has brought them to us should be sufficient to lead them more to the One who is so much greater than ourselves. 

When Jesus sees the Baptizer’s disciples following him, he asks them “What are you seeking?” Their response is to immediately address him as Rabbi or Teacher and ask him where he is staying. Their response indicates that they desire to learn from Jesus. He does not turn them away. 

Let me ask you this. Does his response to them catch your attention in any way? Notice in verse 39 that he simply responds, “Come and you will see.” Is Jesus simply inviting them to discover where he’s residing? Perhaps. But, what would the point of that be? I would argue that Jesus is welcoming them to follow him and in doing so, they will “see” with perception much more than the geographical location of his current residence. After all, they did address him as “Teacher.” They want to learn from him.

A few episodes back in which we observed the repetition of the word “see,” I explained that in the original language version of this text there were actually three completely different Greek words that translate into the four occurrences of the English word “see” in verse 29-34. I focused upon the first two occurrences which were two separate words. The first simply means “to observe with one’s eyes.” John the Baptist “saw” Jesus walking toward him. The second indicated a perception and understanding beyond the information the human eyes and brain communicate to us. The occurrence was the Baptizer seeing the Spirit descend upon Jesus. 

I did not give any attention to the third Greek word that accounted for the last two occurrences of “see” in verses 33 and 34. When John the Baptist says, “I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God,” his perception and comprehension extends beyond the normal and simple act of observing or noticing. That word, transliterated “horao” is the same word Jesus uses here. They aren’t being invited to just notice his residence. They are being invited to learn from him and perceive what he has to teach them. 

If there’s any question about this, notice what happens when they follow him. One day he’s the teacher. The very next day they perceive that he is the Messiah they’ve been anticipating. In fact, they are so convinced that they go around telling others and inviting them to come and learn from Jesus. 
The most essential point to me from this section is that Jesus welcomes those who truly want to learn from him. When they do, they will “see.”