JOHN 1:35-39 IF YOU KNOW, WHY FOLLOW?

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. 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 spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.

In an age of information gathering where we use impersonal modalities like libraries, television and internet web sites to satiate our voracious appetite for facts, we need the balance provided by St. John’s account of the call of Jesus’ first disciples. If Jesus had appeared today and the Baptist exclaimed, “Look, the Lamb of God,” we would most likely have flipped open our Blackberries and Googled “Lamb of God.” Our approach is to gain as much information as possible so that we can make an informed decision and avoid any unintended consequences of a poorly research choice. Armed with that information we would then approach Jesus with a list of questions formulated so as to fill in any gaps in our knowledge. Our final question, spoken or nonverbal, is basically, “Tell me why I should follow you.”

What a contrast to our practice we are presented with by this account of the “calling” of Jesus’ first disciples. Through a relationship with the Baptist they have come to trust John. When he points out Jesus as the One, they simply choose to follow him. Jesus is revealed as the Messiah, but there is no explanation of what that actually means. He is named and they take the initiative to follow him. Their initiative is emphasized in that Jesus does not appear to bother noticing at first. But even after he does see them, his question is only “What do you want?” Again, the initiative to follow is theirs. They call him Teacher, showing their respect and then seek to be where he is. At that point Jesus responds with the invitation “Come…and you will see.”

Discipleship is a matter of forming a personal relationship and not gathering information. While we want our information “up front,” a disciple receives his information through a committed and living relationship with the Master: “Come…and you will see.” We come to Jesus through faith, and it is through faith that we seek understanding. If we wait until we have gained all the information and are able to make a fail-proof case for following Jesus, then we are not demonstrating faith in Jesus but dependence upon our own understanding. We are called into a relationship based on faith in Jesus. We can only know Jesus by staying with him; spending our entire life with him.

Lord Jesus, I acknowledge that I cannot know you fully through gathering information about you. Even the Bible is but an invitation into a relationship with you. Through your Spirit inspire me to do as your first disciples did and put my faith in you for who you have been revealed to be. May I always follow you so I can know you better and be shown the way I am to live my life. Amen.