FOCUS Day Sixteen | John 1:29-39
DAY SIXTEEN | John 1:29-39
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! 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 is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”
And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!”
The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, “What do you seek?”
They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), “where are You staying?”
He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).
Come and See!
One of the most astounding things to me about the life of Jesus was the way that He interacted with people. He lived and loved boldly, embodying what humility and compassion look like. He seemed to prefer asking questions over answering them, always speaking truth, but rarely using that truth to prove a point.
In this interaction with two of John’s disciples, Jesus asks a question to engage the desires of their hearts. Remember, this conversation is taking place within a day or two of the heavens opening and the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a dove. The scene is accompanied by the audible voice of the Father proclaiming His love and favor of this man, the Christ.
John had also publicly affirmed that Jesus, the carpenter from Nazareth, was the One that He had been preaching about. He points them towards Jesus, telling them to behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The next day, John is with these disciples when they see Jesus. Again, a separate time, John points his followers towards Jesus and tells them to behold.
Behold is an interesting and beautiful word. The greek word used here is translated several different ways, but predominantly is translated as either to know or to see. The word means to perceive, notice, discern, or discover. It also means to turn your eyes, mind, or attention towards.
In other words, behold means to look at intentionally with purpose.
These are the instructions of John the Baptizer, the one who Jesus said was the greatest of all men born until that time. He is pointing his followers to turn their attention away from him and focus their attention on Jesus. It is not surprising then, that we find two of John’s disciples following after Jesus.
When Jesus sees that they are following Him, He asks, What are you looking for? This question draws the two seekers into a beautiful invitation from our Messiah. Jesus often asked questions that led to a deeper encounter.
When He was interacting with the woman at the well, He asked her about her husband. Soon, she had encountered the Christ and became an evangelist, telling everyone in the village, Come meet a man that told me everything that I have ever done.
What are you looking for?
When the men responded by asking where Jesus was staying, He didn’t give them the answer. He could have provided an address, or directions, but He didn’t. Instead, He invited them to Come and see!
Instead of simply dispensing information, Jesus often led people with a spirit of invitation. He genuinely seemed more interested in welcoming people into moments of encounter, rather than making sure they had all of the right answers. We see this being true of Jesus throughout His earthly life and ministry.
As a young pastor in seminary, I read church leadership books that seemed to say that I should do the exact opposite of the way that we see Jesus inviting people into His life. I was told that ministers shouldn’t get too close to their people because that would cause jealousy and division. This left me confused when I read of the way that Jesus deeply loved His disciples to the very end.
After spending years getting trained by brilliant professors, I remember reading how the rulers in Acts 4 had taken note that the disciples were untrained, ordinary men that had been with Jesus. It seemed that being with Jesus is what had made the difference.
The invitation to Come and see was an open door to come behold what Jesus’ life was all about. Jesus knew who He was, and He knew that the lives of these men would be transformed simply by walking through life with Him. He knew that being with Him is what these men were made for.
We can follow Jesus in living this come and see lifestyle. That may seem like a stretch for us. After all, we are not Jesus, but His Spirit dwells in us and abides with us forever to help us in our weaknesses. And our weaknesses are not a problem for Him. In fact, He uses them as an opportunity to broadcast His strength in our lives.
People still hunger for humility, honesty, love and truth that can only come from the person of Jesus. As you fix your eyes on Him, I pray that your heart would be encouraged that because of the Helper, you can invite people to come and see the person of Jesus in your own life.
Blessings.
