January 5
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). – John 1:35-42
JOHN 1 JESUS’ FIRST DISCIPLES
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
Andrew and another disciple of John followed Jesus
They wanted to be his students and they called him teacher
Simon told Peter his brother that they found the Messiah
And he took his brother to the Lord and he named him Cephas.
After some of the disciples of John the Baptist heard him declare Jesus as the Lamb of God, two of them decided to follow Jesus. One of them was Andrew but the other one wasn’t named in this account. According to David Guzik’s commentary, he says “The other of the two is not identified, but for several reasons it is reasonable to think it was John the Gospel writer himself, who appears several times in his Gospel, but is never specifically named.” Guzik further comments on verse 39 of the specificity of the time of the hour that these things happened, so he truly thinks it was John, the actual writer of this account who was the other disciple who was with Andrew.
So, as soon as Jesus invited them over to see where he was staying, Andrew immediately announced to his brother that they had found the Messiah and he came to meet Jesus and he was named by Jesus himself as Cephas meaning “Peter.” These three were the first disciples of our Lord Jesus.
REFLECTION
• What do you think made John’s disciples follow Jesus and leave John?
