John 1:29-51

In addition to the role of signs pointing to Jesus and the Cross and the significance of that, John's Gospel offers portraits of the journey towards belief mixed with stories of unbelief.

Belief, in our modern language, has taken on the meaning, believing in something you know isn't true. In our day and age, belief is wishful thinking about something that isn't real. However, in the strictest sense of the meaning, in the Bible, belief is trust and a trust placed in someone worthy of trust. Thus, belief, trust, faith, in the Biblical sense, has some foundation.

And so in this portion of John, we get three examples of belief.

First, John the Baptist.

On the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one about whom I said, 'After me comes a man who is greater than I am, because he existed before me.' I did not recognize him, but I came baptizing with water so that he could be revealed to Israel." Then John testified, "I saw the Spirit descending like a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. And I did not recognize him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'The one on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining - this is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' I have both seen and testified that this man is the Chosen One of God." 

What was John the Baptist's journey to faith?

His mother Elizabeth knew Mary, the mother of Jesus.  One wonders if John the Baptist grew up hearing stories about Mary and the miraculous/mysterious Jesus?  Did he spend time as a youth with Jesus?

Interestingly, twice in this passage, John the Baptist said, I did not recognize him!

Is his failure to recognize him a feature of perhaps knowing Jesus while growing up and thinking Jesus as rather unremarkable?

In any case, in this episode, John the Baptist was moved to call him "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"  And John the Baptist saw the Spirit descending upon Jesus.  Apparently, God broke through!

The second episode tells about Andrew and Simon Peter's journey to belief.
 
Again the next day John was standing there with two of his disciples. Gazing at Jesus as he walked by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" When John's two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Jesus turned around and saw them following and said to them, "What do you want?" So they said to him, "Rabbi" (which is translated Teacher), "where are you staying?" Jesus answered, "Come and you will see." So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. Now it was about four o'clock in the afternoon. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two disciples who heard what John said and followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, "We have found the Messiah!" (which is translated Christ). Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon, the son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter).

Andrew was already following John the Baptist.  John the Baptist starting calling Jesus, "the Lamb of God!"  And so Andrew decided to follow Jesus.  Was it curiosity?

Andrew wound up staying with Jesus for the day.  Oh, what it would have been like to be a fly on the wall during that time!  Something amazing must have happened because Andrew told his brother Simon Peter, we found the Messiah!

John the Baptist saw the Spirit descending on Jesus. Andrew spent an afternoon with Jesus. As a result both believed.

The third story is Philip and Nathanael.

On the next day Jesus wanted to set out for Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." (Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter.) Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and the prophets also wrote about - Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Nathanael replied, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip replied, "Come and see." Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and exclaimed, "Look, a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit!" Nathanael asked him, "How do you know me?" Jesus replied, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel!" Jesus said to him, "Because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these." He continued, "I tell all of you the solemn truth - you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Why did Philip start to follow Jesus? We don't know for sure but look at what he told Nathanael: "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and the prophets also wrote about - Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

Somehow in spending time with Jesus, Philip who apparently knew his Scriptures very well, concluded Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures.

Meanwhile, Nathanael was skeptical. Yet, when Jesus said he saw Nathanael was under the fig tree, Nathanael's skepticism melted away. Should we assume that Nathanael was under the fig tree figuring no one else was around and yet Jesus knew he was there? But why was that so significant? Perhaps, Nathanael was engaged in serious meditation and prayer? Perhaps, he was deeply troubled by something? Perhaps, he was contemplating the news that John the Baptist was calling this Jesus of Nazareth the Lamb of God and wondering, is it actually possibly true?

The journey to belief is different for everyone. Perhaps, one has had parents and family members who were believers like John the Baptist may have known about Jesus since childhood. Perhaps, one gets to spend time with people who embody what it means to be a Christian like Philip getting to spend time with Jesus. Perhaps, one searched the Scriptures and find faith like Phililp. Perhaps, God meets us in some unusual way knowing us in a way only God could know us like Nathanael.

Lord, please work through me to reveal you to people I meet. Lord, please work in my church so that people see YOU when they come to church and when we go out about our lives. Lord, please work through the church around the world, especially in the hard places, revealing your love and your truth. Amen.