The First Five Disciples Begin To Follow Jesus

The next day John the Baptist was still preaching repentance and baptizing people, preparing them to follow Messiah. Jesus again came to where John was teaching, so John spoke to the two disciples who were standing near him, intent on what he had to say. Andrew and John heard the Baptist announce once again that Jesus was the Lamb of God.

When John pointed Jesus out to them, there was no question but that they would follow Him.

Do you think their hearts pounded when Jesus turned around and saw them? Pay attention to that. With each person who came to Jesus, Jesus looked at that person and read their heart. As Jesus saw them He said “what do you seek?”

Those are the first words Jesus says in John’s gospel, maybe the first words He spoke as He began his public ministry.

“What are you looking for in life? What are you looking for from Me?”

Think of Who Jesus was and what these two men must have been thinking and wondering about. John and Andrew wanted to be near Jesus and spend time with Him. They wanted to know Him.

So Jesus invited them to come and spend time with Him. They spent an entire afternoon and evening with Jesus, and they fell in love with Him. No doubt the Lord told them something about His mission, revealed their own hearts to them and answered their questions. They were so fascinated they could hardly tear themselves away.

Others can tell you about Jesus, and about God, but you will only really get to know Him by spending time with Him yourself.
* How close am I willing to get to Jesus and how long am I willing to stay with Him?
* Does He ever get a whole day from me, let alone my whole life?

It seems as though both Andrew and John got the same idea of racing to get their brothers,
--> but Andrew was the first to find his brother Simon.
--> Andrew was the first to announce, “We have found the Messiah,” and bring his brother to Jesus.
--> In fact, all throughout the gospels, Andrew was bringing people to Jesus – the boy with the loaves and the fish, and later some Greeks who were looking for the Messiah.

When Simon arrived it says Jesus looked at him. The meaning of that word is to look intently, like looking at a work of art. Then Jesus told Simon he would be Peter, a rock, solid, dependable and true. I think Peter must have hung on to that three years later during the events surrounding Jesus’ trial.

The day after that Jesus decided to go up to Galilee where all these men had their fishing businesses, and He found Philip. Philip was from Andrew and Peter’s home town, Bethsaida, a small fishing village, so probably they all knew each other.

Philip had the same response as Andrew and John, he fell in love with Jesus and went to find his good friend Nathanael. In the other gospels Nathanael is referred to as Bartholomew, “Bar” means “son of,” so he was Nathanael, son of Tolmai, and he and Philip were inseparable friends, always grouped together on later missionary expeditions.

Nathanael was a student of the scriptures, so Philip told him about finding the one Moses and the prophets had written about. But when Philip said Jesus was from Nazareth, right away Nathanael was skeptical. Nazareth was considered only a grade above Samaria, full of Gentiles and the worship of pagan deities. What prejudices are revealed by your and my attitudes?

Did you notice how Philip didn’t argue? He just said what Jesus had said before, “Come and see.” To Nathanael’s credit, he did.

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