John 1:29-42 Commentary

A theme in the Gospel of John is that of testimony, or being a reliable witness. Throughout the whole text, Jesus is establishing himself as needing no other witness. Here at the beginning of the narrative, we see John pointing to this reality through his own witness, supported by the witness of the prophecy he received about the coming Messiah.

The repetition is noticeable in this passage. Reminiscent of the opening prologue’s repeated ideas, our narrative-driven introduction also highlights details great and small over and over. John sees Jesus walk by twice. Each time John says, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” John’s speech also repeats, becoming a point of emphasis, that the Spirit came and rested upon Jesus: the promise of God’s word to John about the Word who is God.

John was given a sign of what to look for, but the would-be disciples aren’t really sure what they are looking for. John was so sure as he called out, “Look, here’s the Lamb of God!” John was so clear about what he knew because of what he had seen and been promised; the sign of the Spirit matched the message of the Spirit. But the soon-to-be disciples don’t seem as sure. When Jesus asks them, “What are you looking for?” They answer with a question of their own, “Where are you staying?”

What kind of question is this? Without the context of what it was like to be a rabbi’s disciple, this question can seem especially strange. What does it matter where Jesus is staying? What does it reveal? Maybe there’s something to this question about trying to understand who Jesus is, what sort of position of influence he holds, or what other signs there might be about why Jesus matters so much to John.

But it could also be a matter of stumbling awkwardly into their discipleship. These followers of John are trying to follow John’s meaning and switch their allegiance from John to Jesus. When you become someone’s disciple, you live your life with them. You stay where they stay. You do what they do. You follow them where they go. You learn to be like them. “Where are you staying?” becomes a question about asking to become a disciple.

Jesus graciously invites them to “Come and see.” I wonder if they understood what it meant to become a disciple of the “Lamb of God.” Along with John’s explanation about why he believes this about Jesus, this is really all they know about the Christ. Surely, they know that lambs are an animal of ritual sacrifice, but there is no way for them understand the fullness of how Jesus will fulfill this calling. Nor can they understand how they will join him in it.

But they go and they see enough to join John in belief, trust, and witness. Andrew goes and finds his brother, promising him, “We have found the Messiah!” He then brings Simon Peter to “come and see” for himself.

And isn’t this the way we can stumble our own way in discipleship? Being willing to ask Jesus questions about him and ourselves that might seem a little silly? Being willing to leave one way of living and who has been teaching us about what matters most in order to follow THE one who knows the best way to live? The only way to be a disciple is to “come and see” what life with God is like, to go where he goes, be with who he is with, do what he does, and to tell and invite others about all that we have seen and experienced.

But it strikes me that we have to also be looking. John was looking for the sign the Spirit promised and the disciples could give some sort of answer to Jesus’s question. Each were looking for someone or something meaningful. In an age when many of us are looking to escape or be numbed or looking for ways to avoid the work of life, how many of us are actually looking for something real with God? If we were to become witnesses, what would we be testifying?

Textual Point

Even though it’s not the focus of the passage, there’s a lot of “seeing” going on in this passage. John sees Jesus walking by him twice. John saw the Spirit of God in the form of a dove fall upon Jesus. He was told this is what he would see. He tells us that this is what he saw… This is all part of the testimony or witness motif.

But the seeing goes even deeper. Jesus asks John’s disciples, “What are you looking for?” and then invites them to “Come and see.” Seeing leads to being with, which leads to “finding” the Messiah.

Illustration Idea

Many of us have seen or heard about Amazon’s “The Chosen,” which depicts Jesus’s story from an amalgamation of the gospel texts. The creators acknowledge taking narrative license, combining some gospel stories and adding new ones to flesh out the characters (including Jesus) especially providing backstories for people like Mary Magdalene, Nicodemus, and the disciples. One of those story lines in season 1 shows us how brothers Andrew and Simon Peter come to follow this Messiah—and it really gets at how it could be that someone would believe that Jesus was actually the long-awaited Anointed One. But even more interesting to me is the way that they depicted Jesus just prior to heading “into town” to call his disciples. A young girl comes across Jesus’s little camp setup and brings a friend to spy on this stranger camping near their home. Eventually, there’s a whole little crew of children following Jesus around, listening and laughing and being together. The Messiah has time for everyone, invites anyone “to come and see.”