Ep. 04
Andy Holingum finishes John chapter 1 with verses 35-51, the account of Jesus’s first followers — Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip and Nathanael, and possibly a fifth man who is never named. He opens by asking what people follow today: influencers, football teams, the news, social media, the car in front on a journey. Following Jesus is not like any of those, because with them we stay in control — we can ease in or back out.
First, Jesus asks us the questions. When two disciples of John the Baptist start walking behind him, Jesus turns and asks, “What do you want?” — literally, what are you looking for. These are the first words God incarnate speaks on earth in John’s Gospel. Andy pictures them trailing along like a child on the back row at school hoping not to be picked, until Jesus looks them in the eye and their cover is blown. It cuts through the rabbi-following culture of the day, and it is a question we must answer: are we following because our parents did, because we always have, because the church is friendly — or because we have counted the cost? He worries that our generation has domesticated Christianity into something palatable that is mostly about what Jesus can do for us, and holds up the five American missionaries killed in the Ecuadorian jungle in the 1950s, one of whom wrote that “he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
Second, following Jesus moves us from knowing about him to knowing him. Andrew begins the day calling Jesus “Rabbi” and ends it telling his brother, “We have found the Messiah” — something happened in a day spent in his presence.
Third, we hear Jesus speak about what we will become. He looks at Simon and renames him Peter — the rock — naming not what he is but what he will be: the man who preaches in Jerusalem, a pillar of the early church. Jesus does not see us as defined by our circumstances, our history, our qualifications, our achievements, our failings or our health. He is building his kingdom, not ours.
Fourth, Jesus connects with us where we are. Philip is found by Jesus rather than finding him, and immediately goes to Nathanael. Philip’s opening line — “the one Moses wrote about in the Law” — made sense in a culture soaked in the Old Testament but would land as irrelevant in Jordanthorpe or Batemoor today, so we have to work out our own connection points.
Fifth, Jesus knows us completely. Nathanael’s scepticism — “can anything good come out of Nazareth?” — collapses when Jesus says he saw him under the fig tree, and he declares, “You are the Son of God, the King of Israel.” Jesus answers that he will see greater things: heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Andy closes with the Winter Olympics skeleton — athletes at the top of the run, deciding, because once they commit there is no stopping. Are we ready to commit, or content to spectate?
Bible passages
Key points
Calls to action
Watch the video: https://youtu.be/uAfT9Fj-siY
