JOHN 1: 35-42

THE MEN’S GROUP BIBLICAL EQUIPPING – MARCH 24, 2004

35
The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and as
he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”
37
The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 When
Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you
looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher),
“where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and see.” They came
and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It
was about four o’clock in the afternoon. 40 One of the two who heard John
speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first
found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah”
(which is translated Anointed). 42 He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked
at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas”
(which is translated Peter).

Background
Writer: The authorship is probably John, disciple of Jesus, son of Zebedee and
Salome, who was Mary’s sister, although there is no attribution in the text
itself. The text does refer to “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, which by
process of elimination is John. The text itself was probably written by a
Palestinian Jew who was an eyewitness.
Date: About 90-95 AD, about 20-40 years after the gospels of Matthew, Mark and
Luke were written. John is the most unique gospel of the four.
What’s Going On: John the Baptist is proclaiming the coming of the messiah,
baptizing people with water, when he sees Jesus for the second time.
The story of Andrew and Peter (the first 2 disciples of Jesus) is told three
different ways in the 4 gospels. Matthew and Mark describe Peter and
Andrew fishing, and they drop their nets to follow Jesus when he says he’ll
make them “fishers of men.” Luke’s version contains the miracle of Andrew
and Peter in the boat casting out their nets (in which they’ve caught nothing
all day) and overflowing them with fish. This makes Peter realize that Jesus
is the Messiah. John’s version is much more personal (much like the “Road
to Emmaus” encounter in Luke 24:13 after Jesus’ resurrection). The passage
of time is strongly felt (v. 39). It also is the only version that has Andrew
convincing his brother Peter that he has found the Messiah.
Interestingly, John is the only version that does not go on to mention how
James and John (yeah, the same guy who wrote this book) came to follow
Jesus right after Andrew and Peter. Could John be the other of the two
disciples mentioned in v. 37? And did he convince his brother James too?
St. Matthews Emmaus Groups
Facilitator’s Biblical Equipping: Jan-April 2004

JOHN 1: 35-42
THE MEN’S GROUP BIBLICAL EQUIPPING – MARCH 24, 2004

Facilitator Notes:

The intent of this reading is to get a discussion going about how we can identify people
who are followers, and take the time to personally invite them into a deeper fellowship
with God. (i.e. get your friends and acquaintances into the Men’s Group!! New
covenant starts in 3 weeks!)

Explore:
1. What impact does this version of the Andrew and Peter’s
discipleship have on you versus the fishing versions in the other
Gospels (READ “WHAT’S GOING ON”)?
2. How do you suppose Andrew became convinced that Jesus was
the Messiah?
3. What strikes you about the passage of time in this reading?

Connect
1. How does this passage show us how to create a fellowship with
others in God/Jesus?
2. How does this passage suggest we should treat our families with
respect to God/Jesus?
3. How can we be more understanding of the presence of Jesus in
our lives?

Prepare
Everyone writes down how they plan to apply the concepts discussed here to
their daily life in the ensuing week. We will discuss how that went during
Check In next week.