John 1 - The Word Made Flesh, The Calling of His First Four Disciples!

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Today we get to my favorite gospel, the gospel of John. Whereas the other three gospels work methodically through the life of Jesus each with their own distinctive, John tells us more about the personal side of Jesus. It has been called "the relational" gospel. Being a relational guy, John is the disciple I can't wait to meet. 

John is famous for the "I am sayings" and poignant stories about, "The woman at the well and "the woman caught in adultery". Today he tells a story we don't see in any other gospel "the Wedding at Cana". John also focuses on the divinity of Christ. John's gospel was written 30 years after the other gospels and some early heresies had starting creeping into the church. The most common one with "gnosticism", which asserted that Jesus only seemed to be human but he is really a "spirit being". Because of the human interaction and compassion Jesus shows it is clearly he is truly human. 

The Word Became Flesh

The focus here is Jesus, the Word (Logos), becoming flesh. We can this the "incarnation", and is it is a huge part of our theology. Importantly the "logos", who we learn is Jesus, was with God in the beginning. The pre-existent Word was with God creating the world, showing his divinty and also giving credence for the Trinity. 

The gospel then moves on to the themes of light and darkness. Later Jesus will say, "I am the light of the world, in me there is no darkness." John the Baptist gave witness or testified to this light, which is why he clearly denied being the Messiah. His role was to reveal the light, Jesus, to the world. 

We also see a famous verse which I use all the time in preaching and teaching. It is John 1:14, 

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

Jesus, the Word, became flesh. The divine became human. We say Jesus was "truly God and truly human". He was a 100% of both, which is a seeming contradiction that can only be explained by God. This is the same with the Trinity, three persons in one being. John brings us both of these concepts, and again it is why John's gospel is so important to the New Testament. 

Another important aspect of this verse is when John says, "Jesus came full of grace and truth." This is another perfect desriptor of his nature. Jesus was full of grace as seen with the woman caught in adultery, but full of truth as he rebuked the Pharisees for their legalism and self righteousness. None of us can be perfectly full of grace and truth, as we usually lean toward to one side or other, but Jesus did and he can help us to do this. 

John the Baptist Denies Being the Messiah

It is was important for John to make it unmistakeably clear that he was NOT the Messiah. Like any prophet he spoke the Word of God that had been revealed to Him, but John was the greatest prophet in that he introduced the Son of God to the world. The people thought he was an incarnation of Elijah, who was one of the greatest prophets to the Jewish people, but John made it clear that his role was much different than Elijah's. 

John Testifies About Jesus

You can see the gospel writer John spends more time than any other gospel describing the other John, John the Baptist. John was writing to a Jewish audience so it was critical for him to connect Jesus with the Old Testament. When John saw Jesus he said, "Look the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." Only the Jewish people would understand what he was saying, because the the Lamb refers to the Passover lamb, who was killed and whose blood was poured out for the forgiveness of their sin. The lamb was a "type" of what was to come. We call this "typology" in the bible where it uses images and metaphors to explain spiritual truths. 

When John baptized Jesus, he saw the Spirit descending upon him like a dove. Again we see the Trinity at work in Jesus' baptism. The God the Spirit descended upon him and God the Father said the words, "This is my Son with whom I am well pleased." 

John’s Disciples Follow Jesus 

John moves to the calling of the disciples starting with his own disciples. He mentions two disciples who took a particular interest in follow the "rabbi" Jesus. The first was Andrew, who then told his brother Simon Peter, who we now know was Peter, the famous apostle. 

Through the centuries, this is how most people come to faith in Jesus Christ. A Peter has an Andrew who introduces him to Jesus. This is natural, because it is the nature of Christian experience that those who enjoy the experience desire to share their experience with others. (Guzik)

“‘Andrew finds first of all his own brother Simon’: which implies that afterwards the brother of the other of the two was also found and brought to the same place and on the same day.” (Trench)

Andrew was nicknamed 'the bringer" because he brought people to Jesus. You may not be as gifted verbally with those who don't know Jesus, but you can bring them to Jesus and your church to hear about him! 

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

Tbe next two disciples are slighly different in that Jesus personally calls Philip, and then he finds his brother Nathanael. Again we see the relational style of evangelism with one person introducing Jesus to someone they know. Nathanael needs to overcome his prejudice about the fact that Jesus grew up in Nazareth. He says, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth." Nazareth was in the "sticks" and Nathanael falsely assumed the Messiah could not come from such an obscure place. 

Rather than upbraiding Nathanael, he says that he is a man "without guile". The term means that Nathanael did not wear a mask. Jesus appreciated his frank honesty. Whereas Peter, Andrew, and Philip were all from the town of Bethsaida on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, Nathanael was mostly from Cana, about 3 miles from Bethsaida. Jesus shows his divine nature by saying he had seen him under the fig tree. Nathanael is also called "Bartholomew later.

Notice how each of these first four disciples encountered and came to believe in Jesus in different ways:

  This section of John shows four ways of coming to Jesus:

· Andrew came to Jesus because of the preaching of John.

· Peter came to Jesus because of the witness of his brother.

· Phillip came to Jesus as a result of the direct call of Jesus.

· Nathaniel came to Jesus as he overcame personal prejudices by a personal encounter with Jesus.

- Guzik

How did you come to Jesus? Your testimony is the most important tool you have to introduce others to Jesus!