Short Meditations in John 1: 37. Followers
Jn 1:37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
Sometimes the most simple sentences contain the most profound details. We noted in a previous meditation that John had disciples, those who remained with him, who were perhaps taught by him and perhaps helped him. We also saw that Jesus passes by and John hails him for the second time as the Lamb of God. Now there must have been something about the way John said this that released his two disciples to leave him and go after Jesus.
So here we have the most simple of actions by these two men. They leave one man and go and follow another, and therein is the heart of the Gospel. Yes, it is all about Jesus and what he has done for us, but at the end of that it is all meaningless unless this simple act follows – you need to leave your old life and go and follow him.
Now in the four Gospels we see this happening again and again until there are twelve men following Jesus. Every time they had to leave what they were doing to follow him. Now why did they do that? There was something about Jesus that drew them; that was the first reason. But the second reason had to be so that they could join him in his life in what he was doing. They would learn from him and be changed, changed in who they were and changed in what they did in life.
Now of course they did that physically because Jesus was there in physical human form and so they physically left where they were living and working and went after Jesus. But of course Jesus doesn’t have just one physical body today, he has millions, all his followers, the church, so for us today we cannot ‘follow’ him physically in as much as we cannot follow a single human being physically. What we do is follow him in heart, soul and mind and we allow his Holy Spirit to teach us, guide us and lead us through life, but the same things happen – we mentally and spiritually leave the old life to embark on a new life.
The apostle Paul described ‘the old life’ that we leave behind: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.” (Eph 2:1-3) We have left all that to now follow Jesus and his way.
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