The first followers of Christ.

(John 1:35-51).

After the devil’s temptations, the Lord Jesus Christ headed anew toward Jordan to John. In the meantime, on the eve of His return, John gave a new triumphant witness of Him before the Pharisees — but this time, not as the coming but the arrived Messiah. One Evangelist — John, narrates this event. The Jews sent to John from Jerusalem, priests and Levites to ask him, who he is — maybe Christ? Because according to their understanding, only Christ-Messiah could baptise. “He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ” (John 1:20). To the question as to who is he, perhaps a prophet, he calls himself: “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness” (John 1:23), and emphasises, that his baptisms — like his entire ministry — are all preparatory. In order to put aside further questions, he concludes his answer with a triumphant declaration: “there stands One among you Whom you do not know. It is He Who, coming after me, is preferred before me” (John 1:26-27). He emerges for His ministry after me, but has eternal existence and Divine worthiness, “Whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose” (John 1:27). This witness was given in Bethabara — where masses of people used to flock to John.

“The next day,” ie. the next time, after the 40-day fast and the devil’s temptations, Jesus again comes to John at Jordan. Upon seeing Him, John announces to everyone: “Behold! The Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29); confirming that this is the Holy Spirit Baptiser, Son of God, as: “I saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him” (John 1:32).

The following day, after the personal witness of the arrived Messiah, Son of God, that had accepted all the sins of the world upon Himself, John was once again standing on the bank of river Jordan with two of his followers. Upon seeing the Lord, John again repeats the same words: “Behold! The Lamb of God.” In calling Christ Lamb, John relates to Him the wonderful prophecy by Isaiah where he presents Messiah as a sheep led to slaughter — a mute lamb before his shearers (Isaiah 53:7). Consequently, the basic meaning of John’s witness lies in that Christ is the sacrifice, brought by God for humanity’s sins. But in John’s words about Jesus “Who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), this enormous live Sacrifice also represents the High Priest, Who celebrates Himself as the liturgy: accepts upon Himself the sins of the world and brings Himself as a sacrifice for the world.

On hearing this witness on Jesus’s Divinity, this time both of John’s followers accompanied Him to where He lived, and stayed from the 9^th hour (or, in our terms 4 o’clock in the afternoon) till late evening, listening to His dialogue, which increasingly instilled in them an unshakeable belief that He is the Messiah. One of the followers was Andrew, and the other — Evangelist John himself, whose narratives never mentioned himself in those events where he personally participated. Returning home after conversing with the Lord, Andrew was the first to announce that he and John had found the Messiah; he informs his brother Simon: “We have found the Messiah (which is translated, the Christ).” Thus, Andrew became not only known as First-Called follower of Christ, but also the first of the Apostles to proclaim Him and bring the future leader of the Apostles. When Andrew brought his brother to Christ, the Lord gazed upon him with a scrutinising glance and named him Cephas, meaning “rock,” ie. Petros (in Greek), or — Peter.

The following day, after Andrew and John’s visit, Jesus wished to go to Galilee and summoned Philip to follow Him. In locating his friend Nathanael, Philip tried to invite him, saying: “We have found Him of Whom Moses in the law , and also the prophets, wrote — Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” However, Nathanael rejoined: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Apparently, Nathanael shared a bias with many Jews that Christ, as a King with earthly greatness, will come and appear in glory among the higher echelons of Jewish society; apart from this, at that time, Galilee enjoyed a very unsavoury acclaim among the Jews, and Nazareth, this small township that is not mentioned anywhere in the holy writings of the Old Testament, in no way could be the birthplace of the Messiah, that had been promised by the Prophets. Philip did not see the need to refute his friend’s bias and offered him to convince himself in the genuineness of his words, saying: “Come and see.”

Being a forthright and sincere person, and wishing to investigate the veracity of his friend’s words, Nathanael approached Christ. The Lord, having witnessed the candour and artlessness of his soul, declared: “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” Nathanael expressed surprise — from where would the Lord know him, seeing him for the first time. So as to totally disperse Nathanael’s doubts and draw him toward Himself, Christ reveals His Divine omniscience by hinting at a private occurrence in Nathanael’s life, the meaning of which could only be known to him and nobody else: “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Whatever Nathanael was doing under the tree is unknown to us. But as we can see, there is a hidden mystery contained in this event, known only to Nathanael and God. This revelation startled Nathanael so much that all his doubts about Jesus dispersed: he realised that standing before him was no ordinary human, but One gifted with Divine omniscience, and he instantly believed Jesus to be the Divine Envoy-Messiah, expressing this with words filled with fervent faith: “You are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel.” There is a premise that Nathanael was in the habit of performing his established prayer rites under the tree and, apparently, at that particular time, he experienced a peculiar anguish during prayer, which clearly lodged itself in his memory and one, that none of the people knew about. This most likely is why the Lord’s words aroused such fervent faith in Him as the Son of God, to Whom the condition of every soul is opened.

To Nathanael’s exclamation, the Lord turns not only to him but to all His followers, predicting: “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” With these words, the Lord is saying that His disciples will see His glory with their spiritual eyes, that the ancient prophesy of heaven linking with earth by a mysterious ladder, which the Old Testament Patriarch Jacob foresaw (Gen. 28:11-17), through the incarnation of the Son of God, Who had now become “Son of Man.” The Lord often calls Himself this name; there are 80 instances of this in the Gospel. Through this, Christ positively and irrefutably confirms His human nature, and also underlines that He — is a Human in the highest meaning of the word: the ideal, universal and absolute Person, the Second Adam, the primal father of the new mankind that had been regenerated through His sufferings on the cross. In this way, the name does not appear in any way to denigrate Christ, but expresses His superiority above the general level, indicating in Him the accomplished ideal of human nature, which is necessary for Him to be in accordance with the thinking of His Maker and His Creator — God.