The Word Made Fresh
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Everything came into existence through him; nothing came into existence without him. What came into existence 4through him was life, and that life was everyone’s light. 5It shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overtaken it.
6There was a man named John who was sent from God. 7He came as a witness to the light so that through his witness everyone might believe. 8He wasn’t the light himself, but came as a witness to the light. 9The true light that is revealed to everyone was coming into the world.
10He was in the world, and the world was created through him, but the world didn’t know him. 11He came to his own people, but they didn’t accept him. 12To those who did accept him – those who believed in his name – he gave the power to become God’s children 13who were born of God – not just of blood or the desires of the flesh or the will of humanity.
14And the Word took on flesh and lived in our midst. We have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s only Son, filled with grace and truth. 15John bore witness to him, announcing, “The one who is coming after me was before me and ranks ahead of me.” 16From him we have all received boundless grace. 17The Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has seen God, but God’s only Son is close to God’s heart, and has made God known.
19When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to question John, 20he told them plainly, “I am not the Messiah.”
21“Then, who are you? Elijah?” they asked.
He answered, “No.”
“Are you the prophet?” they wanted to know.
He said, “No.”
22They persisted, “Then who are you? We need an answer for those who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?”
23He said, “I am a lonely voice crying out in the wilderness to prepare the way of the LORD as the prophet Isaiah said.”
24The Pharisees had sent them. 25They asked, “Then why are you baptizing people if you aren’t the Messiah, or Elijah, or the prophet?”
26John answered, “I am baptizing with water. But there is another one among us whom you don’t recognize, 27and he is coming after me. I’m not worthy to even untie his sandals.”
28This happened in Bethany, across the Jordan river where John was baptizing. 29The very next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and called out, “Look! Here is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30He is the one I was speaking of when I said, ‘After me comes one who ranks above me because he was before me.’ 31I didn’t realize who he was, but I came baptizing people with water so that he would be revealed to Israel.”
32Then John declared, “I saw the Spirit coming down from the sky like a dove, and it settled on him. 33I wasn’t aware of who he is, but the One who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and settle is the very one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34And now I myself have seen it, and I declare to you that this is God’s chosen one!”
35The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36As he watched Jesus walk by, he declared, “Look! Here is the Lamb of God!”
37His two disciples heard him say it and they followed Jesus. 38When Jesus saw them following, he said, “What are you looking for?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means ‘Teacher’), “where are you staying?”
39He answered “Come and see.” They followed him to where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was mid-afternoon.
40One of them who had heard John speak of Jesus and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41He found Simon and said, “We have met the Messiah” (which means ‘Anointed One’). 42He brought Simon to Jesus, and Jesus looked at him and said, “So, you are Simon, son of John? From now on you will be known as Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
43The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said, “Follow me.” 44Philip was from Bethsaida, as were Andrew and Peter. 45He found Nathanael and said, “We’ve found the one about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote. He is Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”
46Nathaniel replied, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
Philip said, “Come and see for yourself.”
47When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said, “Here is surely an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
48Nathanael responded, “How do you know me?”
“I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you,” Jesus answered.
49Nathanael blurted out, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
50Jesus said, “Do you believe simply because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things.” 51Then he added, “I’m telling you the truth – you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
Commentary
1-10 John’s task is to testify to the Light, which he holds to be God’s presence among them, and to introduce the True Light (Jesus, of course), who’s job will be to present more fully the Light.
10-13: The mission of the True Light is explained in more detail. He will empower those who believe in him to become children of God, born of spirit and not just of flesh and blood. It is a new step in the evolution and development of God’s relationship with people.
14-18: Jesus appears, described by John the baptizer as “the Glory of God’s only Son,” who brings grace and truth to supplement (or replace?) the Law.
19-23: Now we move into the historical narrative. John, the author of the book of John, then begins his story of Jesus with an account of the activity of John the baptizer. We are immediately informed of the interest of the Jewish officials in what John the baptizer is doing, although to this point we have no idea what he is doing or where he is doing it. Nevertheless, it is clear that there is considerable interest in him, and their questions reveal what people are saying about John; that he is the Messiah, or Elijah, or the promised prophet to come, all of which John denies. He only claims to be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy of the “voice crying in the wilderness” (Isaiah 40:3).
24-28: We learn more in this short paragraph. The Jews mentioned in verse 19 turn out to be specifically the Pharisees, whose initial interest in John may simply reflect their sincere belief that the Messiah would come. They apparently have the idea that when the Messiah does come he will undertake the task of baptizing those who will join his movement that will restore Israel’s greatness. Thus, we learn that John is baptizing people, and what’s more, he is baptizing them in the Jordan River at a village called Bethany. This is the only verse in the Bible that mentions Bethany “beyond the Jordan,” meaning east of the Jordan, in what is today the nation of Jordan. There is another Bethany near Jerusalem where Lazarus lives with his two sisters Mary and Martha.
29-34: Notice that in this gospel it is never said that John baptizes Jesus. We are told that John sees Jesus coming toward him and announces that Jesus is the “Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world,” a designation loaded with all kinds of religious images. Twice John declares that he does not know Jesus (although in Luke he and Jesus are cousins). He testifies that he saw the Spirit like a dove descending upon and remaining on Jesus, perhaps an image taken from the story of Noah on the ark getting ready to embark into a new world.
Furthermore, John makes it clear that his commission from God is to baptize with water until he sees the one on whom the Spirit descends, and that one will begin to baptize “with the Holy Spirit.” Finally, John announces that Jesus is the Son of God.
35-42: Jesus has not just come to the Jordan to be baptized. He has remained in Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan at least for several days. When John sees him again a day or so later he points Jesus out to two of his own disciples (Andrew, and another man who is unnamed), and tells them that Jesus is the “Lamb of God.” They call Jesus “Rabbi,” and ask where he is staying. Andrew in turn brings his brother Simon whose name Jesus immediately changes to Cephas. Peter is the English version of the Greek name Petros, which is the Greek version of the Aramaic name Cephas. It is worth noting, of course, that in the synoptic gospels Simon doesn’t get a nickname until much later.
Notice here that Simon and Andrew, who were Galilean fishermen, are found at the Jordan River where they had undoubtedly gone to be baptized by John, and that at least one of them, Andrew, was a disciple, or follower, of John.
43-51: Philip is perhaps another of John’s disciples who has become an acquaintance of Jesus; some commentators imagine that he was Andrew’s unnamed partner in verse 35. After all, they are all three from Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus decides it is time to go to Galilee, and invites Philip to go with him. Philip recruits Nathanael and brings him to Jesus. The exchange between Jesus and Nathanael begs more information. When Jesus designates him as one “in whom there is no deceit,” he may simply have been commenting on his name, Nathanael, which means “Gift of God.” The reference to the fig tree is completely obscure and we have no idea why Nathanael is so impressed that Jesus could have seen him there, or why he is thus immediately convinced Jesus is the Messiah and gushes, calling Jesus the Son of God. Jesus replies with another confusing statement in which he refers, not to the Son of God, but to the Son of Man. The imagery of angels climbing up and down a ladder or stairway between earth and heaven is of course from the story of Jacob (Genesis 28:12).
Takeaway
Jesus, the Son of God, was sent into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. God wants to claim us, not to condemn or dismiss us. Our souls are enriched when we set aside some time each week, or even better, each day, to focus on the things of faith. Even a few minutes in prayer each day will create extraordinary changes in who we are because we will be acknowledging whose we are.