Jesus The Seeker

John the Baptist intended for all those who had heard his message to leave him and join Jesus. He understood that once the Messiah whom he had been sent to announce appeared, his own ministry would fade.

A Jesus Encounter

Again the next day John stood with two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!” And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. John 1:35-37

Jesus Always Points the Question

Jesus’ Asks, “What Are You Seeking?”

John 1:38 And Jesus, turning around and seeing them following him, said to them, “What do you seek?”

They heard John the Baptist speak of Jesus and it struck a responsive chord; and immediately they followed Jesus. Jesus immediately asked them, “What are you seeking”?

These four words go right to the heart of life. In them Jesus asks the most profound question in anyone’s life:

“What are you looking for?”

Jesus Invites Seekers

John 1:39 He said to them, “Come and you will see!” So they came and saw where He was staying, and they stayed with him that day (it was about the tenth hour).

Jesus’ response shows how well He understood mankind. He gave them an invitation to come and investigate.
He said, “Come and find out; ask what you want.”

The Finders Become Seekers

Andrew Seeks Peter

John1:41 He first found his own brother Simon and said unto him, “We have found the Messiah.” (which is, being interpreted, “the Christ”)

Now Andrew after having made up his mind about Jesus, comes to Peter with the exciting words, “We have
found the Messiah!” At last we have found the One of whom all the prophets speak!

Andrew became the first to discover that the most common and effective Christian testimony is the private
witness of friend to friend, or brother to brother.

Jesus immediately seizes on the meaning of his name: Simon, you are now a listener. You are easily affected by the opinions and attitudes of others. He is easily influenced, impetuous and impulsive, running after every word he hears. Jesus says ‘you will become a rock,’

Philip Is Found and Follows Jesus

John 1:43 The next day He decided to leave for Galilee. Jesus found Philip and told him, “Follow Me!”

Jesus gives Philip a direct challenge to Come and Follow Him.

Philip Seeks Nathanael

John 1:45 Philip found Nathanael and said unto him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets wrote: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

Philip bases his appeal to Nathanael on Scripture: “This is the one of whom Moses and all the prophets spoke, the Messiah.”

Skeptics Are Welcome To Investigate Jesus

John 1:46 And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see!”

Nathanael is speaking with some degree of scorn, but Philip’s answer is very wise: Come and see. The One whom I am talking about will stand on his own feet. It doesn’t matter where he comes from. If he is the Messiah, you’ll find it out when you talk to him.

These Jesus Followers Are Promised Something

John 1:51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly I say to all of you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

Jesus draws a parallel to the Jewish forefather Jacob. The disciples are promised a heaven-sent confirmation
that the one they have acknowledged as the Messiah has been appointed by God.

Here at the start of His ministry, Jesus is conscious of the final culmination, and in apocalyptic end times language,
He sets forth the dignity and majesty of His Person.

Here in the New Testament Gospel of John we see five men who met the Lord and the Lamb. They were all different, ordinary people, just like us.

What great lessons this teaches us.

We see that Jesus seeks us right where we are, and does not handle that first encounter the same with each person. He knows what to send into each of our lives in order to get our focus on Him.

What are we looking for?