“The power of introduction”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Wednesday, August 3, 2022
John 1:29-42 (Forward, p. 5) CEV p. 1101
One of my favourite authors once had a chapter entitled, ‘The power of introduction’ and nowhere could this be better illustrated than by today’s episode from the Holy Scriptures. First off, we see John the Baptist pointing out Jesus to the crowd and giving Him a rather fine and full introduction:
“Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! He is the one I told you about when I said, ‘Someone else will come. He is greater than I am, because he was alive before I was born’. I didn’t know who he was. But I came to baptize you with water, so that everyone in Israel would see him” (verses 29-31).
John continues on in this vein, and concludes by saying, “I saw this happen [that is, seeing the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus], and I tell you that he is the Son of God.” It is a pretty impressive introduction indeed, and all the more so, coming from John the Baptist.
However, John is not finished with his introductions. The very next day John is there with two of his disciples, and actually points out Jesus as being ‘the Lamb of God.’ At that, the two disciples left John and went off with Jesus.
And, the incidence of introductions in today’s account doesn’t end there. One of the two followers of John was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, and what does Andrew do but go and find his brother Peter and bring him to Jesus. And there is the start of something rather wonderful. (Actually, if you notice elsewhere in the gospels, Andrew does seem to have a knack and a propensity for introducing people to Jesus: the boy with the loaves and fishes, for instance (John 6:8-9) or the Greeks who wanted to meet Jesus (John 12:20-22).
There are two dynamics here that I find most refreshing. Firstly, neither Andrew nor John the Baptist were in the slightest afraid that they might lose something for themselves by Introducing Jesus to others and sharing Him with them. Many people of a lesser sense of self-esteem might be quite fearful of losing something precious and so might want to hold on to Jesus, as a kind of personal possession, but not either of these two.
No, in rather stark contrast to this attitude, is their sense that here is something too good to keep to one’s self—that Jesus just had to be shared with others, and probably, the more the merrier. They knew that here was someone that really needed to be known further afield, and so they were doing their level best to do so.
And so, this poses a question, a challenge, for each of us: namely, what about us? Are we freely sharing Jesus with others, introducing Him to others? I dare say that many of us, especially from the ‘old guard’, the old mainline denominations, would be quite intimidated by this prospect. But there is some good news that might help us overcome this mental hurdle, this hesitancy. If you look closely at these two sets of introductions, a couple things that might put our minds at rest:
a) Firstly, there is next to no theology being shared, only a personal experience. The closest thing to theology here was John’s testimony of how God spoke to him about recognizing the Messiah when He came.
b) And secondly, in both cases, it is basically a matter of one person introducing a friend to another friend. And, how natural that is: we probably do this almost every day. And how very easy. However, somehow, with Jesus, we make it oh so very complicated.
Of course, the reality that Jesus is no longer physically present with us makes it much trickier, but it still isn’t that hard. It is simply a matter of asking, inviting, Jesus to come into one’s life. And, after hearing us describe our own experiences of Him in our own lives, there is abundant and compelling reason for that other person to do so. (Here is where knowing our faith stories and being able to ‘tell our own story’ is so essential.) So, here, is an area that we, everyone who knows and loves the Lord Jesus, can do our part, can introduce others to Jesus. Amen.
Forward notes: “[Jesus] said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come and see’” (verses 38b-39a).
“’Come and see!’ That’s what an artist colleague says when someone asks what she is painting. ‘Come and see the glowing sunshine, the rippling water that inspired me.’ Come and see the artwork itself. It’s paint, yes, but it’s also an experience of a new perspective. Seeing my friend’s paintings is like walking through unknown forests, feeling the wind, hearing the rustle of the leaves.
“Seeing is so much more than looking at the surface, which is why the invitation the disciples received to ‘come and see’ is priceless. What Jesus is saying is, ‘Come and see where I live. Come and see what I do. Come and see who I am.’ He is offering them himself.
“Like the disciples standing with John the Baptist, we too have a special invitation. If we ‘come and see,’ we will be called to bear witness to the true meaning of hospitality. Jesus’s home is our home too. He is the host.”
MOVING FORWARD: “How can you respond to Jesus's invitation to ‘come and see’"?
