Why did the disciples follow Jesus? I woke up at 3 am this morning pondering this question... and this is precisely why I don’t go to bed early. I decided to call it an early night and rest up for my drive back home to the KY today, so I went to bed around 10:30. Planned on sleeping in, but(and gladly - I think my body is finally getting used to the 4.5 hour/night plan) I woke up at 3 feeling refreshed and ready to go. So I spent most of the morning in the gospel of John trying to figure out why these guys just dropped everything and followed Jesus.
There’s probably a whole lot of historical stuff, relational connections, etc, that I know nothing about, but here’s what I came up with...
The disciples followed Jesus because someone told them to - the power of testimony. So in John 1 we’ve got John the Baptist, he sees Jesus and says, “Lamb of God.” Andrew and undisclosed disciple x are around and hear him, so they follow Jesus. Andrew goes to Peter says, “Messiah,” Peter follows. Philip’s calling is a little bit different. Phil’s chilling, Jesus sees him and says, “Follow me,” Philip follows. Philip goes to Nathanael says, “The one Moses wrote about in the law,” Nathanael follows him. And the following begins.
What we don’t see here is the backdrop – the history between all these people. Andrew and disciple x are disciples of John, they know him, they trust him. He has earned their favor, their ear, and the right to be heard. And I think that’s why they follow Jesus – they’re just going on the word of a man they call friend. Peter follows Jesus because Andrew is his brother and he said to. Philip’s calling kind of throws a wrench in there, but no doubt there are other reasons these guys follow Jesus. After all, he is God, so he kinda has that sort of power. Nathanael is the most intriguing case here in the calling of the first disciples in John 1. He must have really thought something of Philip, because when Philip tells him about Jesus, it looks like he doesn’t really believe what Philip says, but decides to check it out anyway.
Andrew, disciple x, Peter, and Nathanael all start to follow Jesus for the simple reason that someone they knew and trusted told them to and invited them along side of them. Did they have any idea what they were getting into? I don’t think they had a clue... But what you’ve got is a group of guys huddled around this Jesus character, this person tells that person, that person tells that other person, and on and on. Pretty soon it’s growing more and more as each person tells another person, until finally you see this huge movement and large crowds are gathering. A community is built. This community starts traveling around, others begin to see this following and are observing the way these folks interact and handle themselves, it’s attractive – and people want it. So they start inviting others into this established community of people who seem to have something going on in them, like they’ve got some sort of answer. And they do have the answer, WE HAVE THE ANSWER... How crazy is that? The answer to the question everyone is asking... Where is life? Where is truth? What is the way? When people ask questions like, “What are you doing tonight,” that’s what they’re looking for. Where’s the exciting stuff happening? Do you have something I don’t? I wanna be at that party... I want to be a part of something. And we have that something!
People will follow you into something when they feel like you care about them, that they can trust you, that you are their friend. “Big doors swing on small hinges”... a great leader has a great ability to move a great amount people towards something. This can be a scary thought... great leaders don't always lead you to great places. You better be leading them into something that can deliver, or else you’re gonna lose them. Luckily, we follow the CREATOR of life, so I think he knows a thing or two about where you can find it...
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