"For the Sake of the Call" - John 1:35-51

"For the Sake of the Call" is a great contemporary song that has become a theme song for ministry for me for many years. It begins,

"We have abandoned it all for the sake of the call. No other reason at all, but for the sake of the call. Wholly devoted to live and to die...for the sake of the call."

You may want to pull up the song on You Tube. In these verses from John 1, we have the call of Andrew, Simon Peter, Phillip, Nathanael and another not named who joined with Andrew. Both Andrew and the unnamed one were disciples of John the Baptist first.

The picture here is of people who want to just "hang out" with Jesus and find out what he is about. So they follow after him and Jesus asks them an important question for all of us, "What do you want?" Jesus would ask people who needed healing the same question, "What do you want me to do for you?" While this question may seem unnecessary, it does bring us to focus on what our true motivations and needs are. Seeing that they just want to be with him and start a friendship,Jesus invites them to "come and see." After spending the day, Andrew decides that Jesus is the Christ and tells Peter.

In the other gospels, Peter is the first to acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ, but here we are told that he first got that from his brother, Andrew. One of the things you will notice in the gospel is a bit of competitiveness between John (the disciple and gospel writer) and Peter, so Peter has a less noble profile here than in Mark's gospel. The naming of Simon as Petros or Cephas, meaning "rock" or "stone" is significant. We could call him "Rock" or "Rocky," but Peter was anything but a rock. Eventually he did become rock-solid, and the leader of the Jewish part of the Church as well as the one who helped open that church to Gentile followers. Jesus gave him a name that spoke not of who he was, but who he was to become. I wonder what name Jesus would give you or me.

When we get to the calls of Phillip and Nathanael, a trend becomes obvious. These people were in friendship networks before they followed Jesus. Peter, Andrew, James and John were business associates. Peter, Andrew and Phillip were from the same home town, Bethsaida. In this passage Phillip goes to his friend, Nathanael. I love Nathanael's reaction about Jesus, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" The cluster of towns around the northern part of the Sea of Galilee were well-connected. Nazareth, on the other hand was east of there in an area that was known for its conflict, crime, and poverty. Phillip simply says to Nathanael what Jesus said to Andrew and the unnamed disciple, "Come and see."

Jesus' reaction to Peter is telling. Instead of being defensive, Jesus says, "I see we have one who tells it like it is." When Jesus tells Nathanael he saw him before Phillip ever approached him, he is surprised and deeply moved. He is the next one to claim Jesus as the "Son of God." Then Jesus says there will be lots more astonishing things he will discover as he follows Jesus, actually for illustration purposes, recalling Jacob's ladder and his mystical experience in Genesis 28.

This is one of the places where I see Jesus honoring positive doubt. Jesus always invited and encouraged people to faith, but he was not put off with people's honest but searching doubt. I have discovered that same openness on the part of the Lord in my own walk.

A closing question begs our response. "What is God's call on your life?" It's not just for preachers or for a select few. Christ calls you just as you are (like Nathanael) and invites you to become more than you imagine (just like Peter). But it eventually is a call to "total surrender", to "abandoning it all for the sake of the call."