John 1:35-42

John 1:35

The First Disciples.

I. We see here the very first beginnings of the Christian Church. With what reverent interest may we meetly regard this simple record of the beginning of that great kingdom which has made every other feel its sway. It has affected the stability of empires, overthrown old idolatries, exploded philosophies, and, in spite of opposition, has outspread itself already into almost world-wide breadth. And it begins here with the Divine quietness which is characteristic of God's mightiest works. We have here no visible king, no rapt prophet, no scribe even to make record at the time of the event. The only scroll is the heart of the simple, the only writer the unseen Spirit of God.

II. We see not only the beginning of the Church, but also the beginning of first movements of personal religion. How does spiritual life begin in the individual heart? It begins when the person comes to Christ. The disciples all came; they were all received; and in that personal reception their higher life began.

III. We have here the Divine method of extending religion and of multiplying the number of disciples. There is a beautiful exemplification here of the law of personal influence. The whole passage is full of findings by Christ and by the disciples. It seems to be with a direct purpose that we have this minute mention of the finding of one disciple by another, of him who has not yet been with Jesus by him who has. It is as if the Holy Spirit would set before us conspicuously, at the very opening of the Christian Dispensation, one of the great laws by which the whole economy is to be replenished with new life, and extended to still wider bounds. True, this is not the only law of growth: the kingdom is to be extended many ways by writing, by preaching, by quiet living, by suffering; but through all these it will be found, if we examine closely, that the personal element of religion permeates and lives. Whatever one possesses or attains in spiritual things he is bound, by the very law of the life he has received, to try and communicate to others who do not feel and possess as he does.

A. Raleigh, From Dawn to the Perfect Day,p. 250.

References: John 1:35; John 1:36. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. vi., p. 360. John 1:35. Ibid.,vol. i., p. 281. Joh 1:35-41. Ibid.,vol. vii., p. 275. Homilist,3rd series, vol. vii., p. 22. Joh 1:36. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xviii., No. 1060.