Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone)

 

 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold!  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!  This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.'  I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water."  And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.  I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'  And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."

Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples.  And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!"  The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.  Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, "What do you seek?"  They said to Him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), "where are You staying?"  He said to them, "Come and see."  They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).    One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.  He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the Christ).  And he brought Him to Jesus.  Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah.  You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone).

 

- John 1:29-42 

 

Yesterday we read the testimony of John the Baptist, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"  He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ."  And they asked him, "What then?  Are you Elijah?"  He said, "I am not."  "Are you the Prophet?"  And he answered, "No."  Then they said to him, "Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us?  What do you say about yourself?"  He said:  "I am 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Make straight the way of the LORD,"' as the prophet Isaiah said."  Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees.  And they asked him, saying, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"  John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water, but there stands one among you whom you do not know.  It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."  These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.   

 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold!  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!  This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.'  I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water."  And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.  I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'  And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."  This is the second day given in John's Gospel, in a parallel to the creation story in Genesis.  John the baptist declares here that Christ baptizes with the Holy Spirit, which is greater than his own baptism of repentance, performed with earthly water alone.  We should note in this context that when Jesus discusses Christian baptism with Nicodemus in chapter 3, the words translated as "born again" literally mean "born from above" in the Greek text (John 3:1-8).   My study Bible suggests this parallels the separation of water above from the water below on the second day in Genesis 1:6-8.   My study Bible also comments that John's declaring Jesus as the Lamb of God recalls Isaiah's "Servant of God" who dies for the transgressions of His people (Isaiah 53:4-12).  Christ is the true Paschal or Passover Lamb, and offers Himself for our deliverance from darkness and death (1 Peter 1:18-19).  My study Bible also cites St. John Chrysostom, who teaches that Jesus came to John the Baptist this second time in order for John to make this declaration, thereby stopping anyone from thinking that Jesus needed baptism to wash away sins.  Note also that the Spirit remained upon Him; this is considered in tradition a sign that Christ possesses the Spirit in His fullness from all eternity.  In other words, He did not receive the Holy Spirit at His Baptism.  Instead, this vision which John saw revealed the truth that the Holy Spirit has always rested on Christ.  

Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples.  And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!"  The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.  Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, "What do you seek?"  They said to Him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), "where are You staying?"  He said to them, "Come and see."  They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).    One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.  He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the Christ).  And he brought Him to Jesus.  Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah.  You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone).  Christ's first disciples were already followers of John the Baptist.  They were Andrew; Simon (also known as Peter, or Cephas); Philip and Nathanael (also known as Bartholomew; see verses 43-45); and an unnamed disciple here in today's passage, who some patristic commentaries say was John the Evangelist, author of this Gospel.  It was a common literary device, my study Bible says, for a writer not to give his own name (see Luke 24:13).  This is the third day given in John's Gospel, in which John the Baptist sends two disciples to Christ whom Christ gathers to be His own, declaring Simon (Peter) Cephas, meaning A Stone, and revealing him to be the foundation of the Church (see Matthew 16:18).  My study Bible says that this parallels the gathering of the waters and the establishment of growth on the land in the third day in Genesis 1:9-13.

In yesterday's reading and commentary we remarked upon the understanding that it is in being face to face with Christ that we find our true identity, true self.  St. John the Baptist shows himself (again in yesterday's reading, above) as one who is supremely humble before Christ, and thereby apprehends entirely his place in salvation history as prophet, and last in the lineage of the Old Testament prophets, herald of the Christ.  In today's reading, we are given a taste of the same phenomenon regarding identity, when Jesus names Simon Cephas, or A Stone.  The name "Peter" is also derived from the Greek version of this name, Petros, meaning Stone.  As we read in the Gospels, Peter is practically anything but a stable stone to begin with.  He is frequently carried away by his emotions.  He challenges Christ's prophecy of His death by denying that this was even conceivable, and in so doing is "rewarded" with a remarkable rebuke from Jesus ("Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men" - Matthew 16:23).  He fails to stay awake and pray with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane (Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" - Matthew 26:40-41).  Of course we all know about his denial that he was a disciple of Christ three times before a servant girl, while Jesus was on trial inside the home of the Chief Priest (see Matthew 26:69-76), deeply humiliating and disappointing himself.  But it is Peter who confesses Jesus to be Christ, the Son of the Living God (Matthew 16:16), and it is upon this rock of faith that Christ says He will build His Church.  Of course, Peter would go on to be a great leader and spokesperson among the apostles, leading the Church in its birth and infancy, and dying a death of martyrdom, also prophesied by Christ in this Gospel (John 21:15-19).  So, in today's reading, when we read, Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah.  You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone), it is clear that this is a revelation of identity that no one else knows:   not Peter, not his brother Andrew, nor none of the disciples.  It is an identity that would not surface in its fullness until much, much later, and would be revealed through Peter's life subsequent to Pentecost, and in its fullness only in the duration of Peter's life.  But nevertheless it is yet another demonstration about identity found only in our relationship to Christ.  The Lord is called the "heart-knower" (Acts 1:24), rendered a single word in Greek:  καρδιογνώστης/kardiognostes.  For those who would follow Him, it is in the relationship -- specifically in a life of prayer and also participation in the other sacraments and worship of the Church -- that we come to find ourselves, to know ourselves, as it is Christ who truly reveals the heart.  We may seek to imitate and adopt all kinds of things and images we learn from the world around us, but the depths of the heart are found there, in a prayerful life, and in the realities of the struggle for faith and truth we will find in such a life with Christ.