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 were given the first day of seven in the ministry of Christ.  It began with the testimony of John the Baptist:  Now this is the testimony of John, 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."  My study Bible comments that John's declaration of Jesus as the Lamb of God is a recollection of Isaiah's "Servant of God" who dies for the transgressions of His people (Isaiah 53:4-12).  Christ is the true Paschal (Passover) Lamb; He offers Himself for our deliverance from darkness and death (1 Peter 1:18-19).  According to St. John Chrysostom, Jesus came to John this second time in order for John to make this declaration; thereby it stops anyone from thinking that Christ needed baptism to wash away sins.  

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."   My study Bible remarks on the passage telling us that the Spirit remained upon Him.  It notes that this is a sign that Christ possesses the Spirit in His fullness from all eternity.  Christ did not receive the Holy Spirit at His Baptism.  This vision that John saw revealed the truth that the Holy Spirit has always rested upon Christ.  This concludes the second day given in John's Gospel, in which John the Baptist declares that Christ baptizes with the Holy Spirit, which is greater than John's baptism of repentance, which was performed with water and on earth.  It parallels the separation of water above from water below on the second day of creation is Genesis 1:6-8.

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).  Here we learn that Christ's first disciples had been first followers of John the Baptist.  These first two chosen as disciples of Christ are Andrew, and his brother Simon, also known as Peter or Cephas.  (Both Peter and Cephas mean A Stone, or Rock; Peter comes from the Greek Petros/Πετρος and Cephas is Aramaic in origin).  Here is the third day we're given in this Gospel, in which John the Baptist sends two disciples to Christ and Christ gathers them as His own -- one of whom He here declares to be the foundation of the Church (see Matthew 16:18).  This third day in the Gospel parallels the gathering of the waters and the establishment of growth on the land on the third day of creation in Genesis 1:9-13.  Let us note that there is a third person, unnamed, who has heard John the Baptist speak about Christ, and he is considered to be John, the author of the Gospel. 

As John's Gospel tells us the story, Jesus takes on His first disciples.  As noted above, there are actually two disciples who hear John the Baptist's  pronouncement, "Behold the Lamb of God!"   One is Andrew, and the other is not named.  These two disciples then follow Jesus and spend the day with Him.  This second, unnamed disciple is present to tell us that Andrew then went to find his brother Simon.  And then we hear something extraordinary.  Simon is brought to Jesus.  But then we're told, now when Jesus look at him, He said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah.  You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone).  In Matthew's Gospel, for example, Jesus tells Simon that he shall be called Peter in response to Peter's confession of faith, made on behalf of all the disciples:  "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (see Matthew 16:16-18).  But here, we have John the Evangelist's early witness (the one who does not speak of himself as the second disciple with Andrew).  John is telling us something very important about Jesus, and that is His ability, as a divine Person, to see into a person and know something about an outcome far away in time.  Jesus can see what we might call Peter's telos, or "end."  That Greek word means end, but in the sense of the fullness of a journey, completion.  We know all the hoops and pitfalls and stumbling blocks Peter will come to, for the New Testament tells us about many of them, but Christ sees the fullness of the outcome of Peter's life, and crowns him, "Rock" (or Peter, as derived from the Greek of the Gospels).  Christ's vision of Peter as he truly is, or will become, is a signal of His divinity given to us by John the Evangelist and disciple as witness.  He has insight into Peter that only Christ can have, for it is Christ who is the guardian and creator of the true image of who we are, and who we can grow into through the power and grace of the Holy Spirit.  As yesterday marked the Feast of the Transfiguration (Metamorphosis in Greek) for many denominations of the Church, this is a good example of what is understood as theosis.  That is, the process whereby a person, through participation in the life, death, and Resurrection of Christ, and through the grace of the Spirit, becomes transformed, transfigured into this image that only Christ can teach us about ourselves.  It is through spiritual experience that this happens -- that trying, difficult, stumbling, insightful, and exalting process that we see unfold in Peter throughout the New Testament and into the life of the early Church.  A classic statement regarding the understanding of Jesus Christ as God Incarnate is given by St. Athanasius and others:  God became man so that man could become a god (or "like god").  This is the power of faith, and the vision of Christ for Peter as Rock, that powerful rock of faith in his confession that would become the foundation of the Church, is our example of that statement.  Peter will grow to conform to the image that Christ has of who he is, and this is true of the process of faith (to work the works of God, as John's Gospel will tell us) for each of us.  Each one has a role to play, just like the anonymous witness in today's passage who would go on to give us this Gospel.  Let us be attentive to our faith in our daily life, and Christ's seeds giving birth within us to the life He offers, as He sees us.