looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of

God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed

Jesus' (John 1:35-37).

We do not know if these two disciples had been present the

previous day, but if they had, the repetition of the testimony seems to

have been blessed to them, and if they had not they now had the

opportunity of heeding it. John knew that he must decrease, and the

movement of his two disciples was for him the beginning of the end.

But what a glorious end, to preach away one's disciples so that they

become followers of Christ. It seems that our Saviour, seeing them

following Him, encouraged them by the inquiry, `What seek ye?' It is

salutary that we should be met with this question at the beginning of

our discipleship. What are we seeking? What is our quest? What are

our motives? Their reply was simple, almost naï ve, `Rabbi, where

dwellest Thou?' It will be observed that the apostle here feels called

upon parenthetically to interpret for his reader the title of `Rabbi'.

This, of itself, indicates the writer's anticipation of his Gospel having a

Gentile audience, and a Gentile audience far removed from Jewish

influence. Any synagogue-goer would know the meaning of `Rabbi'

and even those Gentiles to whom Paul spoke in the synagogue at

Antioch would have no need of John's interpretation. When, however,

we observe that in this Gospel interpretation of Hebrew or Aramaic

terms is customary, it becomes evident that the readers John envisaged

could not have been Jews. Not only is `Rabbi' interpreted, but so also

is `Messias' (1:41), `Cephas' (1:42), `Siloam' (9:7) and `Rabboni'

Possibly the question `Where dwellest Thou?'  covered deeper

feelings, but, whatever their degree, the Lord is not One Who quenches

smoking flax, and He replied by the invitation, `Come and see'. No

description is given of the humble abode of the Son of God, but one

cannot refrain from thinking of the wonder of those few hours spent

beneath that roof with such a teacher. From that abode these two

disciples went forth with the conviction that they had found the

Messiah. `One of the two which heard John speak, and followed Him,

was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother' (1:40). Who was the other,

unnamed, disciple? John never names himself in this Gospel: in the

ordinary way he would almost certainly have given the names of both

disciples. So also we read: