John 1:40-42 40Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus. 41This one first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah,” which is translated as Christ. 42He brought him to Jesus. Looking at him, Jesus said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas,” which means Peter.
We are now introduced to two future disciples of Jesus. The first one, Andrew, was one of the two disciples of John. His religious sincerity is assumed because he followed John. He may have been seeking the Messiah. When John pointed out Jesus as the Lamb of God, that spark ignited the fuel in Andrew’s spirit. Andrew saw something in Jesus that he longed for. In his excitement, he found his brother Simon. The author, John, introduces Simon’s name along with the nickname that Jesus chose, which is also explained in these verses. The readers of this Gospel would recognized Peter’s name but probably not Andrew’s.
Andrew was a remarkable person because of what he did next by finding Simon. Much has been made in naming Andrew as an example of witnessing. He sought out his brother and brought him to the Messiah. Because of his new faith, he showed Jesus to his brother. The simple story is that he believed his brother would also be interested in Jesus. Andrew’s statement is straight to the point and shows no doubt or hestitation. The we in his statement to Simon indicates that others were involved and had come to believe in Jesus. John inserts two parentheses in these verses to explain in Greek the meaning of the Hebrew names.
The first thing Jesus did to Simon was change his name to the Aramaic Cephas, which is tranlated into Greek as Peter. There is no further description of the meaning of this word, but the reader of the Greek text would know this name in both languages means “rock.” Jesus saw the potential for stability and firmness in Peter, although Peter had to go through many challenging situations that honed and shaped him into a rock. Simon was far from a rock at this point but would go on to become the key leader in the early church.
Jesus does the same for all his followers. There are latent possibilities and hidden strengths in every person that find fulfillment and best results when that person is born again by the Holy Spirit. Many people allow the world and Satan to distort these special giftings from God. Imagine the greatness of the human race if every person sought God’s will and allowed the Holy Spirit to grow the gifts he has created in each person!
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