John 1:5-51

And this Light never fails to shine through darkness— Light that darkness could not overcome! Suddenly a man appeared who was sent from God, a messenger named John. For he came as a witness, to point the way to the Light of Life, and to help everyone believe. John was not that Light but he came to show who is. For he was merely a messenger to speak the truth about the Light. For the perfect Light of Truth was coming into the world and shine upon everyone. He entered into the world he created, yet the world was unaware. He came to the people he created — to those who should have received him, but they did not recognize him. But those who embraced him and took hold of his name he gave authority to become the children of God! He was not born by the joining of human parents or from natural means, or by a man’s desire, but he was born of God. And so the Living Expression became a man and lived among us! We gazed upon his glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father overflowing with tender mercy and truth! John announced the truth about him when he taught the people, “He’s the One! He’s the One I’ve been telling you would come after me, even though he ranks far above me, because he existed before I was even born.” And from the overflow of his fullness we received grace heaped upon more grace! Moses gave us the Law, but Jesus, the Anointed One, unveils truth wrapped in tender mercy. No one ever before gazed upon the full splendor of God except his uniquely beloved Son, who is cherished by the Father and held close to his heart. Now that he has come to us, he has unfolded the full explanation of who God truly is! Now this was John’s testimony when some of the Jewish leaders sent an entourage of priests and temple servants from Jerusalem to interrogate him. “Who are you?” they asked him. John answered them directly, saying, “I am not the Messiah!” “Then who are you?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?” “No,” John replied. So they pressed him further, “Are you the prophet Moses said was coming, the one we’re expecting?” “No,” he replied. “Then who are you?” they demanded. “We need an answer for those who sent us. Tell us something about yourself—anything!” John answered them, “I am an urgent, thunderous voice crying out in the desert—clear the way and prepare your hearts for the coming of the Lord YAHWEH!” Then some members of the religious sect known as the Pharisees questioned John, “Why do you baptize the people if you are neither the Messiah, Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize the people in this river, but the One who will take my place is to be more honored than I, but even when he stands among you, you will not recognize or embrace him! I am not worthy enough to stoop down in front of him and untie his sandals!” All these events took place at Bethany, where John was baptizing at the place of the crossing of the Jordan River. The very next day, John saw Jesus coming to him to be baptized, and John cried out, “Look! There he is—God’s Lamb! He takes away the sin of the entire world! I told you that a Mighty One would come who is far greater than I am, because he existed long before I was born! My baptism was for the preparation of his appearing to Israel, even though I didn’t recognize him.” Then, as he baptized Jesus, he proclaimed these words: “I see the Spirit of God appear like a dove descending from the heavenly realm and landing upon him—and it remained on him! Before this I didn’t know who he was. But the one who sent me to baptize with water had told me, ‘You will see the Spirit come down and stay on someone. He will be the One I have sent to baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ Now I have seen this happen and I can tell you for sure that this man is the Son of God.” The next day, Jesus walked right past where John and two of his disciples were standing. John, gazing upon Jesus, pointed to him and prophesied, “Look! There’s God’s sacrificial Lamb!” And as soon as John’s two disciples heard this, they immediately left John and began to follow a short distance behind Jesus. Jesus turned around and saw they were following him and asked, “What do you want?” They responded, “Rabbi (which means, Master Teacher ), where are you staying?” Jesus answered, “Come and discover for yourselves.” So they went with him and saw where he was staying, and since it was late in the afternoon, they spent the rest of the day with Jesus. One of the two disciples who heard John’s words and began to follow Jesus was a man named Andrew. He first found his brother, Simon Peter, and told him, “We have found the Anointed One!” (Which is translated, the Christ.) Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus. When he gazed upon Andrew’s brother, he prophesied to him, “You are Simon and your father’s name is John. But from now on, everyone will call you Cephas” (which means, Peter the Rock). The next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee, where he found Philip. Jesus said to him, “Come and follow me.” (Now Philip, Andrew, and Peter had all grown up together in the village of Bethsaida.) Philip went to look for his friend, Nathanael, and told him, “We’ve found him! We’ve found the One we’ve been waiting for! It’s Jesus, son of Joseph from Nazareth! He’s the One whom Moses and the prophets prophesied would come!” Nathanael sneered, “Nazareth! What good thing could ever come from Nazareth?” Philip answered, “Come and let’s find out!” When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said, “Here comes a true son of Israel—an honest man with no hidden motive!” Nathanael was stunned and said, “But you’ve never met me—how do you know anything about me?” Jesus answered, “Nathanael, right before Philip came to you, I saw you sitting under the shade of a fig tree.” Nathanael blurted out, “Teacher, you are truly the Son of God and the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe simply because I told you I saw you sitting under a fig tree? You will experience even more impressive things than that! I prophesy to you eternal truth: From now on, you all will see an open heaven and gaze upon the Son of Man like a stairway reaching into the sky with the messengers of God climbing up and down upon him!”