The next day John the Baptizer saw Jesus walking toward him and blurted out, “Here he is! The sacrificial lamb sent from God to neutralize the sins of the world! 30 He’s the one I’ve been talking about. Remember when I said, ‘There is someone coming after me who is more significant than me -- someone who existed before I was born.’ 31 Even I didn’t realize that he was the one. I was just doing my job -- baptizing with water so that the people of Israel, once they were cleaned up, might recognize him as he revealed himself.”
32 Then John wrapped up his testimony about Jesus, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven to land on him -- just as a dove circles in from the sky to perch. 33 That clinched it for me. Up to that point I didn’t realize that he was God’s Chosen One, but the one who sent me out baptizing with water told me, ‘When you see the Spirit dropping down to rest on someone you’ll know that he is the one who will be baptizing with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I’ve now seen this happen to Jesus and solemnly swear that he is God’s Son.”
35 The very next day John was hanging out with two of his apprentices 36 when Jesus again walked by. “Here he is!,” John exclaimed, “The sacrificial lamb sent from God!” 37 The two apprentices heard -- REALLY HEARD -- what John was saying; so they left him and followed Jesus.
38 When Jesus noticed that he was being followed he asked the two, “What do you want?”
They said, “Teacher, where are you staying?”
39 He replied, “Come along and see for yourselves.” So they tagged along, and not only saw where he was staying but they stayed with him. (That all happened about 4 PM.)
40 One of the two apprentices who heeded John’s advice, shifting to follow Jesus, was Simon Peter’s brother, Andrew. 41-42 He’s the one who then went to find his brother with the news, “We’ve found God’s Chosen One!” (which is translated Christ). Andrew led Simon to Jesus.
When Jesus saw him, he said, “Simon Johnson, I’m going to call you Cephas.” (Cephas is the Aramaic equivalent to the Greek name Peter -- which, of course, means “Rock.”).
