AT HIS FEET

John 1:35-39
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust.

The First Disciples

35 The following day John was again standing with two of his disciples. 36 As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and declared, “Look! There is the Lamb of God!” 37 When John’s two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus.

38 Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you want?” he asked them.

They replied, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

39 “Come and see,” he said. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon when they went with him to the place where he was staying, and they remained with him the rest of the day.


My English teachers always taught me that it was improper to answer a question with a question. These new disciples obviously had different instructors in their language classes.

Jesus asked them, “What do you want?” They answered His question with another question, “Rabbi, where are you staying?”

Jesus never returns to the original question. Obviously He discerned from their question, the answer He needed.

What can we discern from their answer? First they called Him Rabbi, which means teacher. John the Baptist had pointed out Jesus as the Lamb of God. They recognized this as a reference to the promised Messiah. They wanted to learn from the Anointed One. Second, they asked about His residence. They wanted to go with Him, sit at His feet and be taught.

What a wonderful day it will be when all believers get to sit at the feet of the Great Teacher and learn the answers to all our questions. Even greater will be the desire to bow at His feet and worship! Jesus says, "Come and see."