Setting the Scene
Picture the Jordan valley, somewhere around AD 28 to 30; nobody can fix the year more closely. Imagine the heat of the rift, far below the level of the sea, the light hard on the water and the smell of mud and reed where the bank is churned by feet. At Bethany across the Jordan, a man in a garment of camel's hair stands in the river. The current slaps at his waist, people murmur as they wait their turn, and there is a splash as one more goes under.
Picture a coin passing between two hands on the bank, stamped with the face of Tiberius. Pilate governs Judea, and Herod Antipas rules Galilee and Perea, the land east of the river. Yet the people are waiting, Luke tells us, wondering whether this baptiser might be the Christ. Priests and Levites have come down from Jerusalem to ask him to his face, and he has told them he is not. He is only a voice, he says; someone they do not know already stands among them.
Yesterday he pointed that man out. Now the baptiser stands with two of his own disciples, and someone is walking by. Watch John's eyes. They leave the crowd and follow the man along the bank, and his lips begin to move.
The map
Walk Andrew’s route on the relief map.
- Bethany across the Jordan John 1:28
- Bethsaida John 1:44
One question to start
1Level 1: Observation
Read verses 35 to 42 again. What does Andrew do after his day with Jesus, and what does only Jesus do?
Carry on with the whole session
Members see the whole session as the app shows it: the readings, the talk, the word studies, all three levels of question, the challenge and the prayer.