What's In A Name?

Read John 1:35-42

Context: John the Baptist was in Bethany (2 miles east of Jerusalem) baptizing people in the Jordan River. Jesus has already been baptized, and John testified to his followers that he had seen the Spirit of God descend upon Jesus after he was baptized.

Text:
35The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!"
37When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?"
They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?"

39"Come," he replied, "and you will see."
So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.

40Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). 42And he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter). (NIV)

taken from www.biblegateway.com

This passage raises lots of questions for me. Andrew and Simon lived in Bethsaida at this point in their lives, 75 miles away from Bethany. Why were they there? Were they both followers of John the Baptist (this passage indicates Andrew probably was). Were they on their way to Jerusalem for a religious holiday, or were they getting supplies for their fishing business?

Simon was renamed the very first time Jesus laid eyes on him! We know that as we get to know Simon more, he was impulsive and unstable – not whom I would expect to become a leader of the early Church. Yet Jesus didn’t see Simon as the world saw him – he knew what Simon would become – a rock, a pillar of strength for all believers to follow. I wonder if Simon (and his brother) thought this new name was a joke – sort of like calling a man who is bald “Curly” or a huge line backer “Tiny”?

Jesus sees us as we will be, not as we are. If he met you today in the street, what do you think Jesus would name you?