January 4, 2019

Gospel: John 1:35-42

On the following day, John was standing there again, with two of his disciples. As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and said, “There is the Lamb of God.” On hearing this, the two disciples followed Jesus. He turned and saw them following, and he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They answered, “Rabbi (which means Master), where are you staying?” Jesus said, “Come and see.” So they went and saw where he stayed, and spent the rest of that day with him. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard what John had said, and followed Jesus. Early the next morning, he found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means the Christ), and he brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John, but you shall be called Cephas” (which means Rock).

Reflections
“What are you looking for?”
What is our purpose in the brief, precious time we are given in this life? What is it that we are looking for? That is the question that Jesus put to the disciples of John the Baptist who suddenly left their former master and began tagging along after him: “What are you looking for?” Of course they were seeking the deepest meaning of life, God’s will for their lives, the coming of God’s Kingdom… They hardly knew how to put it into words, though they sensed that this mysterious stranger somehow held a key to the answers. In their awkwardness they gave just about the lamest possible reply: “Where are you staying?” To this Jesus simply replied, “Come and see.” Which they did. We approach the Lord awkwardly, hardly knowing the words to express the deepest questions in our hearts. But he knows what we are seeking, and he knows that the only answer comes from seeing for ourselves: What it is like to live in his presence, to tag along after him and observe his ways, to find where he is staying, with the hope that we might stay with him forever.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019