No better invitation than ‘Come and See’

Jan 12, 2024

Reflecting on our Sunday Readings with the HERALD team

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
Readings: 1 Samuel 3:3-10, 19;
1 Corinthians 6:13-15, 17-20;
Gospel: John 1:35-42

“What are you looking for?”

These are the first words of Jesus in John’s Gospel. This simple question is addressed to two disciples who follow Jesus down the road. He turns and asks them this question — “What are you looking for?” sometimes translated as “What do you want?”

It is no accident that John has included this question at the beginning of his Gospel. I am sure that this question that Jesus asks is intended not only as a question of the first disciples but also as a question for every reader of this Gospel.
And what a question. In fact, isn’t this the question.

Every philosophy, every religion, every person asks this question of their life — what is it that I want? What am I looking for? What is life really all about?

Perhaps the disciples aren’t really sure, because they don’t answer Jesus directly, instead they inquire about where He is staying. They want to spend time with Jesus and get to know Him, after all, John has been making big claims about this man.

And so, Jesus replies: “Come and see” or as the Message translation of the Bible puts it: “Come and see for yourself.”

What an invitation that is. That is the invitation of Jesus to the first disciples, and it is the invitation to every reader of John’s Gospel ever since — “Come and see for yourself.”

At the start of a new year, perhaps there is no better invitation?

At the beginning of every new year we are more prone to ask the question “what is it that I am looking for?” We are more inclined to examine our lives and ask the question “Am I happy with where I am at?” “Is this what it is all about?”

The invitation that we read in today’s Gospel is to hear this question on the lips of Jesus — “What are you looking for?”
And then the follow up invitation… “Come and See.”

It’s very important for us to hear this invitation for what it really is.

Jesus doesn’t offer a three-point sermon to the disciples. Jesus doesn’t give them a sales pitch or try and convince them then and there that he really is just as amazing as John the Baptist has made him out to be.

Jesus simply invites these new disciples to be with Him.

This is what being a disciple of Jesus is about. It is about being in the company of Jesus and learning from Him, getting to know Him, growing in relationship with Him.

The disciples perhaps don’t know quite what they are looking for, even if they did it doesn’t seem that Jesus is going to give it to them all at once.

What we discover quickly here in John’s Gospel is that the answer to the deepest longings of humanity isn’t an intellectual solution or philosophy, it is a person. It’s a relationship. The word became flesh.

The disciples are invited to come and stay with Jesus. The invitation is to stay and to remain with Jesus, to abide with Him.

This invitation is for us all. It isn’t conditional. It’s not as if the disciples had done anything to qualify as special. Jesus openly invites them to be with Him, and He invites us too.

Jesus is open for inquiry; intellectually, emotionally, we are invited to look at Him, to hear Him, to pray to Him, to ask of Him.

A question we ask each other a lot over January is “how was your Christmas?” or “How was your holidays?”

We post photos of our celebrations and holidays on Facebook. As humans we just love to share this stuff. We want to share what matters to us, we want to share stories of the fun we have had, the people we care about, what is going on in our lives.

We are creatures that love to show and tell and in today’s Gospel reading from John we see this element of show and tell at play.

One of the disciples who had been with Jesus all day was Andrew. He was so excited about his encounter with Jesus that he just had to share it and so he goes and finds his brother Simon.

When he finds him he does two things — he tells him about Jesus and he offers to show him Jesus.

First of all, Andrew tells Simon about Jesus. He says: “We have found the Messiah.” Messiah means “the anointed one.”

In the Old Testament kings were anointed for their role, so were priests and prophets. The term was often used in anticipation of the one who would come to rescue the people of Israel. Here is Andrew saying to Simon — he is here, we have found him!

Secondly, Andrew shows Simon. “He brought Simon to Jesus.”

Words are good, but as the first disciples discovered, it is meeting Jesus that really counts, it is meeting Jesus and encountering Him that will bring transformation.

For Simon it all begins here. In anticipation of who he will one day become, Jesus gives him a new name. He will be called Peter.

Simon experiences Jesus who gives him a new name, a new identity, based on who he will become as a follower of Jesus.

In doing this Jesus also calls Peter into a role and makes a claim on Him. Peter will be no passive admirer of Jesus, but the one on whom Jesus will build the church.

And so now Peter is a disciple and the process continues, he will go on to make more disciples.

Being a disciple is accepting the invitation to come and be with Jesus, to follow Him and to stay with him. Secondly being a disciple is sharing Jesus with others, that they may become disciples.

It really is simple.