Thursday in the Christmas Season, January 4, 2024

John 1, 35-42

John was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah,” which is translated Christ. Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Cephas,” which is translated Peter.

St. John the Apostle never names himself in the Gospel of which he is the author.  At the same time, he cannot ignore or suppress his own involvement in the life of Jesus Christ.  He refers to himself as “the other disciple”, as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, and once with his brother James as “the sons of Zebedee”.  He does not want to upstage Jesus in any way.  We might compare how he hides himself with St. Matthew, who tells the story of his call by Christ and never refers to himself by name again.  In today’s Gospel Reading we see Saints Andrew and John, disciples of John the Baptist, go to see who is this “Lamb of God” whom John the Baptist points out to them.  They do not ask John what he means by calling this Galilean “the Lamb of God” but John speaks as though this man were more important than himself.

“What are you looking for?”  The Lord’s question is echoed by the priest during the rite of Baptism when he asks the parents, “What do you seek for your child?”  The answer is “eternal life”.  The Lord leaves the question open.  In this way the men who approach him could take his measure and simply walk away.  But they are curious and determined to know him.  They are a little nervous, though.  The Nazarene’s turning to speak to them caught them by surprise.  Their reply, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” is as open as his question to them.  We should notice how casual this meeting begins.  We should also notice that John and Andrew call Jesus “Rabbi”, “teacher”, although they had not heard him teach.  In fact, nothing in the Gospel to this point indicates that Jesus had begun to preach.  They seem to accept The Baptist’s commendation of Jesus as a significant person in their religion — his superior — and so addressing him as “Rabbi” seemed appropriate.  “Come and see.”  The invitation is open too.  He does not say to them, “Let us get together and talk.”  He simply offers them a chance to see where he lives.  At the time he was most likely taking shelter in the niches in the rocky hills in that part of the country.  John the Baptist probably slept in a similar place.  Probably they saw where he lived, that it was not a proper house but a humble place, and they sat on the ground and talked.  They had come to hear Jesus talk and so they might have asked a couple of questions in the beginning but then spent the next few hours listening.  We can imagine the effect he had on them from Andrew going immediately to find his brother Simon and telling him that they had found the Messiah.  We can also get an idea of their experience from Luke 24, 32, where the two disciples on the road to Emmaus realize that they had been talking to the risen Jesus: “Was not our heart burning within us, whilst he spoke in the way and opened to us the scriptures?”  And also from the report of those who reported on him to the Pharisees and chief priests in John 7, 46: “Never did anyone speak like this man.”

We imitate John and Andrew when we kneel before the Lord in prayer.  We may tell him what is on our mind to start, but let us also allow him to speak to us, listening carefully with our hearts.