Gospel Reflection Sunday January 14th 2024 – Third Sunday of Ordinary Time

By Fr Brian Maher OMI

Gospel Reflection for Sunday January 14th 2024 | 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

If I was going to be stranded on a desert island and could only take one story from the Gospels with me, I think I would choose today’s Gospel as the story I would take.

There is just so much going on in this encounter between Jesus and his first disciples. Every word spoken raises questions and suggests meanings which cry out for reflection and prayer. In a short reflection such as this one the danger is trying to say too much and thereby saying nothing at all. Too much rich food, though wonderful to eat, leads to indigestion!

What I will try to do, then, is go through the story raising some of the questions it evokes without offering too much reflection, and then, at the end, I will point to one or maybe two ideas we might think and pray about ourselves.

First off, how I wish I could have been present to witness this encounter between Jesus, his first two disciples and, a bit later, Andrew’s brother, Simon (Peter). To stand, quietly and unseen, beside John the Baptist as he points to Jesus as the “Lamb of God” would be fascinating. How would they have understood his statement? Was he suggesting they leave him to follow Jesus or was he, perhaps, asking them to go and check this Jesus out, to find out a bit more about him and report back?

The relationship that existed between Jesus and John also raises some interesting questions for me. Certainly, John knew Jesus fairly well – after all Jesus had been baptised by him. and we know Jesus grieved after John was executed by Herod. Maybe Jesus was a disciple of John, learning from him how the promised Messiah was expected and perhaps feeling within himself the first stirrings of the part he was to play in this coming of God’s Kingdom? If not a close disciple of John, Jesus certainly spent time on the periphery of his group.

This, of course, raises questions about Jesus’ self-understanding at the start of his ministry. To say he was God and therefore knew everything about himself is, I think, way too simple. He was also fully human and like all humans did not know everything  – even though, sadly, we often think we do!  The journey of Jesus through his next three years is, without doubt, one of self-discovery as well as ministry to others.

It is worth remembering that his first act after calling his Apostles was to withdraw into the desert where he would be savagely tempted to forget about God altogether and focus on becoming a powerful human leader, maybe even leading Israel against the Roman occupiers. Surely these temptations show us how he was learning about himself as he gradually moved towards self-understanding, the cross and then the resurrection.

After John’s statement, Andrew and the unnamed disciple follow Jesus at a distance. Why do this? Why not just speak to him directly? They all knew John and therefore knew each other. Why were they hesitant? Were they unsure of what, if anything, they wanted to say? Might they even have been suspicious that Jesus intended undermining what John was doing? As John’s followers they might resent that.

Jesus saw them and turned around …. It reminds me a bit of one of those detective movies where someone is being followed secretly and spots it. Suddenly he darts into a dark alley, only to jump out catching the person following unawares. No doubt that did not happen, but Jesus does become aware that he is being followed before he speaks to them.

And then he asks, “What do you want?” or sometimes translated, “What are you looking for?” It is a pointed, challenging and not particularly friendly question and maybe we should not be surprised by that. Jesus would not have been amused to find that he was being followed. His question is saying, “If you guys are following me, you better have a good reason, so what do you want?”

I wonder were Andrew and his friend embarrassed that they were caught following him? Were they surprised by Jesus’ question? Were they even sure themselves why they were following him?

They answer by asking another question, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” This question seems to be a non sequitur and doesn’t naturally follow from what Jesus asked them. Perhaps they were caught unawares and said the first thing that came into their heads!

Why I wonder, did they call him ‘Rabbi’ (teacher)? John the Baptist, while not a Rabbi, at least had some training in the Law of Moses from his father Zechariah, who was a priest. Jesus was a carpenter and would have had no formal training in Jewish Law or priesthood. This seems to suggest that they already recognised something different in him and wanted to find out more. (If I wanted to be cynical – which I don’t – I could suggest that after the embarrassment of being caught following him, they wanted to placate him, and calling him “Rabbi” [teacher] is a compliment.)

What did Jesus make of the question? He must have initially wondered why they wanted to know where he was staying or living. But then, after perhaps a few moments thought, he answered them and it is in his answer that we see for the first time the outreach, trust, openness and honesty which will define the rest of his ministry.

“Come and see…” changed everything. From that moment on they live for Jesus, and later they die for Jesus.

That moment also changed our world forever. A train of events had begun which could never be stopped. We are reading this reflection because of the invitation of Jesus to “come and see” and because they had the courage and openness to respond to that invitation.

So they went and they saw!  We are not told where they went or what they saw but we know it was about 4.00pm and “they spent the rest of the day with him.”  What did he show them? What did they speak about? What questions did he ask them and what questions did they ask him? Did they discuss leaving John and starting their own ministry? We will never know, but whatever was said convinced Andrew that he “had found “the ‘Messiah”. And not only that, but he went immediately to his brother Simon (Peter) and dragged him to meet Jesus too.

The rest, as they say, is history!!

Let me finish with just one thought which, I think, is central to this entire story.

From every viewpoint, including that of Jesus, this encounter is about a person rather than a message or philosophy or even a way of living.

At the beginning, John points to a person – “Look, the Lamb of God.”  When they look, what they see is a person – Jesus.

It is that person they follow at a distance, watching him.

Jesus sees them and engages with them. He asks, “What are you looking for?” Their reply is again about the person, rather than a teaching or message. They ask: “Where are you staying?”

Jesus does not begin telling them about his ideas or his plans. Instead, his answer is about himself, “Come, and see.”

When Andrew tells his brother Peter that “we have found the Messiah” he is doing so based on the person he met and spent time with.

Finally, and I think this is important, when Jesus meets Peter he introduces himself to him in a deeply personal way – he gives him a new name.

There is nothing more personal to us than our name. Our name identifies us. Our dignity as a person is in the name we are called. By changing his name Jesus is touching Peter at a profoundly personal level. Somehow, Jesus and Peter are now uniquely joined together. It is a bond that will lead Jesus to call Peter his ‘rock’, and it is a bond deep enough to survive betrayal and denial.

The entire story is about coming to meet and spend time with the person of Jesus… and that means the human person of Jesus…the person Andrew and his companion followed, the person with whom they spent the evening.

All of those who came to follow Jesus, during his life and afterwards, did so based on a personal relationship they came to have with him. St. Paul, who never met Jesus, is absolutely adamant that he, too, is an Apostle “because he met the Lord on the road to Damascus.” He says, “…and last of all, like to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.”

And it is the same for us. Only when we meet the person of Jesus, only when we enter into a relationship with him, can we call ourselves his disciples. And only after meeting him will we have something of value to share with others, because what we share is a person – Jesus of Nazareth.

The invitation of Jesus was to “come and see…” Andrew and his companion and Peter accepted that invitation.

Pope Francis, in his 2013 message to the Church (The Joy of the Gospel), reissued the same invitation in different words: “I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ.” (EG 3)

It is never too late to respond!

Many thanks,

Brian.

If you have any comments, questions or thoughts on this scripture reflection, please feel welcome to email me at b.maher@oblates.ie

‘We have found the Messiah’