LIFE CHANGED BY AN ENCOUNTER

II SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME: Jn 1:35-42

John the Baptist had his own disciples; and many of them maintained their separate identity for long time, because Paul still found them in Ephesus (Act 19:1-3); however, others left John to follow Jesus, and John himself encouraged that, as we can discover in this Sunday’s Gospel. Impressed by their master’s words about Jesus, who he presented as the Lamb of God, two disciples followed Jesus behind with curiosity and apprehension. What kind of person was this Jesus, and how was he going to react?

What are you looking for?

Jesus felt the steps of people following him behind, and turning back, asked a very common and simple question: What are you looking for? This is a very deep and important question, which is asked of each one of us: What are you looking for? What is motivating you?

What answer do we give to this question? Most of the times, we do like those two disciples, who seemed to be caught by surprise, not knowing what to answer; so they replied with the most obvious, a simple question: Where are you staying?

Come and see

Jesus replied with an invitation: Come and see. And they went, and stayed with Jesus. That encounter and the following experience of staying with Jesus touched them deeply and changed their lives completely. Many years later, they still remembered that “it was about four in the afternoon” (Jn 1:39), when that encounter took place. To encounter Jesus is always a deep personal experience that marks our lives. Jesus does not impose himself on us; he just invites us to make the experience of staying with him.

“Come and see” is an invitation to each one of us. Faith is not something that you are told about; but it has to be a personal experience of Jesus that gives meaning and direction to our lives.

The experience had been so rewarding and joyful that they could not keep it a secret; on the contrary, they could not wait to go and share it with the friends.

In this short story, we discover that others, by their words and their deeds, can trigger our interest in Jesus; and that becomes the starting point of journey with Jesus. However, we must go after Jesus and make our personal experience of him. He welcomes us into his house like friends. After discovering him and accepting his invitation, we can say like Andrew: We have found the Messiah.