Day Three!

John 1:35-42

The following day John was again standing with two of his disciples. 36As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and declared, “Look! There is the Lamb of God!” 37When John’s two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus. 38Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you want?” he asked them. They replied, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” 39“Come and see,” he said. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon when they went with him to the place where he was staying, and they remained with him the rest of the day.

40Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of these men who heard what John said and then followed Jesus. 41Andrew went to find his brother, Simon, and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means “Christ”). 42Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus. Looking intently at Simon, Jesus said, “Your name is Simon, son of John—but you will be called Cephas” (which means “Peter”).

Food for thought!

We are on day three in Jesus’ first work week. You remember we started by verse 19 where John the Baptist started to talk about Jesus. Then, in verse 29, we saw “the next day”, that was day two. Today, the gospel says “the following day,” which is day three in Jesus' first week. On this day, again we see John the Baptist pointing beyond himself. He must have known very well that to speak to his disciples about Jesus like that was to invite them to leave him and transfer their loyalty to this new and greater teacher; and yet he did it. There was no jealousy in John. He had come to attach men not to himself but to Christ. There is no harder task than this; many times many people don't see beyond the preacher. John was not like this: as soon as Jesus emerged on the scene John never had any other thought than to send men to him.

So the two disciples of John followed Jesus. It may well be that they were too shy to approach him directly and followed respectfully some distance behind. Then Jesus did something entirely characteristic. He turned and spoke to them. That is to say, he met them half way. He made things easier for them. He opened the door that they might come in.

Here we have the symbol of the divine initiative. It is always God who takes the first step: "You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you" (John 15:16). When the human mind begins to seek and the human heart begins to long, God comes to meet us far more than half way. God does not leave a man to search and search until he comes to him; God goes out to meet the man. When we go to God we do not go to one who hides himself and keeps us at a distance; we go to one who stands waiting for us, and who even takes the initiative by coming to meet us on the road.

Jesus began by asking these two men the most fundamental question in life. "What are you looking for?" he asked them. It would be well if every now and again we were to ask ourselves: "What am I looking for? What's my aim and goal? What am I really trying to get out of life?"

Some people are searching for security. All they want in life is enough money to meet the needs of life. This is not a wrong aim, but it is a low aim, and an inadequate thing to which to direct all of life.

Some people are searching for a career, for power, for prominence, for prestige, for a place to fit the talents and the abilities they believe themselves to have, for an opportunity to do the work they believe themselves capable of doing. If this be directed by motives of personal ambition it can be a bad aim; if it be directed by motives of the service of our fellow men it can be a high aim. But it is not enough, for its horizon is limited by time and by the world.

Some people are searching for meaning in life. That is, they are searching for something to enable them to live at peace with themselves, and at peace with God, and at peace with other people. It is to these people that Jesus says, “Come and see!” When Jesus says: "Come and see!" he is inviting us, not only to come and talk, but to come and find the things that he alone can open out to us.  “Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." (John 6:35).

John (not the Baptist but the writer of today’s gospel reading) finishes the paragraph with the words, "It was about four o'clock in the afternoon." He finishes that way because he was one of the two disciples himself that Jesus met on Day Three. John could tell the very hour of the day and no doubt the very spot of the road he was standing on when he met Jesus. At four o'clock on a spring afternoon in Galilee, life became a new thing for John.