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Come and See!
Today’s gospel story is replete with enigmatic sayings. John the Baptist saw Jesus walk by and declared: “Behold, the Lamb of God.” Nowhere else is Jesus called the Lamb of God. When Jesus noticed that two of John’s disciples started following him, he asked: “What are you looking for?” Instead of answering directly to the question, they responded: “Rabbi, where are you staying?” Again, rather than giving them a straight answer, Jesus told them: “Come, and you will see.”
Andrew was one the two disciples of John, who started following Jesus. He told his brother
Simon, “We have found the Messiah (Christos in Greek, meaning the Anointed),” and brought him to Jesus. Looking at Simon, Jesus said, “You will be called Cephas.” Cephas in Aramaic means the Rock. Neither the Greek equivalent Petros nor Cephas is attested as a personal name before Christian times.
Our life is full of surprises. Certainly, the interactions described in the gospel are not just enigmatic but mysterious. We do not need to understand everything in life to appreciate and engage in the wondrous mysteries of life as it unfolds before our eyes according to God’s plan.
We may wonder how we exist at all beyond the obvious fact of our parents’ act of procreation. Precisely, only God creates, and we humans procreate, thus cooperating with God. We exist because God has called us into being. Hence, we truly exist with vigor and meaning if we properly respond to the Lord. Through the coaching and guidance of Eli, Samuel was able to respond to God: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” Through the invitation and prompting of Andrew, Simon was taken to Jesus and received a new name, a new identity, Peter, the Rock. Paul refers to our true status, “You are not your own. You have been purchased, and what a price! So glorify God in your body.”
The human person is the hearer of the Word (Karl Rahner). The human person is a dialogical event. We are created to be God’s dialogue partners. Through the life-giving Word, God has created us. From eternity God has planned our creation. When we attentively listen to the Word of God and keep it, we are truthful to our raison d’etre. Happiness is in hearing the call of God and responding to Him with our whole heart. This is how we were wondrously made and how happily we live our life. “We are made for God and our hearts will be restless until they rest in God” (Augustine).
At the outset of this new year, we are invited to listen to the Word of God first and foremost. When we waste too much time reading newspapers and watching news on TV, while failing to read the Bible or other means of God’s communication to us, we will be perpetually perturbed and agitated. I suggest that we all spend more time reading and listening to the Word of God, that is, Jesus Christ himself, who is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. To listen to him, we need to keep silence and solitude. If our minds and hearts are filled with cacophony, there is no room for God’s Word. Make room for him. Spend 15 or 30 minutes or an hour every day to dialogue with God, which is called a prayer. The invitation of the Lord is ever before us: Come and see!
Fr. Paul D. Lee