The Epiphany was the manifestation of
the baby Jesus to the nations represented by the magi through the star as the
Saviour of the world. This Sunday is the manifestation of the adult Jesus to
his first disciples through John the Baptist as the “Lamb of God.”
As we go back to the Ordinary Time in the calendar of the Church, we are
reminded by our gospel today of the ontological question in life which Jesus
asked “What do you want?” The response of the first two disciples was
also a question: “Teacher, where do you live?” The classic answer of
Jesus was “Come and see.”
What do we really want in life? A happy family, security in the future, good
health, a wonderful career, etc.? These are all essentials to live a better and
fuller life which can only be achieved through our personal relationship with
God. To “come and see” is to respond to the invitation of Jesus to follow
Him and be with Him, to know Him better and to love Him more. The
disciples followed Jesus and stayed with him that night. Our relationship
with God entails “following” and “staying” with Jesus. Just as in any
human relationships, if we want to grow our relationship with God, we have to
invest our time, effort and our very selves. During this Ordinary Time of
the Church calendar, may we embrace and follow Jesus in the “scandal of the
ordinary”.
Andrew, after staying with Jesus, looked for his brother Simon and shared with
him his experience. Our relationship with God does not end in ourselves;
as it grows it overflows and seeks out to be channeled to others. As we
respond to the invitation of God to “come and see”, we cannot afford to just
contain the joy unto ourselves that is why we share our faith experience to
others. It was Andrew who brought Peter to Jesus; he also brought the boy
with the loaves (Jn. 6:8) and some Greeks to Jesus (Jn. 12:22).
Andrew’s role was an intermediary, that is to bring people to Jesus; how many
have we brought to God? After bringing his brother Simon to Jesus
who named him as the Rock, being the first pope of the Church, Andrew went into
the background. There was no sibling rivalry, no feeling of animosity nor
jealousy. Like Andrew, we should be happy to let others shine and be the
best of themselves even if this means for us to stay at the backstage or away
from the limelight.
Jesus’ calling of the first disciples reflect our own personal calling.
Because He knows us, He calls us by our personal name and when He looks into
our eyes He knows who we are and what we can become which is far better than we
can ever imagine. We just have to “stay” with Him always and let Him
surprise us beyond our imagining…
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