4th January 2018
1 Jn 3:7-10; Jn 1:35-42.
When we get to know someone, the first thing that we ask him or her is, "Where are you from?" This question shows our interest in that person. However when we ask that question we are also trying to learn a lot about that person without asking him or her many questions because in our mind, the city or village places that person within a particular cultural context. We associate places with entire cultures and traditions, with ways of living and ways of thinking. Sometimes, however, we can be put off track completely because our judgments are sometimes based on nothing more than stereotypes. We often fail to consider that even within a country, even within a city or even small town there are differences in how people think and behave.
Upon hearing John the Baptist indicate to the two disciples that Jesus is the Lamb of God, they wanted to get to know him more. They ask him the same question, "Where do you live?" Rather, they ask him a much more profound question: "Where are you staying? Where do you dwell?"
They were asking him much more than simply "Where are you from?" They are immediately captivated by this Lamb of God and want to enter into an intimate friendship with him.
Jesus does not give them addresses [or GPS coordinates either]. He merely invites them to come and experience for themselves, which is what they do. It is a step which they do and which knows no turning back.
What is the dwelling place that he shows them if he has "no place where to lay his head" (Lk 9:58)? The place that he shows them is nothing other than the same bosom of the Father. The place where Jesus dwells is not restricted to a physical landmark but the state of constant communion with the Father. This is what Jesus invites them to.
It is said that there was once a young woman sitting on the sea bank trying to fill a sieve with seawater. No matter how much she tried, the sieve could not hold any sea water and it would soon seep through the holes of the sieve. An old man stood there watching her for some time. Finally he approached her, took hold of the sieve and flung it into the sea. The young woman was all upset and started getting angry at him because he lost her sieve. "It is the only way to get it full of seawater and keep it so!" he told her.
This is the experience that the two disciples did. They were sensitive to this desire deep in their hearts to get to know Jesus more and allowed Jesus to draw them towards them.
Many people feel this same curiosity that these disciples felt in their hearts but are not able to name it, hence the recent interest in alternative religions and experiences.
Am I sensitive to this desire in my heart to get to know Jesus more and see where he dwells or has my heart become numb? Do I accept the invitation to "come and see" Jesus's dwelling place or am I afraid of losing "the place where I am from": my way of thinking, my lifestyle, my all-too-limited dwelling place?
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