Meet Jesus and tell others Second Sunday in Ordinary Time: Jn 1:35-42
The next day John was standing there again with two of his disciples, when he saw Jesus walking by. “There is the Lamb of God!” he said. 37 The two disciples heard him say this and went with Jesus. 38 Jesus turned, saw them following him, and asked, “What are you looking for?”
They answered, “Where do you live, Rabbi?” (This word means “Teacher”.) “Come and see,” he answered. (It was then about four o’clock in the afternoon.) So they went with him and saw where he lived, and spent the rest of that day with him. One of them was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 At once he found his brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah.” (This word means “Christ”.) 42 Then he took Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “Your name is Simon son of John, but you will be called Cephas.” (This is the same as Peter and means “a rock”.)
Other readings: 1 Samuel 3:3-10, 19; Psalm 40:1, 3, 6-9; 1 Corinthians 6:13-15, 17-20
LECTIO
The Gospels are not biographies of Jesus. Nor do they tell us everything about him.
The Evangelists wrote these accounts so we could meet and learn about the Jesus they knew. In today’s reading John relates how Jesus met his first disciples.
First, John the Baptist describes Jesus as “the Lamb of God” to two of his disciples. They are clearly interested to see what he meant by this because they then follow after Jesus. Jesus speaks to them and invites them to see the place where he is staying. We are told that this encounter takes place at four o’clock in the afternoon. They then spend the rest of the day getting to know more about him and his teaching.
Andrew was clearly impressed because he loses no time in telling his brother Simon that they have found the Messiah. Andrew then takes Simon to meet Jesus. Simon’s encounter with Jesus is dramatic. Jesus takes one look at him, tells him who he is and then gives him a new name: Cephas or Peter. In Jesus’s time, as today, a new name means a new identity. Peter was changed by his first meeting with Jesus and immediately left his job as a fisherman behind. But it was to take years of growing, loving and serving Jesus before he really became the rock on which Jesus was able to build his Church.
MEDITATIO
What can we learn from this passage about how people meet Jesus and become his disciples?
John the Baptist and Andrew both knew who Jesus was and then introduced their friends to Jesus. How did you find Jesus? Was it through the help of other Christians? Can you describe it in a few words? Ask God to show you ways you can help your friends meet Jesus.
Consider the description of Jesus as “the Lamb of God”. Meditate on the significance of this title. (See Exodus 12:1-14, Leviticus 16:5-10, 20-22, Isaiah 53:7.)
ORATIO
Lord, please help me to understand more fully what it means to be your disciple. Help me to deepen my relationship with you and help me to do all that you ask me to.
CONTEMPLATIO
Each of us is called in a different way.
The first reading from 1 Samuel 3:3-10, 19 explains how the prophet Samuel was called. God gave him a special role and the freedom to fulfil it.
We often hear that Jesus sets us free, but not free to do anything, as Paul explains in the second reading, 1 Corinthians 6:13-15, 17-20. In belonging to God we are called to be fully human and fully alive, revealing Jesus in our words and actions.
Lectio Divina is an ancient tradition of reading and engaging with God’s Word
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