“They
said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?”
He said to them, “Come, and you will
see.” So they went and saw where he was
staying, and they stayed with him that day.” [John 1:38–39]
Jesus’
invitation was unique: “Come, and you will see.” With that invitation, these two disciples (Andrew
and John) went and remained with Jesus that day. But that’s not all that happened. It’s clear that by spending the day with
Jesus, these two disciples came to faith in Who Jesus was. Later in the passage, Andrew goes to his
brother Peter to tell him, “We have found the Messiah.” What was it about their day with Jesus that
convinced them of Who He was?
Though the
details of their stay with Jesus are not included in the Gospel, it seems clear
that simply being in Jesus’ presence is all that these disciples needed. Consider, again, Jesus’ twofold invitation: “Come…”
followed by “and you will see.”
When our
Lord speaks to each of us, His invitation is quite similar. First, He will invite us to come with Him. We are to come to the place where Jesus is
staying. Where is that? For us, it’s not necessarily a physical place;
rather, it is first and foremost a place of prayer. We must hear Jesus invite us to come to Him
through the interior journey of personal prayer. It is there, within the depths of our soul, that
we will rest with our Lord. He invites
us to simply be there in His divine presence.
When we come
to Him and rest with Him in His presence, another thing will happen: “and
you will see.” We will see Him, come to know Him, be enlightened by Him and
come to faith in Him. At first, this
happens by His spoken Word. Ultimately,
this takes place through an interior revelation that we can only receive in
prayer.
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