Christ did not TELL them anything. Instead, He ASKED them… “What do you seek?”
There are so many stories in the Gospels about people finding Christ and following Him. Time and again we are told stories about how people saw Christ and left everything to follow Him. And while it is true that Christ was a controversial figure and that many of the powerful members of His community were opposed to Him and His teachings, what is also true is that those who knew Him loved Him and followed Him tirelessly until the point of His death…
I have been meditating upon the story of Saint John the Baptist calling Christ the “Lamb of God” and sending his own disciples to follow Christ…
“John was standing with two of his disciples; and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God!’ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned, and saw them following, and said to them, ‘What do you seek?’ And they said to Him, ‘Rabbi...where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come and see.’ They came and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.” (John 1:35-42).
And I have been reflecting on the magnetism of God in the Person of Jesus Christ, God the Son…
You see, when Christ was on Earth how He physically looked was irrelevant. Perhaps there were more physically beautiful specimens of men in the area in which He grew up. Perhaps there were those who were more attractive and popular to look at. But what is important to remember about Christ is that He was certainly magnetic.
Now, some of the people who were attracted to Christ oved Him because He did something for them. Perhaps He healed their sick (or they themselves) or perhaps He was infinitely kind to them when they were disenchanted and ostracised from their society? But for others – like the disciples of Saint John the Baptist – Christ did nothing for them other than walk on by and let Saint John the Baptist send them to Him…
And then when they came to Him, Christ did not TELL them anything. Instead, He ASKED them… “What do you seek?” And there they stood – struck dumb – with those words, that question ringing in their ears for perhaps the first time in their lives, “What do you seek?”
And as they stood there, the Holy Spirit surely filled their hearts and they thought to themselves, I seek YOU, I seek YOU, I seek YOU…
And in that moment of magnetism between the Creator and His created, the world changed. For those men, followed Him and by their following, they changed the world.
For if it was not for the following of those disciples two thousand years ago, how could I have ever realised the magnetism of my Beloved, and how could I ever have followed Him too?
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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