Jesus’ invitation to Philip in today’s Gospel is simple, “Follow me.” How does Philip respond? He brings Nathanael with him to follow Jesus after telling him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote and the prophets.” Philip proclaims that Jesus fulfills the visions and promises of the Old Testament (“The Law and Prophets”) that he has been reading and studying since his childhood. Each Sabbath he would hear the Torah proclaimed in his synagogue in Bethsaida.
As today’s Gospel teaches, discipleship is not only “following Jesus” but also bringing others to Jesus. What we call evangelization. Like the first disciples to evangelize we need to learn more and more about Jesus and God each day. As the disciples follow Jesus, they discover new things about Jesus. He invites these first disciples not only to “follow me,” but also to “come and see” who he is and what he is about. That means to encounter him each day. What do they discover? They come to know that Jesus is the promised one of Scripture, he is a teacher or Rabbi, he is the Son of God and the King of Israel.” Jesus promises them access to God with himself as the ladder providing access to God: “you will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
As today’s first reading brings out this access to God through Jesus enables us to encounter the love of God. John addresses us as “beloved” since God loves us: “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7). We are children of God: “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God.” (1 John 3:1). Evangelization also means putting this love into action as we hear in today’s reading: “Beloved: This is the message you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another…” (1 John 3:11). Discipleship is a lifelong journey. Each day we are invited to follow Jesus and to encounter Jesus. When we come to Jesus we discover more about God and God’s love for us. We are invited to see ourselves as God sees us, as his beloved daughters and sons.
Image: “Icon Jacob’s dream and ladder” by bobosh_t is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.