In today’s Gospel we discover more and more about Jesus as we come with the first disciples to question and see Jesus:
“‘Rabbi’…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).
Today’s Gospel picks us that same question of where Jesus comes from and where he is staying.
“You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”
The Evangelist uses the device of misunderstanding or double meaning. We think we know where Jesus comes from. He comes from Nazareth or so we think:
“Philip found Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.’ But Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come from Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’” (John 1:45-46)
We think we know “where” Jesus is from and that he is the “son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” But we need to discover the mystery, the deeper truth about Jesus and where he is from. Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel: “Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me…I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” Jesus is talking, of course, about his heavenly Father. The full truth about Jesus is that he comes from heaven and is the Son of God. He is the Word made flesh who reveals to us the one true God:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1, 14).
The mystery of John’s Gospel is the mystery of God. God reveals his love for each of us in the life of service and sacrifice of his beloved Son. Jesus issues an invitation to each of us today: “Come, and you will see.” When we see and hear Jesus we see and hear God. Let us come today to listen to the voice of Jesus as he speaks to us.
Image: “18 Jesus teaching from a Boat (Sermon by the Sea)” by fz1844 is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.