Christ's loving gaze
Gospel Reflection
John was standing with two of his disciples,
and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said,
“Behold, the Lamb of God.”
The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus.
Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them,
“What are you looking for?”
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.
It was about four in the afternoon.
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter,
was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus.
He first found his own brother Simon and told him,
“We have found the Messiah,” which is translated Christ.
Then he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said,
“You are Simon the son of John;
you will be called Cephas,” which is translated Peter.
In our readings we find John the Baptist introducing Jesus to his disciples, this after testifying about Jesus as the one promised by God for his people. To free them from slavery and to give them true freedom.
Our gospel is filled with a lot of movement, of action - God's movement of love. A movement that until now could be felt if only we would open our hearts to Him.
These movements began with a gaze, seeing. With John the Baptist seeing Christ; with Christ seeing the two disciples of John; John's disciples seeing Christ; and Christ seeing Peter, which is how He gazes on His Church, how he sees the faithful who trusts and believes in Him.
The meeting of Jesus with His first disciples is John's version on how the first disciples were called. This is very different from the versions of other gospel writers, like Matthew who related how Jesus, walking along the shore, he saw Peter and his brother Andrew casting their net, and then calling them, they followed him.
But in John's gospel, we heard how the calling of the first disciples was made through recognition. John the Baptist's recognition of Christ as the one sent by God to save mankind; the recognition of John's disciples of Christ because they trusted and they believed in their first teacher, John; Christ's recognition of John's disciples, which they experienced through His loving gaze and by welcoming them into His home, into His heart, giving them the desire to follow Him.
And in giving themselves to Christ they were given a new name, particularly with Simon, indicating their new identity, their new selves, their new mission in Christ.
The words used by John in our Gospel today would remind us that Christ continues to walk in our life. He is walking by the shores of our lives, let us listen to John the Baptist that we may realize and we may recognize Him. Let us meet Him.
He continues to gaze on us, just as he gazed on his disciples, so that we too would gaze on Him and receive Him in our hearts.
We are invited by Christ to receive Him, to receive His loving gaze on us, to realize that He recognizes us. Let us accept this invitation. Let us receive Him, let us follow Him, and in receiving Him, in receiving His loving gaze, we would experience newness, we would experience the love that we can only receive from Him, that only He can give.
Photo: Jordan Whitt | Unsplash
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