Here we are, in the second week of Epiphany, the season of gradual revealing of Jesus, in which we discover more and more about his presence in the world and in our lives. ‘Discovery’ suggests finding something new or surprising, finding something that is being searched for, uncovering something that is already there but just not yet visible, becoming aware … All of this seems present in the Gospel reading for this Sunday – John 1: 29-42. 
 
John the Baptist has known that his is waiting for someone greater than himself to come, that he is preparing the way for the Messiah, and so he has been telling others to reform their lives and has been baptising so that the Messiah would be revealed.  I’m sure a load of people thought he was quite nuts, out in the wilderness of society’s expectations, but quite a few paid attention. And then it happened!  After all the not knowing, the expecting and the preparing, John saw the Spirit descend on Jesus like a dove and remain on Jesus, and now he can’t stop telling people and pointing to Jesus.  I wonder, when we have an epiphany of Jesus moment, do we tuck it away inside ourselves so as not to risk being banished to the wilderness by our hearers, or do we share our experience, tell our story?
 
Andrew and another of John the Baptist’s crowd listened to him and started following Jesus.  Jesus didn’t say, “why are you following me around?” or “what do you want?”  He asked the pair, “what are you looking for?” (v38)  What is it that they were hoping to discover? Maybe they didn’t really know what they were looking for- they just knew they were looking. Certainly, Andrew and his friend didn’t respond with a load of questions; they simply asked, “where are you staying?” and Jesus invited them to come and see.  No pressure, just a simple invitation.  And off they went and spent the day with Jesus, getting to know him.  I wonder, are we always ready to respond with that much time to hang around with Jesus and get to know him better, or are we sometimes just too busy being busy?
 
Once Andrew had had the chance to start getting to know Jesus, he invited his brother Simon along too.  And that was pretty dramatic: before Simon has a chance even to say hello, Jesus recognises him by name, and promptly changes that name, calling Simon Peter, his rock.  That’s the challenge and the joy of accepting the invitation to come and see – Jesus changes us, takes us further on the journey every time we encounter him.
 
I wonder, how often do we invite others who have not yet met Jesus to join us in getting to know him better?  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were the tiny start to someone else’s amazing journey with Jesus?  If someone who didn’t know they were looking, suddenly found the opportunity to ask the big questions and discover the answer!  And maybe they in turn will help us deepen our discovery too.
 
Lucy G
 
Image by LG with thanks to EngageMinistry resources.