First reading 1 John 3:7-10
No-one sins who has been begotten by God
My children, do not let anyone lead you astray:
to live a holy life
is to be holy just as he is holy;
to lead a sinful life is to belong to the devil,
since the devil was a sinner from the beginning.
It was to undo all that the devil has done
that the Son of God appeared.
No one who has been begotten by God sins;
because God’s seed remains inside him,
he cannot sin when he has been begotten by God.
In this way we distinguish the children of God
from the children of the devil:
anybody not living a holy life
and not loving his brother
is no child of God’s.
Responsorial Psalm 97(98):1,7-9
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Sing a new song to the Lord
for he has worked wonders.
His right hand and his holy arm
have brought salvation.
Let the sea and all within it, thunder;
the world, and all its peoples.
Let the rivers clap their hands
and the hills ring out their joy
at the presence of the Lord: for he comes,
he comes to rule the earth.
He will rule the world with justice
and the peoples with fairness.
Gospel John 1:35-42
‘We have found the Messiah’
As John stood with two of his disciples, Jesus passed, and John stared hard at him and said, ‘Look, there is the lamb of God.’ Hearing this, the two disciples followed Jesus. Jesus turned round, saw them following and said, ‘What do you want?’ They answered, ‘Rabbi,’ – which means Teacher – ‘where do you live?’ ‘Come and see’ he replied; so they went and saw where he lived, and stayed with him the rest of that day. It was about the tenth hour.
One of these two who became followers of Jesus after hearing what John had said was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. Early next morning, Andrew met his brother and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ – which means the Christ – and he took Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked hard at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John; you are to be called Cephas’ – meaning Rock.
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What do you want? Come and see
In the gospel today, the two disciples heard John the Baptist saying, “Look, there is the Lamb of God”. John the Baptist opened the way for them to go to Jesus and follow Him. In different moments in our lives, even in our golden years, we can meet a John the Baptist who guides us to a deeper experience of a loving relationship with God. May we, like the two disciples, be ready to allow God to draw close to us.
When Jesus saw that these two men were following him, he turned and asked them, “What do you want?” In response to His question, they asked Him, “Where do you live?”, which revealed their desire to be with Jesus and know Him more. Today, Jesus asks us the same question, “What do you want?”. Is our deepest desire the same as the two disciples? Do we want to grow in our relationship with Him? Jesus never gets tired of inviting us, “Come and see. Come and stay with Me”.
Reflective question:
What is Jesus’ personal message to me today?
What is Jesus’ personal message to me today?
Acknowledgment: Reflections are based on “Prayer for Living: The Word of God for Daily Prayer Year C” by Sr Sandra Seow FMVD.
