2nd Holy Night Dec 26
John 1: 35-42
(John’s Disciples Follow Jesus)
The next day John
was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he
said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
When the two
disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw
them following and asked, “What are you seeking?”
They said, “Rabbi”
(which means “Teacher”), “where do you live?”
“Come,” he
replied, “and you will see.”
So they went and
saw where he lived, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the
afternoon, the tenth hour.
Andrew, Simon
Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had
followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and
tell him, “We have found the Messiah,” (that is, the Christ). And he brought
him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him
and said, “You are Simon son of Jonah. You will be called Cephas” (which, when
translated, is Peter, the Rock).
Holy Nights
John 1: 35 -42
Lambs are born in the spring. In their innocence they are
like joy itself. At the same time they have become in religious tradition the
symbol of sacrifice. John the Baptist calls Jesus the Lamb of God. Jesus must
have radiated a joy and innocence that would make the heart ache for a lost Paradise .
When the two disciples follow Him, they want to know where
He lives. They consider Him a teacher through whom they can learn the secret of
Paradise regained. One brings his brother
Simon to Him, to whom Christ gives the name ‘Peter’, the Rock. It is Peter’s
recognition that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, that is the foundation upon
which Christ will build His circle.
The disciples will remain with Him for three years; they
will see how the innocent lamb becomes the sacrifice for the good of all. He,
sent from the Father without stain or sickness of sin, the embodiment of the
Father’s love, lays Himself down, and raises Himself up, as the new bridge
between heaven and earth. He restores the lost access to Paradise .
God’s love became visible in God’s Lamb. We rejoice in the
Lamb. Our conscious recognition of Him is the rock, the foundation stone of
humanity’s path upward in joyous striving.
As a mystic said:
The greatest honor we can give
Almighty God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of his love.[1]
