2nd Sunday of the Year, Year B

"They said to him, 'Rabbi, where do you stay' 'Come and see,' he answered. "

Lectionary Readings for the 2nd Sunday of the Year, Year B

In this Sunday's gospel, we see two disciples who were introduced by John the Baptist to Jesus, whom John referred to as the Lamb of God! The disciples in response asked Jesus where he stayed. And Jesus said, "Come and see."

The two disciples were introduced to Jesus as the Lamb of God. Their response to this was to ask Jesus where he stayed. And Jesus said, "Come and see." Since Jesus was introduced to them as the Lamb of God, the disciples wanted to know more about Jesus - how he is the Lamb of God. They wanted to know how his dwelling place looked like to get more truth about his being the Lamb of God. For the disciples, the word lamb has already some meaning attached to it: animal for food, for sacrifice, for shepherding, an animal that is meek, and doesn't say anything while it is being sheared. The disciples were curious of who Jesus was and wanted to know more about him and so they asked him where he stayed. And Jesus invited them to learn more of his being the Lamb of God.

In many urban places, we do not see many lambs anymore. We know what they are and what their animal traits are from books and from pictures. Jesus was referred to as the Lamb of God. What does this mean for us? If Jesus is the Lamb of God, how is this related to our discipleship and our following of him. We know that as the Lamb of God, he was sacrificed on the cross that our sins may be atoned for. This means that in our following of him, we are to sacrifice our lives also for the good of others. How we do this depends on our present circumstances and our present priorities and responsibilities. There may be opportunities offered to us: opportunities that would seem to offer greater possibilities of promotion or greater ranking or more money or better political connections. However, sometimes, we are asked to sacrifice the possibility of that life in order to follow Christ more closely and to be with him in our prayer and to follow his will in the direction the light of Christ is leading us.

It takes much humility to follow Christ as the Lamb. It involves much pain and sacrifice. But if we do his will and sacrifice our lives for the good of others, then we shall be led to his promise of eternal life. Let us always ask ourselves daily how we are to follow him in his life of service to others - sacrificing much of ourselves in this line. We will know that we are on the journey to a greater life of service to others in the spirit of Christ if we know that despite much hardship and difficult, we continue to pray and have the gift of faith, hope and charity. If the fruit of our service brings about goodness, faith, charity, gentleness, joy and long-suffering, then we know that we have rooted ourselves much in the Christ's Word and Sacrament. So let us not forget to always seek Christ. To find him in prayer and in our service to others. For it is in seeking him that we find him. And in getting to know him as the Lamb of God, we will learn from him how to sacrifice our lives according to his will.