Let’s pay attention to the encounter with Jesus.
Have you already thought about whether to bring your children to church? When? From which year? Alternatively, how to enable teenagers or adults to have a first, perhaps deeper contact with Jesus?
There are certainly many paths to God, faith, or fulfilling the duties of a Catholic Christian.
Today’s Gospel describes only one of them. It is the most frequent and closest path, close to our circumstances, which reveals a new perspective on life, its content, mission, and goal. God does not stand at the beginning of this journey, we do not hear the voice of God, we do not long for God, and often people are indifferent or even hostile towards him. At the beginning of the journey is a person.
In today’s Gospel, it is John the Baptist who, when he was standing with two of his disciples and saw Jesus walking by, said: “Behold, the Lamb of God. The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus.” (Jn 1:35)
Evangelist St. John describes one way man can find God. Someone sends him, shows him an example of life, a person hears about something that is connected with God, or he in a certain life situation seeking him out. And also the first meeting at the beginning is understood by a person as a coincidence, something unexpected and unforeseen, and it becomes the beginning of a new life.
One can talk about the mystery of the Christian vocation. Understanding the meaning of this mystery and trying to realize it in our lives is our task as Christians, and this event of the Gospel wants to tell us a lot.
At the beginning of the new liturgical season, which we call the Yearlong Season and is the longest of all, and which begins with the baptism of the Lord Jesus, then we follow his public life for three years when he teaches the multitude, we must realize the need and importance of our contact and commitment to Jesus.
John the Baptist is the one who becomes a kind of bridge through which the first disciples come to Jesus. The event took place shortly after the baptism of the Lord Jesus when he came again to the Jordan. Jesus begins public activity. The era of the Old Testament, the preparation for the coming of the Messiah, is ending. Jesus does not call his first disciples himself, but John the Baptist sends them to him when, in the presence of two disciples, he says about Jesus: “Behold, the Lamb of God.” (Jn 1:35) One is Andrew and the other is deliberately not mentioned by name, but it is certain St. himself John the apostle, who writes about it in the Gospel, must have been so impressed by this meeting with Jesus that he remembers it well even years later, that “it was about four o’clock in the afternoon.” (Jn 1:39) Following Jesus does not mean to be called. Andrew and John will be called apostles by Jesus later. This will happen on the shore of the Sea of Galilee (cf. Mt 4:18-22).
Even the first meeting in the life of their faith does not remain without an answer. It can be seen in the example of Ondrej. Sv. John the Apostle mentions Andrew’s name three times in the Gospel always in connection with the fact that he shares his faith with someone. First, after the first meeting with Jesus, he “looked for his brother Simon and said to him: “We have found the Messiah” (Jn 1:41), secondly during the multiplication of loaves and fishes, Andrew said to Jesus: “There is a boy who has five barley loaves and two fish” (Jn 6:9), and we know that it was enough and Jesus fed the large crowd. In the third mention of Andrew in his Gospel, John tells how Andrew brings the Greeks to Jesus (cf. John 12:22).
When Ján writes about the fact that at the first meeting, “they stayed with him that day”, it is the beginning of everything he experienced, got to know Jesus, and also the whole of his next life. There is a seed that was sown then and that will grow into a tree in the very life of St. John.
The beginning of the Church can also be traced back to this event.
What can we observe in the history of the Church? Even though at the beginning God addresses exceptionally directly, as in the case of St. Paul at the gate of Damascus (cf. Acts 9:3), yet even then God uses other people to complete the process of calling and strengthening in faith on his behalf. God takes the first step to faith in God in each person in different ways. Most often, in our conditions after birth, it is parents, godparents, family, and parish, but then each person must express himself, and prove his faith. In everyone’s life, there are moments of decisions, struggles, victories, and defeats. Because we are created as a rational and free being, even God respects our decisions. Often, however, God seems to be waiting, waiting for our consent to live with him. Many after wandering and searching as St. Augustin, St. Margita Kortonská, Frossárd, and others find their way to God. Many people, whom God puts in their way, play an important role in their lives as well. However, it is mainly the grace of God that God gives and it depends only on the person when and how much he accepts it.
We all have our history of faith, discovery, and finding our way to Jesus. We realize that we also must show others the way to God. It is not only the parents and those closest to the child. Priest to parish, but brother to brother and sister to sister. Our faith, example, and life can be used by God so that others find the way to God. In the beginning, it can be just curiosity, and desire, and finally, it will grow into enthusiasm, and admiration of God in life.
Helena Mišovičová was a pioneer and member of the Society of Jehovah’s Witnesses. After eight years of full-time work in this company, the example of a believing Christian woman, a neighbor in the boarding house, helped her to look at her life from a different perspective. She, for 90 hours a month with enthusiasm, no one forced her, only influenced her, performed the service of Jehovah’s servant. At least three times a week, she participated in Kingdom Halls, where she devoted herself to the study of the Watchtower magazine, where she prepared and trained for different reactions and attitudes of people in the preaching service. She informed me about her activities, showed her activities: where, when, whom she visited, how she was received, whether she recommends visiting them again… She heard from older leaders that she should be happy when she has to suffer for her beliefs.
With her neighbor, she realized that she lives in fear. The teaching is based on psychological blackmail that on the day of Armageddon she will be expelled from the earthly paradise with other unbelievers. She began to realize that her surroundings were changing. At meetings, although they smile at each other, it is still not quite true. They too are just weak people. After all, there is a difference when a person himself acknowledges his guilt, repents of it, and confesses it, as Jesus teaches, unlike them, where one pays attention to the other, they watch each other and then report it to the Council of Elders.
“When I began to realize the logic and contradictions in the teachings, the doubts and they did not help me explain them, nor humanly refute them, they suggested a psychiatrist. I became possessed in their eyes. I realized that their “Faithful and Discreet Slave” is not led by the Spirit of God, because he would not commit so many errors and illegalities that are contained in their publications. I wanted to explain things, and they stupidly excluded me. They know that those who do not have support elsewhere among the people, and there are many such among the witnesses because they have been away from people for years, will beg to be accepted back. They told everyone not to meet me. They forbade me to greet them. They even forbid my daughter and son and their families, who are also witnesses, to have contact with me.
Today I know what peace of mind is, who Jesus is, that his teaching is the teaching of love, and that he gives strength and hope to the weak. I opened myself to the Holy Spirit and I know what it means to live without sin. I am a child of God and I no longer need a “Faithful and discreet slave”. Jesus assured me of eternal life.
The Church teaches that faith is also born from a personal encounter with Jesus. We can talk about the gift of faith, about the call to faith. It can be said that at a certain moment, in a certain place, a person experienced his faith, met God, and got to know God and that changed his life. But even those strong experiences and knowledge of God must be developed further. Prayer, sacramental life, participation in St. masses, and others are irreplaceable. Yes, I can meet God even outside the church. I can also pray in nature, but a church is simply a church. The experience of the Church, as well as ours, is proof of this. I can repent of my sins and gain friendship with God, but the sacrament of reconciliation is a gift where a priest authorized by God, not by his power, confirms that my sins are forgiven.
John the Baptist simply said: “Behold the Lamb of God,” (John 1:35) and the two disciples did not leave him but continued what he had started. He was the voice calling in the wilderness and they became disciples of the Jesus announced by him. These two are among the Twelve whom Jesus will send into the whole world to teach and baptize all people. Today, God also addresses us through us to each other, so that we continue in our time, today, in the activity of St. John and said to themselves and others: “Behold, the Lamb of God.” (Jn 1:35)
It is right for parents, according to their best judgment, to start teaching their children about God and to lead them to God. Perhaps start with St. Masses during the summer and on working days. When they have already adequately explained to them what the church is they already know some prayers. Don’t wait until they are 18 and then let them decide for themselves. For example: Don’t parents decide about the health of their bodies when they are young? About their profession? And so on.
And it is also right when an older man knows how to hold a younger man, a boy, even though they are not family. An example is a role model, we do not want to underestimate our Christian behavior. Today’s Gospel also leads us to this.
