When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
“Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”
This scene as described by John is both endearing and slightly amusing to me. Two men run after Jesus because they are told he is the “Lamb of God.” Did they know what this meant? Had John the Baptist explained why he called Jesus that? Regardless, Jesus notices the two men and stops to greet them. “What do you want?” he asks. Of all the things they could have asked, they come up with, “… where are you staying?” Really?
Q: What would you have asked Jesus in that situation?
Well,..since I haven’t really walked with Jesus when He was in human form on this earth,..when He asked me what do you want,..I would be like Ahhhhhhh,…I’m not sure yet,..I just heard that You have all that I need and I want to know what it is that I need from You,…so,…what is it that I want from You? John just kept telling that You were coming,..and here You are,..so what do You have for me anyway? I’ll take whatever it is You got to give,..
You got it John, exactly what they were asking. ” Where are you staying” same as “Where do you live”, which they and we would ask so we would know where we could follow Him to learn more.
Jesus know this, His answer is, come and see.
I guess I’m hoping I would be smart enough to follow after the ultimate Teacher too.
Isn’t it amazing … when confronted by the Creator of the universe, everything else seems to fade into a triviality. What is more important than what he has in mind to do or be done? What could I say or ask that would matter or be worth considering by the Creator of the universe? As it turns out, we have a Creator who cares for each of us so deeply that no matter what we would say or do would be considered lovingly. Then he gently guides us down the path he has chosen for us.
When I read this question it reminded me a little of when I first went to South Korea in 1995. The younger adult crowd (of which I was a part of) would greet you with “Oddie Ga?” which translated to “Where you going?” Of course they didn’t really want to know where you were going. I wonder if “Where you staying?” had a similar meaning back then. Or maybe it was just a lead up to asking Jesus to spend time with them so they could work “The Lamb of God” into the conversation. John 1:35 specifically mentions it was two of John’s disciples. These two disciples of John had heard the message of repentance and the coming of the Messiah no doubt many times from John. From their perspective, they are there with John, and a man passed by them without a word, and John says “Look, the Lamb of God.” I think I would would have been floored. I would say these two were definitely out of their comfort zone.
Jesus really cut to the chase. He asks them “What do you want?” They don’t tell Him directly (it seems), but I can safely assume that they wanted to spend time with Jesus. Jesus doesn’t deny them His time, and invites them to “come and you will see.”
To me this exchange is very indicative of the relationship of Jesus and mankind. As we have been going through the book of John, I have been coming to realization about my own imperfections and the fact that God has never expected me to be a perfect man, just a genuine one. All those illusions I had of either needing to be perfect before God, of that by doing “ceremonial” things I was out of the line of sight of God are melting away. I look at this scenario and think about how Jesus really gave these two men what they wanted, even if they kind of bumbled around it, because what they wanted was to be with Christ.
Long answer to a short question; putting myself in their shoes (the two disciples) I would have probably come up with a similar question. Knowing my personality I would have said something like “Did you eat?” If my scenario went as well as the two disciples did, later on I would have had many more questions.
Chris,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this passage! I love your summary of what God is looking for in us as His people: “God has never expected me to be a perfect man, just a genuine one.”
That sounds a lot like Micah 6:8:
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
The Genuine Man is as just as humanly possible, loves mercy, and walks humbly with God.
Well said!