Odd Turns of Faith

With Jesus and in our culture.

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 (John 1:35ff).

The phrase in bold italics from this week’s Gospel reading is what jumped out at me.  

First, these two disciples (whom we soon discover are Andrew and Peter) followed Jesus because someone they believed spoke the truth about Jesus, and pointed them to him.  Though it wasn’t clear exactly what John meant by calling Jesus “the Lamb of God,” they began following Jesus silently.  

There are periods in our lives when we follow Jesus solely because of the word of someone we trust.  It might be a friend, a teacher, a figure from history. There is no real, genuine relationship with Jesus in this phase.  We’re not talking to Jesus and he seems not to be talking to us.  We’re just looking to him. We’re following him as best we know how.  But it is a mysterious enterprise, and we really don’t know what is going on.  This too is an element in the long life of faith for many. 

Then comes a time when Jesus turns and makes sure we notice that he notices us.  But it isn’t necessarily a warm encounter.  It can come across as brusk: “What do you want?”  This is how Jesus sometimes addresses us, in a way that is direct and to the point and demands an honest answer.  He knows of course what we want, but he wants us to think more deeply about what we want and to articulate it.  That’s one reason we pray.  God knows what we want, but it is crucial for us to express it to gain a deeper understanding of our deepest desires.  

The two disciples are taken aback, I assume, but still express what they really want: to know where Jesus lives and to abide with him there.  They don’t ask him for a favor, to get the answer to a theological question, to grasp the meaning of life.  They just want to know where he lives so they can be with him.   

Where does Jesus reside today?   The answer is not that mysterious.  In the Word of God.  In the wonder and awe of creation.  In quiet stillness.  In the face of the poor.  In the beauty of art.  In worship and the Eucharist. And so on.  If we want to be with Jesus, these are places we must go.  These are places where we must abide.  But of course, our busy lives get in the way of such things, and before you know it, we feel like Jesus is nowhere to be found.  And we complain about it.  We whine about feeling so alone.  And the main problem is that we’re not even looking for him, really, because we’re not going to the places where he resides.  We’re walking, maybe even running around, to every place where he isn’t. 

Once they find where Jesus abides, he demands no commitment from them. No life-long promises.  No vows of any sort.  These disciples just stay with him for the rest of the day.   

There is a time and place to make life-long commitments to Jesus—baptism, confirmation, or some crucial point in our lives. But mostly faith is about agreeing to abide with Jesus for the rest of the day.  And then when we wake up the next morning, to agree to abide with him for the rest of that day.  And so on. 

The point is not to spend all day in prayer or Scripture or meditating on creation.  The point is to allow our days to be punctuated with abiding moments, so that when our mind is rightly and fully occupied with the tasks he has given us, we are repeatedly brought back to the fact that we are in the place where Jesus is, and that we are abiding with him, and he with us.  

Lord, give me the grace to live like this!   

The End of Godlessness?

This week’s link comes from Paul Kingsnorth, a writer who is deeply appreciated by many Peripheral Vision readers. Here’s the thesis of his essay in UnHerd:

… we are now beginning to see a resurgence in genuine religion. Personally, and anecdotally, I am noticing this everywhere. In American Orthodox churches bursting with young families. In atheists or neo-pagans suddenly becoming Christians (I plead guilty). In my own speaking events about Christianity, which are suddenly inexplicably popular, and not because of me. Others I know report the same thing: for the first time in a long while, people are beginning to take faith seriously again. Actual religion — the thing that was supposed to die a slow death at the hands of reason — is emerging slowly from the shadows as the new paganism takes hold. 

But as Spengler himself warned, there is no guarantee that a “second religiousness” will be an entirely benevolent thing.

It’s a typical thoughtful and wise cultural analysis by Kingsnorth.

Grace and peace,

Mark 

Photo credit: From SpiritFilledLife blog. Artist/original source unknown.

PostScript: Faithful readers of Peripheral Vision will have noticed some slight changes: The emphasis is on understanding the personal implications of a weekly Gospel lesson (usually taken from the lectionary, which is followed by many traditions), followed by a single link that helps us understand the culture we live in--so we can more wisely live out our faith.  I no longer reserve some posts for paid subscribers in large part because I always want to share every newsletter with the whole list. 

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