The Year of our Lord, Jesus Christ
John 1:38
Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?
A newly married man was heard responding to the question “How did you get her to marry you?” He responded, “I chased her until she caught me!” This is how it is with the Lord; we search for Him only to find out that He was searching for us. In today’s verse the Lord asked two of John the Baptist’s disciples What seek ye? Their answer? Where dwellest thou? That seems like a strange question. Of all the questions they could have asked Him they asked that one. Why?
Think about to whom they were speaking. On the previous day John, the Baptist said of Jesus: …John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. John 1:29 Then on the day that Jesus asked those two disciples What seek ye? John again said, Behold the Lamb of God. Thus, tying Jesus to a verse all the way back in Genesis wherein Abraham said to his son Isaac God will provide Himself a lamb… Genesis 22:3
This all means that these two disciples of John knew that Jesus was the One: The Son of God! But their question was Where dwellest thou? Which indicates one certain thing. They wanted to be with Him, wanted to follow Him, they were seeking Him. If the Lord asked you today, face to face, What seek ye? What would you say?
These two, and frankly all true believers in Christ, are very much like the lovesick maiden found in the Song of Solomon. She said, I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. Song of Solomon 5:6. His people seek Him who is at times elusive and at times closer than a brother. No doubt these two disciples of John wanted to make sure that if they lost Him in the crowd, they could find Him again.
By the way, one of these disciples was Andrew who brought his brother Peter to Jesus and history was made that day. All because two men wanted to spend time with Jesus. They sought Him, and He invited them to Come and see which they did, they spent time with Jesus. They searched Him out until He caught them. That is the way it is with the Lord as 1 John 4:19 proves: We love him, because he first loved us.
Until Next Time,
William T. Howe, Ph.D.
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