2nd Sunday of the Year What do you want? “What do you want?” are the first words of Jesus in the Gospel of John. He addressed them to the two disciples of John who had shown an interest in him. He addresses them to each of us. The disciples evaded the question with their response, “Where do you live?” While this sounds like curiosity, what was really drawing them was a burning desire to know him. But they could not bring themselves to say: we want to know you, we want to follow you. So it is with us. There are so many layers to what we desire in life. We have our likes, we have our wishes, we will things and projects, we love people. But what we deeply want goes to the core of our being and invariably expresses the person God has made to be. It is also often expressed in the deepest commitment of our life. Like the disciples, we fudge and avoid the question for a lot of the time. But Jesus is patient with us, as he was with the disciples. He turned their evasive question about his place of accommodation, into a gentle invitation to be with him. Jesus works through all our changing likes and wishes, wills and loves to sift our hearts. Even our failures, hurts and disappointments can teach us that God is moving more deeply in our being than we realise. Take some quiet time this coming week and listen to Jesus ask you; “What do you want?” Write down all the responses that bubble up, even the ones that appear silly or selfish. Quietly talk to Jesus about these. It is through these ‘wants’ that Jesus often forms you into his disciple.
Sr Kym Harris OSB |