Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” The one thing you can be sure of reading this passage is that those following Jesus were not interested in his address! They didn’t even know how to name what they were looking for. Peace? Happiness? Meaning? There is an oldie by U2 with the refrain: “But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for?” That is almost the anthem of our age. We know that things are right, that we need to find a new way of being. We are trying many different paths but none of them are working. The only path that does lead to what we are looking for is the one named by Jesus: “Come and see.” What we are looking for cannot be named, not contained in a ready answer. What we are looking for can only be lived — lived in the compassion, forgiveness, generosity, love that comes from sharing an address with Jesus: et cum spiri 220.
