The scene is easy enough to imagine. These are "heady" days down by the Jordan where John the Baptist has been whooping it up for some time, drawing large crowds too. Some of these attached themselves to him and became his disciples. They hung on his every word. He ignited their interest, excited them with expectation of what might be next. So keyed up are they that when John draws their attention to Jesus, referring to him as "the Lamb of God" no less, two of John's own closest disciples want to know more and set off in pursuit of this new kid on the block.
The new man sees that he is being followed and turns round on them to ask, "What do you want?". An honest question like that deserves an honest answer and gets one in the form of another question, "Master, where do you live?" Jesus' answer to them is clear and simple, "come and see".
But they are not about to discover the hideout he has made for himself in some hillside cave, nor are they about to be led to a nice little pad Jesus has found on the outskirts of town. The invitation, "come and see" has nothing to do with location and living quarters. This is the Gospel and we must look deeper.
When the Baptist drew their attention to Jesus, mysteriously referring to him as "the lamb of God" he was guiding his disciples to a relationship that would prove beyond their imagining. That's why the Gospels were written. They are not diaries describing a life lived long ago in a foreign place, but ultimately part of other people's yesterdays. They are interested in what lies within and behind the circumstances of the life they describe.
The Gospels are not interested in getting the details of the life of Jesus absolutely "spot on" for our entertainment. They were written out of the conviction that Jesus who had died so publicly on that cross, was actually alive and that they could now live their relationship with him more fully in the circumstances of their own living.
Ultimately the Gospels were written for us and the lives we are living today. The writing of the Gospels was driven by the awareness that future generations would be the better for knowing what had been revealed to them. Knowing how to relate to this Risen Jesus, people yet unborn would have the opportunity to live lives that hummed with the excitement of his presence, just as theirs did then.
So just where do we find this Risen Jesus today: "Master where do you live?
No matter how strong our devotion to these things, no matter how much we are urged on by number-crunching clerics, strangers to this world of faith will not be impressed if all we can do to answer their question is to lead them to a cold church building and point at a tabernacle. We will need to go beyond the treasury of our own religious practices, beyond the inspiring words of scripture, beyond the example given by the lives of the saints.
Only when we have found a community that lives the kingdom Jesus preached, and only when we ourselves have become part of that community, only then will we be entitled to take the enquirers hand and answer their question as to where to find Jesus with the words of Jesus himself, "Come and see".
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