Intentional Discipleship and Evangelization

 The word "evangelization" normally strikes terror into the heart of most Catholics, who for the most part just want to pray quietly before the Blessed Sacrament and find a moment of peace from the rush of daily life.  Are we supposed to buttonhole people in the street and start talking about Jesus to them?  Our own reactions to street evangelization has made us wary of imitating that practice.  

When I look at the beginning of John's Gospel, I see Jesus doing something else -- recognizing those he meets with awe and respect, not so much telling them immediately about God, but instead telling them something about themselves.  First, hospitality: "Come to my house; welcome."  When Jesus turned around and saw two men following him, He said, "What do you want?"  A good question to ask of others: "What are you looking for?"  Their initial response was superficial -- perhaps they had not expected the question and didn't know what to say at first:  "Where are you staying?"  His answer: "Come and see."  

An invitation to share his life, his home, his food.  Hospitality-- a great place to begin.

Andrew was one of those men.  After spending the day in the company of Jesus, he found his brother Simon and told him: We have found the Messiah!  No first-century Jew could have resisted that message: scholars tell us that there was at the time a heightened expectation for the appearance of the Messiah.  Peter's expectation of what he would find had to be over-the-top!  and yet, when he encounters Jesus for the first time, Jesus "looked at him and said, 'You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas."  I'm quite sure that was the last thing Peter would have expected the Messiah to say to him.

Nathanael's expectation was somewhat less exalted than Peter's must have been:  "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?"  He didn't think much of Philip's praise of Jesus, but when he met the Son of God in person, Jesus said, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false." Nathanael's response is much like that of the woman at the well, whom Jesus was to encounter later: "You are the Son of God!"

Jesus first saw the person before him, and that "seeing" was life-changing.  In the Old Testament, Hagar, the slave girl of Abraham and Sarah, and the mother of Ishmael, gave a name to Yahweh:  You are the God Who Sees Me (Gen. 16:13).  (Some years later, she is to address Him as, You are the God Who Hears me.)

Now, having been "seen" themselves, both Peter and Andrew are able to see Jesus for who He is -- the Messiah, the Son of God.

I think there is a message here for those who want to evangelize but don't know how:  RECOGNIZE the person to whom you are speaking.  WHO is he/she?  Recognizing the beauty of the person before us is the beginning of respect.  C.S. Lewis once wrote that if you'd never met a human and suddenly encountered one, you'd be inclined to worship this creature.  David Brooks, in a November 2020 editorial for the New York Times, wrote, "Every human is a miracle and is your superior in some way. The people who have great conversations walk into the room expecting to be delighted by you and make you feel the beam of their affection and respect."

Before we ask, "What are you looking for?" maybe we need to ask, "Who are you?"  When we are "delighted" by others, in the words of David Brooks, they may in turn ask us, "Where are you staying?" That's probably a good time to say, "Come and See."