REFLECTION on COMMUNICATION – WHO ARE YOU GOING TO TELL?

REFLECTION on COMMUNICATION

(Shared by Jan Bennett in the Worship @ Home  for 15 January. Credit to ROOTS resources for Church.)

When Facebook and Twitter first appeared, do you remember being bemused at, for example, a cake shop having ‘followers’. How can you ‘follow’ a shop? Doesn’t something have to be moving for you to follow it? Now phrases such as ‘follow us on Twitter’ are commonplace and unquestioned. But where does this following lead? If you follow someone – someone famous, perhaps – does it give you a true picture of who they are? Is it a picture you want to have?

In New Testament times, rabbis had followers – disciples whom they were training. John the Baptist had some; we heard of them in this week’s Gospel reading. But John had made a discovery. He had seen something in his cousin Jesus that, perhaps, he wasn’t expecting. And he didn’t want to keep it to himself. Quite the opposite; he went out of his way to tell Andrew and his friends what he thought, even though it meant losing these disciples to Jesus.

But what he said was effective. Andrew was intrigued by this man Jesus. He went to see for himself. He accepted the invitation to find out more. And then he couldn’t keep what he had seen to himself either. He went in search of his brother. This was not some sudden inspired grand plan to evangelise the world. It was just someone who thought his brother needed to know. So, he told him.

Peter didn’t take it on trust either. He went to see too. And then he went and told others. Perhaps his friends, James and John – we don’t know exactly; but we do know that he went on to tell many other people. He came. He saw. He told. And again. And again.

And what he told was quite simple, really: we’ve found the Messiah; come, and see.

And the story continues. But now it’s our story to tell. We are the ones who have come to see. We are the ones who now have to repeat it to others. Our words, and especially our lives, need to be like signposts to Jesus, or like John’s pointing finger. Behold! See!

Who are you going to tell this week?