The Dwelling of God is with Mankind: the second Sunday after Epiphany, A.D. 2018

I Samuel 3:3-10, 19
St John 1:35-42

When St. John the Baptist tells the two disciples that Christ is the Lamb of God, they immediately turn aside to follow him, but their first question to him surprises us. They could have asked "Are you the one who is coming?" (Matt. 11:3), they could have asked "Art thou the Christ, son of the Blessed?" (Mrk. 14:61), or else "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (Lk. 18:18), or "What shall we do that we might work the works of God?" (Jhn. 6:28) or even something more practical like, "how shall we pray?" (Lk. 11:1)

God calls Samuel while he dwells in the Temple
These are the sorts of questions that people usually ask Christ in the Gospels, and for obvious reasons. So we should be taken off guard when Andrew and the other disciple ask "Where are you dwelling?" But on reflection, we shouldn't be surprised. St. John began the chapter by making this same point, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jhn. 1:14) The first question the disciples ask is eminently appropriate, considering that "Behold, the dwelling of God is with men." (Rev. 21:3) Where Christ dwells is exactly the first question St. John wants us to ask.

And Christ responds with an act: He showed them where he was dwelling, and they dwelt with him that day (all three instances are the same word in Greek, μενω). Christ invites them to come and dwell with him, and this is the ultimate point of St. John's emphasis on where Christ dwells, "he that eats my flesh and drinks my blood will dwell in me and I in him." (Jhn. 6:56) The very Word of God has established His dwelling with us and in us, and invites us, like the Disciples, to "come and see" (Jhn. 1:39) To "come and see my glory" as the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah (66:18), "glory as of the only begotten son of the Father" according to St. John (1:14)

The Church of San Damiano, which God told St. Francis to
rebuild because "My house is falling into ruin."
Fundamentally, the Christian life means dwelling with Christ, in the very physical and spiritual sense in which the Disciples dwelt with Christ. The invitation is not simply to learn from Christ or obey Christ, but to live with Him, conforming our lives to the fact of Emmanuel, "God with us." The Christian life means living together in this Presence, and extending this same invitation to "come and see." To invite others in to see the dwelling of Christ in us, and to live so that they will be able to see it.

This is what the life of Christian communities is about, to make real the dwelling of God with mankind, in space and time. To lean in to this idea with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our might, by the power of the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us (Jhn. 14:17).

- Matthew David Wiseman

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