Lord, where are you staying? When John pointed to Jesus even as he said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God,’ little did he know that his words marked the beginning of the end for him (cf. John 3:30: “ he must increase and I must decrease”). For it was John’s statement that made two of his disciples gain interest in Jesus and walked over to him to know more about him. And once these two disciples of John got to know Jesus, they jumped ship and began recruiting for Jesus. The Gospel according to John reports that these two became the first companions of Jesus. Their step into their adventurous journey with Jesus began by a simple request: “We want to know where you are staying.”
It is said that a man’s house is his castle, and a lot can be learned about an individual by getting to know his/her home. It is hard to know if Jesus was still living at Joseph and Mary’s house by this time (for later on he would imply that he had no place he could call home [cf. Luke 9:58]). Wherever Jesus took the two would-be disciples must have impressed them for they immediately began associating with him.
Inquiring about where Jesus was staying might have been an innocent conversation-starter for Andrew and his buddy, but it shows us what we must do if we really want to know more about Jesus and be with him. Sometimes we do not have to wait for Jesus to come looking for us. Sometimes we have to go looking for Jesus. We might be surprised at the places where Jesus hangs out. Knowing where Jesus hangs out might help us realize how human Jesus is and even draw us closer to him. ‘Come and see where I found Jesus,’ we might end up saying, ‘I couldn’t believe it at first, but it is true. He is as human as we are. Let us go join him and hang out with him. I didn’t know he was such a cool guy.’