“Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, ‘What are you seeking?’ And they said to Him, ‘Rabbi’ (which means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come and you will see.’ So they came and saw where He was staying, and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.”
Continuing with the idea of John the Baptist’s ministry diminishing as Jesus’s ministry increased, we see the focus change of the disciples of John the Baptist to Jesus. We see Jesus’s first words in the gospel as He becomes the focus, “What are you seeking?” As we continue this study, we must always remember to put our preconceived idea of how the gospel should be preached out of the reading. We know from what John the Baptist has said that the essence for people to know the gospel is “behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” In this passage we see how Jesus responds to those who have taken that message to heart and how this simple exchange has huge implications for us all.
When they come to Jesus, he first asks, “What are you seeking?” This question is one we all must answer and which no disciple will ever get away without answering. It is a common sense question that anyone would have if someone came running up to them. This is also a question Jesus will ask multiple times in different ways throughout the gospel receiving multiple answers. This foreshadows what John the author will be explaining about Jesus throughout the rest of the gospel with the seven “I AM” statements Jesus makes about Himself to explain who He really is that they seek.
We might think this statement from Jesus would require a lengthy, complex answer to explain who it is they seek—at least a powerful one-word answer, savior or healer, things we would ascribe to Jesus today. The answer to the questions Jesus posed is answered in a matter-of-fact, down-to-reality way by people about to be in the inner circle of Jesus, “Rabbi or teacher where are you staying?” This is the gritty realism of the gospel where we see that there needs to always be a great statement being made. The disciples are thinking practically: What are we seeking? Oh, to find out where you are staying teacher. At the same time, this shows them starting to commit to follow Jesus even though they have no wise words to give. They simply say we know you are a teacher and we want to follow you because of what John said.
The key here is how Jesus responds to them. He does not say that is not the right thing to say or tell them some great truth, Jesus says come and you will see. Now in practical terms, as John writes, they do see where He is staying but then it goes further because they not only see where He is staying but they also stay with Him. They have been led from following John the Baptist to following Jesus and staying with Him. We, knowing who Jesus is, might think of course this is what they will do, but they only have before this what they have seen and the words of John the Baptist to believe, yet they go and Jesus tells them to follow Him.
As a Christian, I often will get caught up in what to say and what not to say when it comes to the gospel, but this is a reminder Jesus did not convince them with many words or the truth of who He is, yet they followed. We as Christians must not be quick to judge people’s simple words or affirmations to follow. Instead, we must look to our savior’s reaction and say the same thing—come and will see. Not just that they might see but if they are making that decision to follow, that they will see who Jesus is. We must never be worried about our own words, we need only to speak to offer people to join in because those words are coming from God as they have already been spoken by Jesus.
If you are not a Christian, look to these examples of people who did not have any complex motive for coming to Jesus besides wanting to know where He was staying. You can have all the questions in the world but come because like the disciples you will never find out from the outside. Put your pride away and make the decision to follow Jesus and you will see.
Photo credit: Cammy Tarbush 2025
The Traveling Mountains 
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