28 January 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malankara Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.” 2 Corinthians 5:14
Paul explains to the Corinthians what drives him. Some boast “in outward appearance and not in the heart”; he has a different motive: “For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.” Christ's love is not only something Paul feels for Christ; it is Christ's own love for him, pressing on him like a current, carrying him toward others. In the Gospel that love begins with a glance and a question. John the Baptist sees Jesus walking by and exclaims, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” Two disciples follow. Jesus turns and asks them, “What are you looking for?” They answer with another question, calling him Rabbi, Teacher: “where are you staying?” He says, “Come and see.” They stay with him that day; John even remembers the hour, about four o'clock in the afternoon. Andrew then finds his brother: “We have found the Messiah”, and Jesus looks at Simon and gives him a new name, Cephas. Denha shows us how Christ is made known: one person tells another, and Christ himself does the rest.
Today the Church honours St Thomas Aquinas, the Dominican friar whose great mind served the faith. He taught that reason can prepare the way, but only faith receives the truth that Christ is the Son of God, and he wrote that grace does not destroy nature but perfects it. His whole work answered Jesus' first question, “What are you looking for?” According to the early accounts of his life, he heard the Lord ask him in prayer what reward he wanted for all he had written, and he answered: nothing but you, Lord. Near the end of his life, after an experience at the Holy Qurbana, he stopped writing and said that all he had written seemed like straw beside what he had seen. Like the first disciples, he came, saw, and remained. The love of Christ urged him on.
Theme: “For the love of Christ urges us on.”
The love that drives the apostle, the first disciples who came and saw, and St Thomas Aquinas.
“One thing I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple.” Psalm 27:4
“When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?”” John 1:38
Apply: Answer Jesus' question honestly in prayer today.
“O taste and see that the LORD is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.” Psalm 34:8
“He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon.” John 1:39
Apply: Invite one person to come and see Jesus with you.
“Therefore I prayed, and understanding was given me; I called on God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.” Wisdom 7:7
“For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.” 2 Corinthians 5:14
Apply: Pray before study or work today for wisdom, as St Thomas did.
Christ asks what we are looking for and invites us to come and see.
Let his love urge us on, until we want nothing but him.
Take-home resolution: Bring one person closer to Christ this week.
Dear friends, Paul says: the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all (2 Corinthians 5:14). Christ's love is like a current that carries us toward others.
In the Gospel John points to Jesus: look, here is the Lamb of God! Two disciples follow. Jesus turns and asks: what are you looking for? (John 1:38). They ask where he is staying, and he says: come and see. They remain with him that day.
Then Andrew finds his brother Simon and says: we have found the Messiah (John 1:41). He brings him to Jesus, who gives him a new name. This is how Christ is made known: one person tells another.
St Thomas Aquinas, whom we honour today, gave his great mind to Christ. The early accounts tell that when the Lord asked him what reward he wanted, he answered: nothing but you, Lord. May we too seek nothing but Christ, and bring others to him. Amen.
Children, Jesus asked two friends: what are you looking for? Then he said: come and see! Who can you invite to come and see Jesus?
Lord Jesus Christ, Lamb of God, you asked your first disciples what they were looking for and invited them to come and see. Let your love urge us on, make us bring others to you as Andrew brought Simon, and through the prayers of St Thomas Aquinas give us minds that seek you and hearts that want nothing but you. Amen.
Today’s readings show what moves a person toward Christ and then toward others. In the Gospel it begins with a word from John the Baptist, a question from Jesus and a long afternoon in his company; then Andrew cannot keep the news to himself. In the Epistle Paul names the force behind all of it: “the love of Christ urges us on”. The Church also remembers St Thomas Aquinas, whose great learning grew from the same seeking and staying.
Setting.
Paul is defending his ministry to a community that has been unsettled. Some of the Corinthians had been impressed by rival preachers, whom he later calls “super-apostles” (11:5), and his own weakness and sufferings counted against him. Just before this passage he has spoken of the judgment seat of Christ, before which all must appear (5:10). That is “the fear of the Lord” with which v. 11 opens.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“so that you may be able to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart.” (5:12)
Literally, “in the face”. It is an old test of true and false religion: “the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).
“For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.” (5:14)
Paul’s reason is a conviction about a fact. Christ’s death was “for all”, in their place and for their sake, and so all humanity is touched by it. The next verse adds what follows: those who live should live no longer for themselves. The Malayalam POC says this love ഉത്തേജനം നൽകുന്നു, “gives us energy”, a fair rendering of the same inner force.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes this verse when it explains that Christ’s sacrifice has its value from his love “to the end” (CCC 616), and again when it speaks of the Church’s missionary drive: “the love of Christ urges us on” (CCC 851). That Christ died for all, without exception, is the Church’s constant teaching (CCC 605).
Setting.
John’s Gospel counts the first days of Jesus’ ministry carefully: “the next day” (1:29, 35, 43). John the Baptist has already pointed out Jesus and borne witness to him. Now the witness has its effect: his own disciples leave him for the one he points to. The Baptist does not hold them back.
Unlike the other Gospels, where Jesus calls the first disciples from their nets, John tells of a first meeting in the circle of the Baptist. The two accounts need not conflict. One of the two disciples is named Andrew; the other is unnamed, and an old tradition sees in him the beloved disciple behind this Gospel.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”” (1:36)
The title gathers the Passover lamb (Exodus 12) and the Servant led like a lamb to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7). John’s Gospel will set Jesus’ condemnation on the day of Preparation for the Passover, at about noon (19:14).
“He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon.” (1:39)
The Greek says “the tenth hour”, as the POC keeps it. An eyewitness remembers the hour he first met the Lord. Jesus gives an invitation rather than an explanation.
“He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).” (1:42)
Cephas is Aramaic for “rock”, and Peter comes from the Greek for the same. In the Bible a new name means a new calling (Genesis 17:5; compare Matthew 16:18).
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism notes that John the Baptist, looking at Jesus, pointed him out as the Lamb of God (CCC 608). It teaches that the Lord made Simon first among the Twelve, the rock of his Church (CCC 552), and that the handing on of the faith means leading people to Christ (CCC 425). St John Chrysostom admires Andrew’s haste: he does not keep the treasure to himself, but runs to share it with his brother (in substance).
Does the Fourth Gospel contradict the others about the call of the first disciples?
The Synoptic Gospels tell of a call by the Sea of Galilee (Mark 1:16–20). John tells of an earlier meeting near the Jordan. Many readers take these as two stages: first an encounter, later the decisive call to leave everything. Each Gospel also shapes its account for its own teaching.
St Thomas Aquinas (died 1274), a Dominican friar and Doctor of the Church, lectured on both St John’s Gospel and the letters of St Paul. The early accounts of his life say that he heard the Lord ask what reward he wanted, and that he replied: nothing but you, Lord. A great scholar and the two fishermen of the Gospel asked one question and found one answer. The Latin calendar keeps his memorial today, and our own Eastern tradition, which loves its great teachers, can honour him gratefully.