Leave the Light on for you

My business travels brought me to many different hotels and motels throughout the country. Some decent, some exquisite and some that were not so good.

On one trip I had reservations in a particular hotel and after finishing registering at the front desk I proceeded with the key to my room. Opened the door and saw a brief case and coat on the bed. Not a good sign.

Then, a guy from the room appears and sees me with my luggage and says, “you are the second person they sent by mistake to this room”.  With that, he decided to have his room changed, and together we went to the front desk.

I was told I had to wait for the next room available, about thirty minutes. So, I had dinner, came back, got my keys and went to the room. Turned the key, opened the door, entered the room and, right there on the bed was a very familiar brief case and coat. I Slowly back out, closed the door and headed for the front desk.

Ironically, I saw on the wall of the hotel lobby their slogan “We do it right the first time”. Another annoyed customer waiting in the lobby, walked over, changed the wording. It now read, “We do it right the third time”, maybe!

But, I decided not to give them that opportunity and went across the street to a Motel 6.

Now, they have a catchy commercial slogan, “We’ll leave the light on for you”. But, I think it’s the way it is said, in that Tom Bodett manner.

It would always end with, "I'm Tom Bodett for Motel 6, and we'll leave the light on for you." Hospitality at its best, A light, to help us find our way.

Well, our Readings have a few catchy slogans to live by, as well.

No, in our Gospel, Jesus doesn’t say, “I’ll leave the light on for you”, although he is the light, but he says to the two disciples, searching for the Messiah, “What are you looking for”? They’re not lost, and yet they really are trying to find their way to the truth.

And they respond in a very curious and yet excited way, “Where are you staying”. Jesus didn’t say a Motel 6, but he did say, “Come and see”. They followed and in an instant, the Church was being formed.

“Come and see”.  Jesus had a way of using that phrase in his teaching.  It’s like saying “Do you want to know the answer to this question?”  Do you want to know the solution to this problem?”

 When Jesus said “Come and see”, He was inviting them, as he invites us, not only to come and talk, but to come and find the answers that only he alone could teach them.

“Come and See”! It is God calling us. It is God shining his light on us.  It is God calling us in the night, in a dream, while reading Scripture. It is a prompting stirred up in our heart begging us to say “Here I am”.

The Apostles were invited, and they answered the call. These ordinary men, were prompted by the Spirit, bringing them to the Messiah they were searching for.

We too, are ordinary people, we too, want to be led to our Savior, we don’t just want to see where He is staying, we want to be where he is staying. 

Yes, we are ordinary people, with our flaws, our valleys and even our virtues who desire to be transformed by the Holy Spirit. To be graced and empowered and guided. But, we must answer, “Here I am”.

Long before the Apostles ever met Jesus, there was a pursuit for the Messiah by the Jewish people. There was always that hope that he would come on their watch. That they would be the generation where Israel would be saved.

And He did come and they found him. He met them somewhere in the middle of the road on their journey. Just ordinary people, searching and hoping.

“Come and see”, they encountered Jesus and they followed. They found the Messiah, they found the Way, the Truth and the Life. We are those same ordinary people and our road to salvation is no different than the apostles.

 There is always a magnet that attracts us to the truth, but when we turn our backs to that truth we repel that very truth and we begin to lose our way. There is no light to guide us and our life becomes disordered.

If we want Jesus desperately enough, he will come to us, he will leave a light on for us in our heart. We will walk side by side, every step we take, will be his strength. But, when, we may ask ourselves?

Somewhere, at some point in our life when we are searching, we may find ourselves on that special road, maybe a fork, maybe not, maybe in a valley. And on that very spot, Jesus comes out to meet us. And at that very moment, right there on that road, we will begin to answer the very question presented to the apostles, “What are you looking for”.

It is that encounter with Jesus where we realize that this road we have been travelling, may not be leading us to salvation, and darkness looms ahead. And like the apostles, maybe perplexed, but yet excited, we ask, “where are you staying”.

Yes, “Come and see”. The invitation is there, not only to come and see, to come and talk, but to come and find the things that he alone can open up for us.

He chooses us, because he loved us first.  Yes, God does it right the first time, and every path guided by the Lord, is the road that leads to heaven and we can rest assure that He will leave the light on for us.