What are you looking for? – By Brett Younger

John 1:29-42

John saw Jesus coming toward him and declared,“ Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself didn’t know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 

And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself didn’t know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.” 

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”

The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 

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?” 

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. 

One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 

He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We’ve found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). 

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).

The disciples expected to have normal lives. That didn’t happen. Jesus was a complete unknown, an itinerant preacher from a dinky, remote village in the middle of nowhere. 

But John the Baptist sees a dove descend and decides Jesus is the child of God. He is with two of his students when Jesus walks by. 

John yells, “That’s the one. You know how cocky I can be, but I’m not worthy to tie his sandals.”

          The students are curious enough to follow. 

Jesus notices his stalkers, and asks, “What are you looking for?”

This is a big question that could lead to searching and seeking, to themes of seeing/light/revealing or their opposites blindness/darkness/hiding.

They do not know how to answer. They do not want to start out calling him “Son of God,” so they use the much safer “Teacher.”

They are moving in Jesus’ direction, but still hedging their bets: “So, where are you staying?”

Even that question could be “Where are you so that we can be with you?” It could be interpreted as thoughtful.

Jesus cuts to the chase and offers the invitation that changes everything, “Come and see.”

          They stay with Jesus all day, because he is interesting, but if you asked, “Why are you hanging around Jesus?” they would not know what to say. They have no idea what they are getting themselves into.Everything changes. 

          Andrew goes to get his brother, “You have to meet this guy.” 

Simon tells himself that he is going just so his brother will leave him alone, but he is curious. 

When Jesus meets Simon, he says, “You’re a Rock, strong and steady.” 

The easily confused, constantly waffling Simon is anything but a rock, but things are changing. Most progress comes in small steps taken out of curiosity as much as hope.

          Jesus says, “Come and see.” 

They follow Jesus without a clue as to where they are going, discovering well after the fact that they have wandered on to a new path that will lead to another path and then another path.

They thought their stories were going to get a little more interesting, but then their story gets bigger than just their story. They share the story of their people. They learn other people’s stories. They see the story beyond all stories.

          Jesus says, “Come and see.”

First, their individual stories get bigger. They change their opinions about almost everything. They end up with completely different ideas about their jobs, how to be single, how to be married, how to raise children, politics, economics, immigration, and health care. 

Then Jesus pushes them beyond their individual stories to the story of their people. They become part of the community. 

In the next chapter, the disciples go to a big wedding and taste wine that used to be water. They watch in horror as Jesus runs the moneychangers out of the temple they have been taught not to run in. 

They listen with amazement as Jesus tells Nicodemus, a big-time politician, that the Spirit blows where it wills,and he is too dumb to recognize it.

          Then Jesus pushes them beyond the boundaries of their community to see other people’s stories.They look with astonishment as Jesus cares for a woman at a well in Samaria. They go to Tyre and Sidon in Syria, where they met real live Gentiles.They meet Greeks who have come all the way from Greece to meet Jesus.

Then Jesus teaches them to see the story beyond the stories. They see that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. What has come into being in Christ was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overtake it (John 1:1-5).

They hear Jesus say, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

          They take notes when Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live” (John 11:25-26).

The disciples’ stories grow bigger than they could have imagined that first day. So how big do we want our story to be?What are we looking for? We are interested in how our lives could be better, but we also like our stories the way they are. 

• God is the one who makes us long for a bigger story. The emptiness we feel from time to time is God inviting us to take paths that lead to meaning. God pulls us towards life,even when we do not recognize what is happening. 

          J. R. R. Tolkien said, “Not all those who wander are lost.” “Come and see” is how the disciples’ wandering begins.

“Come and see” is a great way to start the story of finding our way. “Come and see” is the invitation to explore what it means to explore.

• Deep in our souls we are looking for a story bigger than our own, the story of our community,the story beyond our community, and the story big enough to claim us. Richard Rohr talks about how followers of Christ have expanding stories—my story, our story, others’ stories, and the story.

          We start with my story.This is the first time in history that so many take their private lives so seriously. Our individualism is wonderful in some ways, but there is a diminishment if my story is all I have. 

My story makes my feelings and my opinions the reference point for everything. If all I see is my story, then I can’t stop asking, “How do I feel? What do I believe? What makes me special?”

My story is not big enough or true enough to be meaningful by itself, but many live their whole lives at the level of self-interest, without ever connecting with larger meaning. 

They are what they have done and what has been done to them—nothing more. Jesus warns that the solitary self is constantly striving, easily offended, and usually afraid.

The step beyond my story is our story.Our story is our church, our community, and our people. Our group helps us understand belonging, trusting, and loving. If we do not have a supportive family or group, we need to create one. 

This is why most people have multiple memberships: family, neighborhood, religious affiliation, country. Jesus gathers a group because groups teach us about relationship, connection and virtue. 

          This part of our story tells us we are not alone. We are with the people who speak our language, eat our food, watch our movies, or, like us, did not see most of the movies nominated for best picture. We are not by ourselves. We are connected to a larger story. We live more by a compass than a clock.

Unfortunately, stopping at this level is problematic. Some groups insist that their story is the only story. They label other stories as inferior. They dismiss others’ experiences. Loyalty to us versus them has caused most of the world’s problems. 

We hope to get beyond my story to our story and then to others’ stories. We understand that our story is not the only story, and, in fact, our story, without other stories is not only incomplete, but wrong.

We need history, literature, languages, travel, and the neighbors who are not from around here.When we listen to other stories, we work for justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Jesus pushes the disciples beyond my story and our story, to find friendship and commonality with other stories: “Come and see.”We open ourselves to new stories, new insights, and new ways of being in the world.When we learn the world’s other stories, we become wiser, better, more like Christ.

          We come to understand the story beyond all stories. The story is bigger than mine, ours, or others. The story is the story that is always true.

For example, forgiveness.It does not matter whether we are Hindu, Buddhist, Christian or Jewish, forgiveness is part of the one true story.

For example, love.There is no one way to feed the hungry or care for the earth. Love is love is love, even if we talk about it in different ways.

          Jesus invites us to care for my story, our story, other stories, and the story. We listen to our experience, our failures, our sin, and our hope. We recognize that we are a part of history, part of a culture, part of a church, for good and bad. We ask God to heal us and help us live honestly.

          Some days feel long—even though the years fly by—which makes no sense.  We start the morning with a list of things to get done, which probably won’t get done. Everything takes longer than we planned.

Something we did not plan shows up and wipes out the middle of the day. Other people show up with their lists of things we should get done. There are unscheduled emails, text messages, and sudden realizations with which to deal.

          When the day is done, we get into bed and getting out of bed seems like a long time ago. Several mood changes. Some of the things that happened were more interesting than the things we planned. When we stopped to look around, there were some good things waiting to be noticed. 

We have full days, but they do not always feel satisfying. We need the big picture.We need the blessings of friendship and service, silence and music, the beauty of the seasons, art, theater, birth, death and new life.

Barbara Brown Taylor writes, “We took millions of years for humans to graduate from stone tools to iron ones, hundreds of years for the industrial age to become the information age, and thirty years for my hair to turn white” (Coming Down to Earth, Barbara Brown Taylor).

In my case, thirty years for the bald spot to get bigger than the spots with hair. I grew up in a time of racism, political violence, the threat of nuclear war, and the destruction of the environment. Now we are at the place where climate change may be irreversible and democracy is shaky.

Sometimes, when I am shaky, I walk to the East River. I sit on a bench in Brooklyn Bridge Park. I listen to the water rushing past. Someone said the splashing of a river sounds like a baby’s laughter. Maybe.

The East River, which is not a river, but a saltwater tidal estuary, is over 11,000 years old. The river’s shape is evidence of glacial activity. The East River is technically a drowned valley.

How old are the stones in the riverbed? Millions of years. How long does the water stay? Not long. Together the stones and the water make a river, with a life expectancy sure to exceed mine. I find it curiously reassuring to know that the river’s time is longer than my own.

Our job, as described by King Arthur in Camelot, is to be “one of what we all are, less than a drop in the great blue motion of the sunlit sea.”  And perhaps, for a moment, to be one of the drops that sparkle. 

Our job is to find our place in the great procession of the river, rising and whirling like those who have gone before us for the little bit of time we have. Your part is for your story to become our story and include others’ stories and be part of God’s great story of grace.

The people who follow Jesus end up doing the big story things Jesus did.

They care for the hurting, listen to the lonely, feed the hungry, pray for the broken-hearted, and give themselves to things that matter. They look for God and find extraordinary lives. God is looking for us, offering life, inviting us to “Come and see.”