Come and See John 1:35-42 Second Sunday After Epiphany 16 January 2005
What are you looking for?
Those are the first words Jesus utters in the Gospel of John. “What are you looking for?” he asks the two disciples following him. What are you seeking? What do you want?
What do you want? The question is for us, too. John does not name the disciples in the story at first, and ultimately only gives us the name of one of them, as if to say the unnamed one stands for us all. The question for them is also a question for us: What are you looking for?
It’s a question that gets to the core of things. Like a knife, it slices through everything surface and lays bare what is underneath, in our hearts – what hidden drives organize your living? what are you spending your life on? what are you after? Security? Peace of mind? Love? Power? Control? Passion? Happiness? What are you looking for?
It is an invitation, these first words of Jesus. An invitation to be real, to get clear, to be honest about what our hearts long for. It’s an invitation towards more intentional living. It’s an invitation to take responsibility for what is in our hearts – and to name what is there. What are you looking for?
Could be that these two disciples were seeking something they couldn’t even yet name. They were followers of John the Baptizer, the one with fire in his eyes and brimstone on his tongue. One day, they are standing with John when Jesus goes walking by. “Look!” John cries. “There’s the Lamb of God!” And without a word, the two men leave John and follow Jesus. They just take off after him. They are compelled to go, just like that.
Suddenly, Jesus whirls around and sees them. In the Gospel of John, when Jesus sees a person, he really sees them. Have you ever been seen like that? Have you ever looked into the eyes of another person and realized that they were actually seeing who you really were? It is a powerful experience to be seen like that. That is the way Jesus sees. He knows our lives, he knows our hearts, he knows us. He sees us.
Rilke once wrote a poem about being seen like that. It was after an encounter he had with a statue of Apollo. About the statue he said: …there’s not one spot that doesn’t see you. You must change your life.
Rilke looked at the statue of Apollo and felt Apollo looking back at him. It was a revelation to him, to be seen like that. The effect was so powerful that he immediately felt an invitation and an obligation: You must change your life.
This is the way Jesus sees us – so completely that we feel compelled to live a whole new life, a better life. But before inviting his followers to a changed life, Jesus asks his piercing question: “What are you looking for?”
The seekers following him have no answers, only more questions. “Rabbi,” they begin, “Teacher, where are you staying?”
Instead of answering their question directly, Jesus offers an invitation: Come and see. This is the way Jesus responds to true seekers. He does not offer a discourse on who he is or a lecture of what they ought to believe. He does not offer propositions or easy answers, he offers himself. He has never been one to put all our questions and wonderings to rest once and for all. Instead, he invites us to come and see for ourselves - to come to him and with him, to experience him, to try him, to have a relationship with him, to risk following him. Whatever we are looking for, whatever we need, this is his answer: Come and see.
Do you have your doubts? It’s okay. You can still come. Bring all your questions, all your fears, all your needs, all your skepticism and your cynicism to Jesus and see for yourself. Tell him you’re not sure you can believe. Tell him you’re not sure you want to believe, let alone follow. Then risk asking him to take you with him, to get you out of your head and into his life. Try it. Try him. Come and see for yourself.
Maybe doubt is not your problem; maybe dullness is. Do you live the Christian life on the outside but feel empty on the inside? Did you once have his passion but now feel far away? The invitation is for you, too. Come and see! Ask for a closer walk, ask for a deeper experience, give yourself to him again and see what happens. Come and see.
Maybe your thing isn’t doubt or dullness – it’s despair. Maybe you wonder about your purpose in life, wonder what your faith is really for, wonder how to keep following Jesus when the violence and suffering in the world are so overwhelming that you feel like nothing you do matters. The invitation is for you, too. Come and see. See what your life can mean if you keep giving yourself to him in small and daily ways. Keep your eyes on Jesus and don’t give up. Things may look dark now, but more will be revealed. Come and see.
The disciples did what he said. They came and saw, and they joined him in what he was doing. This is what discipleship is: to seek, to find, to follow – to come and see. No matter where you are in your life, no matter where you are in your faith, the invitation is the same – come and see, give yourself to the experience of Jesus, engage him, debate him, question him, just keep coming back, keep going deeper, keep coming to him, keep seeing more.
There is more to the story, of course. It doesn’t end with the coming and the seeing. The first thing Andrew does after spending time with Jesus is to go looking for his brother Simon. When he finds him, he tells him the news: We have found the Messiah. And then he brings Simon to Jesus. This is always a part of what discipleship is: telling what we know, saying what we’ve seen.
In evangelical language, it’s called “witnessing” – and it sounds scary. We have mental pictures of dressing up in our Sunday clothes and knocking on stranger’s doors. We have images of handing out tracts and asking people if they’re saved. Scary stuff. And we don’t want to do it.
But think a minute about what a witness really is. A witness is someone who sees something. And a witness is someone who then says what she has seen. That’s all. That’s what Andrew did. He saw for himself who Jesus was and what Jesus was about. And then he said what he had seen: We have found the Messiah. To be a disciple of Jesus is to be a witness. To be a witness is to say what we’ve seen, to tell what we know. We have seen Jesus, we have found the Messiah. Jesus’ words to us become our words to others: Come and see.
There are all kinds of things that get in the way of our doing this. We’re afraid of looking like fanatics, for one thing. And we don’t want to be impolite or pushy or intolerant. And we’re afraid we don’t know enough. And what we do know, we’re not that sure of. All of that is just for starters.
But all Andrew did was say what he had seen. He had seen the Messiah, he knew that much. So he shared what he knew. And he invited Simon to come and see for himself. Andrew learned from Jesus what it means to invite people to new life – it calls for gentleness and friendship, not judgment and presumption. Jesus always invites those whom he encounters to discover the truth for themselves ; his followers should do the same.
This is the shape of the Christian life: to seek, to find, to follow, to share. And it is dynamic, not static – there is always more seeking to be done, always more of Jesus to be found and known, always deeper following and wider sharing to be done. It’s enough to take up our whole lives. It’s like a spiral that just goes deeper and deeper into the heart of real living.: to seek, to find, to follow, to share.
No matter where you are on the spiral, there is an invitation for you this morning. Maybe you simply need to become more conscious of what you’re looking for, your invitation is to look into your heart and see what’s really there, to be honest with yourself and God about what’s been driving you. Maybe you know what you’re looking for but haven’t known where to look. Your invitation is to take your seeking heart to Jesus – tell him what you need. Maybe it’s time for you to engage Jesus more, to respond to his constant invitation to come and see, to follow more fully, to know him more deeply. Or maybe your invitation is to tell others what you already know, to invite them to come and see too.
It’s enough to occupy all our days – seeking, finding, following, sharing. And it would be daunting if we had to do it alone, but we don’t. We have each other of course. And above all we have Jesus, out there just ahead, looking straight into us with the gentlest eyes, holding out his hand, and daring us with a smile, “Come and see! Come and see.”
1R.M. Rilke, “Archaic Torse of Apollo.” Translated by H. Landman. http://www.polyamory.org/~howard/Poetry/rilke_archaic_apollo.html 2Gail O’Day. “The Gospel of John.” New Interpreter’s Bible.
