"What Are You Looking For?"
Sermon-of-the-Month for January, 2008
"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?"
Text: John 1:29-42
John's Gospel is the only one of the four that doesn't relate the story of Jesus' baptism, the event that we celebrated last Sunday. What we rather have in John's Gospel is John telling us about the baptism that has already happened but is not reported directly. "I'm the one who said, 'After me come a greater one...'"... I came baptizing...I saw the Spirit descending... I myself have seen that this is the Son of God." It's almost as though John is saying, "Folks, you gotta' believe! I'm telling you straight! He's the one!"
But who is this person Jesus who suddenly appears on the scene after 30 years of anonymity? Someone so unique that one title only will not suffice. In one chapter of John, Chapter 1, the Evangelist uses no fewer than 12 titles to point to Jesus and his work: he is the Word of God (v. 1), the Word made flesh (v. 14)...the Light of all people (v. 4-5)... Life (v. 4), the father's only son (v. 14)... the Son of God (vv. 39, 44)... the Lamb of God ((vv. 29, 34)... Rabbi, or Teacher (v. 38)... Messiah, or Anointed One (v. 41)... son of Joseph (v. 45)... King of Israel (v. 49)...Son of Man (v. 51). Don't try to capture Jesus is one word, or one title; he's more than you can wrap your mind around.
And yet ... he's a friend of sinners who walks and talks with us intimately along the journey of life. What strikes me especially in the stories of Jesus is his spirit of invitation, letting us discern what our deepest need might be. We get it wrong, often, but Jesus wants us to live the questions more than give us the pat answers. He is not a teacher who goes around offering advice, giving us solutions to our problems, declaiming authoritatively from his vast storehouse of wisdom. No...he tells stories and lets us draw the inferences ("He who has ears, let him hear.") And, time and time again, he asks us to ponder what we most desire of him.
"Do you want to be healed?" "What do you want me to do for you?" "What did you come out to see?" "Who do you say that I am?" And in today's text, "What are you looking for?" Jesus embodies the truth of the wise counselor, that one cannot hear words of advice or direction without having come to know his or her deepest need, and even then must uncover the way ahead himself or herself, in the company of a trusted friend. "What are you looking for?" Because if you don't know you are not likely to find it and my telling you what I think you need will be of little avail. Yes, of course, sometimes we need the jolt of truth, as when a King David needs to hear from his friend Nathan, "You are the man!" - the nefarious plotter in Nathan's tragic little parable. But such truth is heard only in the context of a deeply mutual and trustworthy friendship. So Jesus invites: "What are you looking for?" Help us, Lord, to discover the true desire of our heart.
While there are serendipitous surprises in life...things we couldn't see coming down the road to bless us, nonetheless it is generally true that our expectations determine our perceptions; the net determines the catch. What are you looking for?
+ Go to the opera looking to be bored, and you will!
+ Make up your mind that you won't have a good time at the party, and you likely won't!
+ Determine that the church is a haven for hypocrites, and it will be - for you!
+ Read the newspaper for further evidence of social rot, and you'll find it!
+ Search for employment expecting to be discriminated against - and you will be!
What are you looking for?
It is obvious that Andrew and the other disciple who heard John extol Jesus as Son of God and Passover Lamb were looking for something they soon found Jesus could offer them: a purpose...a calling...something to give their lives for...the fulfillment of a long-awaited hope: "We have found the Messiah!"
It is a haunting question in many aspects of life: "What are you looking for?"
As I've come to announce my impending retirement in June, it's a question that has bored itself into my soul this week as I've studied this text. What do I look for as I move into a new phase of my life journey? I have some fairly clear notions, but I also know it is a question I need to continue to ponder, and be open to the Lord's guidance.
And I propose that it is a question that you too, as God's people at Dutch Neck, need to take into your hearts as you enter a new leg of your journey. What are you looking for in discerning God's vision for this congregation? What are you looking for in leadership to guide you through the new journey? These are questions that will be before you after June and through an interim season of your life. Don't try to rush it...just be open to God's timings.
I would urge one important thing as you ask the disciples' question: Expect that it will be a season of growth in your faith...look for a season of exciting discovery about yourselves and your mission...expect it to be a good thing, a window of opportunity to set some new direction even as you hold on to what has proven good and faithful through the journey past. To a large degree, we are what we anticipate. Don't let the "glass-half-empty" spirit set the course of your interim time, those who see only negative possibilities and onerous tasks to be grimly undertaken. See rather that God has brought you to this time for a positive and exciting purpose. What are you looking for? Look for God's blessing your life together in new ways as you move through the inevitable challenges of this transition. See the challenges as new growth points, not dead ends; look for signs of the coming age for Dutch Neck, don't let the many good things of the past years be the obstacle to embracing the new things God will show you in the months and years ahead.
And always keep central in your life and in your looking, the One to whom John points disciples: "Behold the Lamb of God"...the Son of God...the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Amen.
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