What are you looking for?

January 19^th, 2014   “What Are You Looking For?"      Rev. Heather Jepsen

Isaiah 49:1-7 and John 1:29-42

          The lectionary, or readings for Sunday morning, flows in a three year cycle.  This year is cycle A which began in Advent.  Unlike year B and C which focus more on one gospel, this year we will jump back and forth between two gospels, Matthew and John.  That is why we had a reading from Matthew last week and now suddenly find ourselves with a reading from John.  We do have a nice tie though, as our reading begins with the Baptism of Jesus which Matthew told us about last week.  Unlike the narrated scene from Matthew’s gospel, the writer of the gospel of John lets the character of John the Baptist tell the story of Jesus’ baptism in his own words.  It is a first person reflection of the event.

          John the Baptist states that Jesus is the one that he knew was coming but that he was not able to recognize.  He says, “I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.”  Unlike our reading from Matthew last week, John is not able to recognize Jesus immediately upon sight.  It is only after John baptizes Jesus that he is able to testify that this is the Son of God.

          What follows the account of baptism is the calling of the first disciples who will surprisingly come from the ranks of John’s own disciples.  The day after the baptism, Jesus is still hanging around and John points Jesus out to two of his followers saying “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”  These followers of John then begin to follow Jesus.  Jesus asks them, “What are you looking for?” and they reply “Teacher, where are you staying?”  The disciples are looking for a teacher, and where the teacher is staying is where learning is happening.  They are in essence saying, “Teacher, where are you teaching?”  Jesus’ reply is simple, “Come and see.”  The students follow Jesus and remain with him that day.  Then one of them tells a friend about Jesus and this is how the community of disciples begins to grow.

          What John is giving us in these verses is a pattern of discipleship.  First the disciple seeks.  These men are looking for something; they start as followers of John and they become followers of Jesus.  After seeking, the path of the disciple is to follow.  In this story the two disciples literally follow Jesus to where he was staying and teaching.  The disciples then stay with the teacher, giving of their time and their self for learning.  And finally in this story, the disciples tell others what they have found.  Here, Andrew tells his brother Simon that he has found the Messiah.

          In our reading from the prophet Isaiah we also find a call to discipleship.  This is the second of what has come to be called the Servant Songs of Isaiah.  In these texts of Isaiah the Servant of the Lord is described, or spoken to by God, or is the one who does the speaking like in our reading today.  Here we find the servant calling the people of the coastlands and far away to worship the Lord God. 

What connects this reading with our story from the gospel of John is that here too we find a discussion of the traits of discipleship.  Here the disciple, or servant, is marked before birth.  The prophet says, “The Lord called me before I was born, while in my mother’s womb he named me.”  In Isaiah’s telling, the disciple is given words as weapons, to bring about change for the nation of Israel.  That is why he says “God made my mouth like a sharp sword.”  Similar to the example in the gospel of John, the work of the disciple is the work of words, the disciple is to go and tell, to spread the news of the God of Israel throughout the land.

We can make some interesting conclusions about the role of discipleship from this morning’s readings.  I think the clearest thing for us to notice in our modern setting is that the disciple is active.  In our reading from John the disciples are taking action, following Jesus not only in a spiritual manner but in a physical manner as well.  In our reading from Isaiah, the disciple speaks powerful words to the nation of Israel.  In both of these passages, disciples are shown out in the world being active, spreading the good news, and following the Lord.  Not a job for those just sitting around, the disciple of the Lord is one who is willing to get up and do something.

          Another interesting thing these passages teach about discipleship is that the disciple does not have to be a good person to become a disciple.  When we look at the gospel lesson, Jesus does not tell the potential followers to go and pray first, to be baptized first, to repent first, or to do penance first and only then they will be ready to follow him.  Instead, Jesus tells them to “come and see.”  There is no moral pre-requisite for discipleship.  The same is true in the Isaiah passage.  Isaiah presents a disciple chosen from birth.  The disciple is marked and named before he is born.  Again, this disciple does not have to work to earn discipleship; it is given by God to those who seek it.  In our modern setting we could say that a disciple follows first and then becomes a Christian later.

          I wonder how we ourselves reflect these images of discipleship.  Do we take action for God throughout the week or is it only about Sunday morning?  Are we looking for some sort of moral pre-requisite for ourselves before we will call ourselves disciples?  What kind of pre-requisites do we place before those who would join our church community?  In our scripture passage Jesus asks the potential disciples, “What are you looking for?”  That is the question I want to ask you this morning, “What are you looking for?”

          What are you looking for right now, in this very moment?  What did you come here to see?  Are you looking for God, for worship, for answers?  Are you looking for friendship, social time, or a sense of belonging?  Are you looking for a model for discipleship or simply the end of this sermon? 

Jesus’, question to those first disciples challenges us to consider what we are looking for in our own lives and at church on Sundays.  If Jesus were to ask us each, “what are you looking for?”  How would we respond?

          The disciples in John said they were looking for a teacher.  In one way they got it right, Jesus was a teacher of sorts.  But, in another way they got it wrong, John the Baptist just told them Jesus was the Lamb of God, but they don’t seem to be able to hear that.  What is remarkable is that even though they got it wrong, Jesus told them to “come and see” what he had to offer.  Jesus always invites us to come, follow, see, and learn. 

I think Jesus tells us the same thing this morning.  It doesn’t matter if we have it just right, or if we are a bit confused.  It doesn’t matter if we are looking for a teacher when we should really be looking for a Messiah.  No matter why we came or what we are really looking for, Jesus’ answer to us is the same, “Come and see.”  Come and participate, be active, delve deeper into your life of faith.  And don’t pressure yourself to be perfect before you will join Jesus, or before you dare to call yourself a disciple.  Just come as you are, and see what our Lord has to offer.  No matter what it is that you are looking for this morning; Jesus’ invitation is always one of welcome, “come and see.”  For only after we take the first steps to come and see, will we be able to become his true disciples.  Amen.