What Are You Looking For? - Sermon for the Second Sunday after Epiphany Year A

What Are You Looking For?

Epiphany 2A

January 15, 2023

Christ, Preston, MN

John 1.29-42

Soo Lee came to worship one Sunday and quietly sat in the back. Over the next few weeks she returned a number of times. Then one Sunday she started coming up for Communion, responding I assumed to the “all are welcome” invitation spoken every week. Later, when she told me she’d like to be baptized, I learned some of her story. She emigrated with her parents from China at a young age, settled in New York City, and attended a Catholic school, even though her parents weren’t Christians. She didn’t know much about Christianity, but her life had hit a rough patch recently and she didn’t know what to do. She knew something was missing, that she was looking for something, and so she tried a church. I don’t know what brought her to our church specifically, but I was glad she came.

“What are you looking for?” Jesus asks the two disciples of John the Baptist in today’s gospel reading. They have heard John twice declare that Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and so they go to check him out. It’s important to note that John’s Gospel goes to great lengths to stress that John the Baptist is not the Messiah; Jesus is. Here, in a story that is a natural follow-up to last week’s (though in John, not Matthew), and in a rather odd exchange, we hear John’s version of the call of Jesus’ first disciples.

When Jesus asks them what they are looking for, he is not only saying, “What do you want?” He wants to know what they truly desire and particularly, what they want from him. The two respond with an odd question: “Where are you staying?” The Greek word for “staying” is an important one in John's Gospel. It can also mean “resting,” “remaining,” or “abiding.” It’s “abiding” that gives us the depth of meaning to this concept. Though they may not know why, the two disciples have a deep desire to abide with Jesus.

It’s like when you are hungry and want something to eat but you don’t know what. You scrounge the kitchen hoping you’ll come across what it is you are looking for. Or you are restless and want to do something, but you don’t know what will satisfy the desire to be active. Perhaps, like Soo Lee, something is missing in your life or things aren’t going well, so you’re looking for whatever it is that will satisfy that deep itch. So, when Jesus says to them, “Come and see,” he is inviting them into a space of abiding with him. In doing such, Jesus indicates that their deepest desires and needs will be met with him.

Now, there’s a caveat that needs to be made regarding Jesus’ question, “What are you looking for?” It is dangerous to think that a relationship with Jesus is all about giving us what we want. In fact, sometimes we get pouty because we “didn’t get to sing my kind of music” today or that I “didn’t get anything out of the sermon.” Most churches including this one work hard to have meaningful worship that gives glory to God, inviting people into this relationship. But it’s not about satisfying personal tastes.

Soo Lee didn’t get baptized and join the church because we were welcoming, though we were and that was probably part of it. She did so because she met Jesus, the one who met her in her deepest needs and loved her deeply. You see, evangelism isn’t hard. We create a space where people can encounter the living, loving God and Jesus does the heavy lifting. For our part we simply say “Come and see,” letting Jesus do the hard work. So, my siblings in Christ, what are you looking for? Even if you don’t know what that is, it’s okay, because Jesus does and provides what you need. Thanks be to God. Amen.

My sermons often preach a little differently than written and you can find the video here.