(John 1:29-42)

If you really think about it, the central message of Christianity is told in a story that begins, “Once upon a time.” Further, as uncomfortable as it may be for some of us, it’s not just one story, but collections of stories – and even more entertaining, collections of stories from different traditions. The gospel of John differs markedly from Matthew, Mark, and Luke in terms of the way the first disciples begin to follow Jesus. In the gospels of Matthew and Mark Simon Peter, Andrew and, James and John are called away from their family fishing business as Jesus walked along the shore. In Luke, they are compelled to carry Jesus out into the sea so he can teach the crowds that are overwhelming him on the shore, and end up with a great catch of fish. In John, however, they are disciples of John the Baptist, and it is the Baptist who points them toward Jesus as “the lamb of God.”

These different traditions shouldn’t lead us to ask, “who’s right?” Instead, once we see the Scripture as a treasure house of stories, we should ask, “What is this story saying to me?” and, “Where do I find myself in it?” The same issue is present in the various traditions of Messiah as prophet, Messiah as Davidic King, and Messiah as a suffering servant. You can try to reconcile all the traditions, or, you can celebrate the diversity of traditions representing God’s ongoing efforts to speak to humanity at our own level.

As Frederick Buechner points out, “every story has a beginning –a time, a place, a set of characters, and the implied promise, which is common to all stories, that something is coming, something interesting or significant or exciting is about to happen…and then everyone leans forward a little and starts to listen.” (1)

He goes on to explain why stories have enormous power for us: First, “they make us want to know what is coming next, and not just out of idle curiosity either because if it’s a good story, we really want to know, almost fiercely so, and we will wade through a lot of pages…to find out.” (2) So John says, “Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Well, then what? What did the other characters do and say, and how did it all turn out in the end? Second, “they force us to consider the question, “Are stories true?” Not just, “Is this story true?” – [did John really say that?] – but are any stories true?” (3) You see, when storytellers weave their tales, they depict a world they want us to know, or a world we already know. They say “life has meaning – life adds up somehow. This grips us and fascinates us because if there is meaning in these lives, in any life, then there is also meaning in our lives, and we can truly discover what our life means!”(4)

In this story from John, two disciples overhear John’s proclamation “and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?”5 Here is the place in the story where we should be asking ourselves, “What are we looking for?” “Why are we following Jesus?” Have you ever really stopped to ask that question of yourself? “What is it that you’re looking for?” If you have ever really encountered Jesus in your life – I mean, the living, resurrected Christ, don’t you think he would have asked that of you? “What are you looking for?”

I can vividly remember a vision that I had, or thought I had, or had in such a way that the thinking of it was the having of it, all rolled into one. It was early in my Christian life, and suddenly I’m standing next to two men, one of whom I know is Jesus, though I can’t make out his face in any way to let me know this by any other means than the fact that I just knew it. The other man was Paul, and Paul was reading me the riot act with Jesus standing there, saying nothing. “Why aren’t you preaching? Why aren’t you teaching? What are you doing?” Paul went on and on, and all I could do was look at Jesus looking at me, and knowing, somewhere deep down in my gut, that Paul was right – that I was wasting my time and Christ’s. Then, Jesus looks at Paul, and says, “Leave him alone. It’s just this way for now.”

Just as suddenly as the vision had begun it was ended. I didn’t quite know what to make of it, but this much I knew, Jesus had just asked me, “What are you looking for?” even while Paul was asking me, “What are you waiting for?” It was at this point in my life (back in the early 1980’s) that I began to contemplate a call to ministry.

When I read this story from John, I’m reading not only John’s story, or Andrew’s story, but also my story. When I see the disciples of John the Baptist following Christ, when I hear the question Christ poses to them, I want to know how they answer – I want to know how I would answer. “They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means teacher), “where are you staying?”(6) Now I don’t know about you, but I get the idea that these two are shuffling their feet, looking at the ground, a bit embarrassed to say what they really want, or even worse, to say they’re not sure what they want! It sounds a lot like my kids when they want something, but aren’t sure how to ask for it, or, when they want something so bad they can’t help but ask for it but they don’t want to ask too quickly, because they don’t want to hear the answer they couldn’t bear to hear, which is, that they can’t have it. They’re waiting for the Messiah. Are you the One? They both want to know and don’t want to know the answer to that question depending on the answer.

“He said to them, “Come and see.”” (7) Think about that just for a minute. They want to know if he’s the One they’ve been waiting for, and his answer is “Come and see.” Once again, it’s not just their story that’s being told, but also our story. “What is it that you’re looking for?” Is Jesus the answer to our question? Is Jesus the answer to our need? Do we even know the question to ask? Do we really, right now, in this instant, want to hear the answer? More to the point, is there any answer that Jesus could speak right now that would satisfy you? Really? You see, I don’t think so. I think Jesus gave the only answer that could give their lives meaning. He didn’t say “Yes,” or “No.” He said, “Come and see.” He said, “Follow me.” “They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day…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 have found the Messiah.”. 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 [from the word for rock in Aramaic (kepha) and Greek (petra]). (8) These men did not find meaning in their life from Christ’s answer to their question; instead, they found Christ was the answer to their question. They found their meaning in following Christ.

Friends, people can find their meaning in doing a hundred things for the church. They can find their meaning in sharing responsibility for endless decisions about the way the Church should be, or do, whatever it is we are here to be or to do. But our gospel lesson confronts us with the gospel truth – we cannot find our place in the church until we find our place with Christ. We are here, first and foremost, to live with Christ, following the resurrected Christ, and committing our lives to remaining with him.

Paul is making that point in his letter to the very bitterly embattled church at Corinth. They suffered from a host of divisions. They chose up sides against one another. They said, we believe this, or we believe that; they said, we follow this, or we’re committed to that; they said, you’re not with us, or, we’re not with you. They were all very busy doing the business of their church, but they had forgotten, in the end, why they were there. Paul reminds them that they were called, first and foremost, “into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (9) Later in his letter, he will say, none of these things you’re about will be about anything at all if you won’t love.

What are we looking for? What are we about? What are we committed to? If it’s not to the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord – if it’s not to love one another, than in the end, it has no meaning.

1 Buechner, Frederick "Listening to Your Life," HarperSanFrancisco, 1992, pp.223-4
2 ibid, p. 224
3 ibid
4 ibid
5 John 1:37-38 NRSV
6 John 1:38 NRSV
7 John 1:39
8 John 1:39-42
9 1 Cor. 1:9