What Are You Looking For? John 1:29-42 Sermon

On the second Sunday after Epiphany, January 15, 2017, the sermon text is John 1:29-42. 

There are a few directions we could go with this story about Jesus calling disciples. We could talk about the importance of leaving everything behind to follow Jesus, like Andrew and Peter did.

We could talk about John correctly identifying Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Or we could talk about inviting others to come follow Jesus, like Andrew and John did. There’s a lot in this reading!

What I want to focus on, though, is a little question Jesus asks the disciples, right before he invites them to follow him. I think it’s a key question for us to ask ourselves as we think about what it means to follow Jesus, and it’s a question we need to have an answer for before we can reach out to others or invite them to come to church.

The question is in verse 38. When Jesus turned and saw the disciples following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?”

It’s a deep question, and John lets it hang out there. What are you looking for? Who are you seeking? Why are you here?

He’s not just asking what they’re seeking in the moment; he’s asking a larger question.
What do you want out of life? I’d pose the same question to you: What are you looking for? What’s led you to be here, in church today?

Maybe it’s to see friends, because this congregation has been like a family to you. Maybe it’s because church is about the only place in our society where it’s socially acceptable to sing out loud in public.

On this weekend when our nation remembers Martin Luther King Jr., maybe it’s to hear the promise that God’s love is for people of all colors and all backgrounds. Maybe you’re here today because it’s been a rough week and you need to hear the good news that Jesus loves you. Or maybe you’re not sure exactly why you’re here today.

Somewhere around 52 million people in America are in church today. That’s a huge number, yet if it’s only about 18% of the population.

Why is it we’re here, and others aren’t?

Another way of getting at the same question might be to ask what would be different in your life if you weren’t a Christian? For one thing, you’d be able to sleep in longer on Sunday morning, or go out to eat earlier on Saturday night. But on a deeper level, it’s a real question.

I’m going to do something dangerous in a sermon, and talk about myself for a minute. I’ve been a Christian all my life, and I’ve grown up in the church, so there’s not a specific time I can point to and say this is when my life was changed by following Jesus, but I know my life is different because I’m a Christian. Following Jesus, trusting in the promise that God loves me no matter what, that’s what gives me hope for life.

Without the hope I have in Christ, I don’t know who I’d be. I know I would be both a lot more selfish, and a lot less motivated. On a fundamental level, I don’t know how I would get through crises in life without the promise and the hope of God’s love.

I know there are many people who do great charity work, love their neighbors, serve the poor, and are genuinely nice people, yet don’t believe in God. And there are many people who do believe in God, yet don’t give away anything, have a hard time showing love to anyone, and genuinely seem like jerks. We Christians don’t have any kind of monopoly on helping others or being nice.

For me, though, I really do believe that what I do for others I do out of gratitude for what Christ has done for me. Without that sense of gratitude toward God, I’m pretty confident I’d be a lot more selfish.

I’m really not that good of a person, and yet I know Jesus loves me. I love our Lutheran doctrine of being both a saint and a sinner at once, because that’s true of me.

My answer to Jesus’ question of what are you looking for has something to do with hope and purpose. Maybe your answer is similar to mine. I suspect it’s somewhat different, because all of us are different people. You have your own hurts, your own needs you’re looking for Jesus to meet.

I’m here today because the most real answers to life I can find come from faith, come from meeting God here, in all of you, gathering together around a table to hear the promise that the body and blood of Christ are given for you, joining together in song and prayer.

We see what happens in the world when people are left to their own devices. We fight for ourselves, we go to war, we waste our lives in pursuit of more and more stuff, and we see tragedy after tragedy.

I wonder if that was true for the disciples too. They lived in a rough world, a world where the religious and political leaders lived in luxury, while most of the people suffered under Roman oppression. These disciples came looking for a new purpose, a new leader to follow, someone to give them a new hope.

That’s what we’re here for today, a hope and purpose extending beyond what we can see or find on our own.

When Jesus asks them what they’re looking for, they respond with a question. “Teacher, where are you staying?”

Their answer can also be translated, “Where are you dwelling?” and if you think about Jesus as God in the flesh, it’s actually a profound response, because the answer to where God is dwelling is with people.

I’m not sure they’ve grasped that yet, though. I think they just know they want to be with him. Now that they’ve found Jesus, they don’t want to lose him.

They don’t answer his actual question, because they don’t know exactly what they’re looking for. Very few people do. Our world is full of people who vaguely know there’s something wrong in the world or in their lives, yet don’t know how to articulate what they’re looking for.

In their quest for purpose and hope, or just to numb the suffering that comes with life in this world, people turn to all kinds of things.

For some, it’s drinking, or drugs, for others, it’s money, or work, or games, or travel, or even family. Not all of those are bad, but as a purpose for life, they all fall short.
Building your life on any of those, Jesus will say in a parable later, is like building a house on a pile of sand. It will eventually collapse.

There’s an old joke about a little girl who came up for the children’s message, and the pastor asked her, “What is small and brown, has a bushy tale, climbs trees, and eats nuts?”

The little girl looked confused, and said to the pastor, “It sure sounds like you’re talking about a squirrel, but I know the answer is Jesus.” The answer in children’s sermons and Sunday School always seems to be Jesus.

Sure enough, Jesus is the answer to the question of what the disciples are looking for. They’re looking for Jesus, even without knowing it.

That’s the answer for us as well. Looking for a purpose in life? Looking for a God who loves you even knowing how much you mess up? Looking for hope? Jesus is the answer.

Somehow, when the disciples hear John identify Jesus as the lamb of God, they know this is the one to follow. Not only do they leave everything and follow him, they’re excited enough to go tell others. When he hears John tell about Jesus, Andrew goes and finds his brother Simon, and tells him, “We have found the Messiah.” Andrew is so excited that he wants his brother to know so he can follow too.

I invite you this week to ponder Jesus’ question of “What are you looking for?” What is it that compels you to claim Jesus as the answer in your life?

If we can answer that question, if we can claim and articulate what we’re looking for and the hope we’ve found, I’m convinced it becomes a lot easier to do what Andrew does and go tell others about Jesus.

Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, you know each one of us. You know what we’re going through right now, our questions, our fears and doubts, and our hopes and dreams. Help us to keep looking to you, to keep seeking you as our answer. Help us to find comfort, strength, and courage in the confidence of your love for each of us, and invite others to come and see so they may share the hope we have found in you. Thank you for loving us as your children.
Amen.