Based on Isaiah 49:1-7, 1Corinthians 1:1-9, John 1:29-34
Think about the last time you interviewed for a new position or saw someone being interviewed after accepting a new position (head coach, etc). At some point in the interview, the interviewee was asked a question that went like, “What do you hope to accomplish in this new position?” I guarantee you that neither you nor the person you were watching being interviewed responded with the statement, “Well, I hope that I am an abject failure – that I’m absolutely the worst person who ever occupied this position!” I can also guarantee that 100% of the people who fielded that question answered it positively. Something like, “I just want to help the ball club be successful and win a championship” or “I’m looking forward to working hard and doing job X as well as I can to improve what business Y does”. In other words, all of us who have ever interviewed for a job have come into it with high aspirations that we were going to make a positive difference – that we would leave that organization better than we found it…right?!
We have all spent some amount of time and effort discerning about what the best fit is for us in a career. We have all wanted to find places to invest ourselves where we can make a difference – where we can make things better, where we can fit in. Similarly, those of us who have taken vows to follow the Christ find ourselves like those disciples of John the Baptist who discover Jesus through John. Pastor Debbie Thomas describes it this way, “…Jesus has [He’s] just been baptized and publicly identified as the Lamb of God by his cousin John. When two of John’s own disciples decide to follow Jesus instead, Jesus turns, looks them in the eye, and asks a question that would have stopped me in my tracks: ‘What are you looking for?’ (John 1:38)….”
The Bible as a whole and our scripture readings for today echo Jesus’ question as a way for us to discover how to go about making a difference in the world for God. We are in Second Isaiah today, the part of the book known for its comfort and consolation to the exiled community in Babylon. Isaiah tells the exiles that they are to be looking for a servant of God who not only returns Israel to God but one who is made to be “a light for the Gentiles, that God’s [my] salvation may reach the ends of the earth….”
Paul’s first letter to the believers in Corinth opens with a description of who they had been baptized into. Paul reminds them that they have been “sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people…” Paul tells them that “…you do not lack any spiritual gifts as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed….” Paul tells them that they have found that for which they have been looking, and that God has already given them everything they need to make a difference in the world.
In the Gospel according to John, the Baptizer is going about his business after having baptized Jesus. John the Baptist sees Jesus and cries out, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Two of John the Baptist’s disciples heard in that exclamation the answer to their search for something to give real meaning to their spiritual lives. When they began to follow after Jesus, he turns to them and asks, “What do you want?” which is another way of asking “What are you looking for?”
Each of us is on a life-long journey to try to find the deep and transformative answer to that question from Jesus. Pastor Thomas continues to unpack the essence of Jesus’ asking “What are you looking for?” writing, “…What longings keep you up at night? What hopes and hungers are you afraid to name, even to yourself? What fills you with joy? What breaks your heart? What are you looking for? I wonder if the two who hear the question have any idea how to answer it. Maybe they don’t. Maybe no one has ever asked them a question so inviting or vulnerable-making before. Maybe they’ve never considered the possibility that their own deep wants matter to God and profoundly affect their spiritual well-being and growth. Maybe that’s why Jesus asks. Because he knows that if they just take in the question, their lives will change. Their wanting will shape their finding. Their hungers will trigger transformation.
So, I turn the question on myself. What am I looking for? Do I know? I live in a culture that tries so hard to answer the question for me. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been taught to want certain things fiercely. Success. Independence. Recognition. Security. So, I’ve strived and strived, often feeling like a failure because I haven’t attained all the things I’m supposed to want.
All the while, deep beneath the surface, Jesus’ question burns hard and bright. What am I looking for? What is causing me to move so frantically through the world, one ambition piled on top of another, no achievement or accolade ever quite enough to calm my anxious heart? What am I looking for when I go to church on Sunday? When I pray? When I engage in ministry?
I know that my foundational calling is to look for God. To want God in my life - more than I want anything else. But I also know how easily habit, doubt, disappointment, weariness, or just plain boredom can dull my wanting. I know how fast I can step back and choose something smaller and safer. Close off my heart, stick a smile on my face, and go through the motions because I’m too depleted or jaded to yearn for more. When Jesus asks his two would-be disciples what they’re looking for, they dodge the question by answering with a question of their own: ‘Where are you staying?’ As in what does your home look like? Where do you abide? Most importantly, perhaps, what shape will our lives take if we decide to hang out with you? Jesus’ response is both simple and profound: ‘Come and see’ (John 1:39).
The only way to know where Jesus abides is to follow him all the way home. We can’t know him in the abstract…He’s not the type who remains in stasis - he moves. That means we have to move too. So, he invites us to come and see, to walk the path for a while - as pilgrims, not tourists. If the path feels murky, it’ll get clearer as we walk it. If we don’t know what we’re looking for, our patient sitting with the question will reveal what’s hidden. Our wanting will shape our finding.
As I keep asking myself what I want, I realize that the asking itself is at the heart of discipleship. The point is not to rush headlong toward an answer but to undertake a journey in a spirit of holy curiosity and anticipation. To ‘come and see’ over the full arc of my lifetime, cultivating a hunger for God that grows deeper over time. It’s a generous question, followed by an even more generous invitation. What are you looking for? Come and see. Come and discern what you desire most deeply. Come and cultivate that desire in the gracious company of a God who welcomes your questions, who holds your longings close, who promises to transform you into who you really are….”
Our individual and collective search for who we really are is the essence of our discipleship. By sitting with the question of what we are looking, longing or searching for, we find what it is we are gifted and called to do – we find our path to making a difference in the world. Discerning answers to the deeper questions that Pastor Thomas poses – “What longings keep you up at night? What hopes and hungers are you afraid to name, even to yourself? What fills you with joy? What breaks your heart?” – and I would add one more…what is it in our world today that keeps tugging, gnawing, insisting that you pay attention; the issue that won’t let you go?
That is where you find an answer to Jesus’ question. The Apostle Paul reminds us that God has already given us every spiritual gift we need to answer Jesus’ question. I have asked the Council members of both churches to dream big dreams about how our churches can work together and collaborate with others here in Louisa County in making a difference for God this year. So, I ask the same of you – for God-sized dreams come from faithfully answering the question, “What are you looking for?” May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts lead us to making a difference for God…amen!