Isaiah 49.1-7                                                                                                                                          Carol A. Solovitz

Psalm 40.1-11                                                                                                                                        Epiphany 2A

1 Corinthians 1.1-9                                                                                                                               January 20, 2008

John 1.29-42

What Are You Looking For?

 

 

            Grace and peace be given to you, dear friends, in the name of our Lord! 

For the past week, I have wasted many hours looking for things I misplaced.  I finally found the CDs of the Germany photos, but now I can’t find the book I wanted to share with my book group.  It is frustrating and energy-consuming, yet I don’t want to stop looking, especially when I know that it will be in the last place I look.   As I meditated on today’s Gospel reading from the first chapter of John, I was taken by Jesus’ question to two of John the Baptist’s disciples who were following Jesus: “What are you looking for?”  It got me thinking about the great song by that Irish theologian Bono and his group U2 (at left)

 

 

 

 

It’s an amazing song that haunts me with its unfinished business.  John the Baptist introduced his two disciples to Jesus, saying, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!’  They had followed John, but they still hadn’t found what they were looking for.  So they began to follow Jesus.  He asked them, “What are you looking for?”  Before the day was over, one of them – Andrew – proclaimed, “We have found the Messiah.”  They found what they were looking for.

In Harold Kushner’s book, The Lord Is My Shepherd – his study of the 23^rd Psalm, he tells this story of a father and son going for a walk in the park.  The boy asks his father, “Daddy, why is the sky blue?”  The father answers, “What kind of question is that?  The sky is blue because it’s blue.  That’s all there is to it.”  A moment later, the boys asks, “Daddy, why is the grass green?”  The father answers, “How should I know?  Grass is green because that’s what color it is.  If it weren’t green, it wouldn’t be grass.”   Timidly, the boy asks, “Daddy, do you mind my asking you all these questions?”  The father responds, “No, go ahead and ask.  How else will you learn?” 

            What are you looking for?  Go ahead and ask for what you seek!  How else will you learn? 

As our airwaves are filled with political dialogue in this presidential election year, it seems that what we Americans crave is tax relief, affordable health care, and freedom from terrorists.  However, I cannot believe that is all we are looking for.  I believe that, first and foremost, all people – not just Americans – are looking for security, for a sense of safety and a future with hope.  I believe that we, like all creatures, are looking for adequate food, shelter, and care.  I believe that we are looking for acceptance, for freedom from prejudice and hatred, for the opportunity for all people to follow and achieve their dreams.  I believe that we are looking for community, for places where we can gather and know that we belong.  I believe that we are looking for learning and understanding about the world, the universe, other people, ourselves, and the One who created and still sustains it all.  I believe that we are looking for understanding of the scriptures and how they can guide us.  I believe that we are looking for redemption, for forgiveness for all the things we regret, and for a clean slate in order to begin anew.  Ultimately, we are looking for God and for the ways that we fit into God’s plans. 

            In the first chapter of John, we meet two seekers who open up a whole realm of thought when Jesus asks them, “What are you looking for?”  At the other end of the Gospel of John, in chapter 20, we witness another encounter of Jesus with a seeker, Mary Magdalene.  She is looking for the body of her Lord in the garden tomb, but he is not there.  She sees a man whom she supposes to be the gardener, and he asks her, “Whom are you looking for?”  When she tells him, he speaks her name, “Mary,” and she realizes that she has found the one she was looking for, Jesus.  Jesus has asked Mary a different question, but the answer is the same one he has for the disciples in John 1.  The answer is Jesus.

Whom, what are you looking for?  If it is Jesus, then you are in the right place.  For Jesus is alive and well in this community of faith.  He is here in this gathering of friends and strangers, in worship and Christian education, in fellowship and community, in joy and in sorrow.  And in a few minutes, he will share his very body and blood with us in the sacrament of Holy Communion.  What are you looking for?  I hope you find it here, and that this will be Home for you. 

 

Let us pray:  Dear Jesus, thank you for bringing us to the place where you are staying.  Thank you for opening up the scriptures to us and for giving us companions for the journey of faith.  Thank you for being the Messiah and for bringing the reign of God to us on earth.  Amen