Following Best We Can - 1-15-23
Following as Best We Can
1 Cor 1:1-9; John 1:29-42
1 Cor 1:1-9
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
John 1:29-42
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.” The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. 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” (which is translated Anointed). 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).
Prayer – Gracious God, as we enter the deeper into the season of Epiphany, help us to be more alert, aware, awake to the myriad of ways that you reveal yourself to us. As Jesus said to those first two disciples, ‘what are you looking for?’ we too are looking, looking to be drawn into a deeper awareness, a deeper understanding of the faithful life. Help us, strengthen us, continue to encourage us to follow as best we can – amen.
The season of Epiphany invites us into the work of seeing, holding, even beholding God’s ongoing presence in our lives and in our world. The scripture passages we encounter in this season offer up countless moments of revelation, of manifestation, moments when we are invited to hold our gaze of God being made known in our midst, especially through the life and ministry of Jesus. And these moments of revelation invite us to respond – respond by following the best we can. And when we are drawn into deeper awareness, a fuller understanding, even new discoveries, it impacts us, it moves us, it calls us to be transformed by the encounter with the holy and sacred. It is as if this season of looking is connected to the work of becoming.
As we read and hear our gospel passage this morning in the season of Epiphany, we are most often drawn to John’s proclamation regarding Jesus as the Lamb of God. John is identified as the ‘testifier to the light’ and that testimony is for anyone that will listen. It seems as if John can’t help but share his new understanding with others and does so by naming Jesus as God’s physical embodied manifestation of grace, moving among us, close enough to see and touch. What greater seeing is there than the very tangible presence of God?
And there is more revealing going on in our passage, the moment of revelation that occurs when the two disciples hear John’s testimony and begin to follow Jesus. Their following is its own revelation. Where John’s words provide a moment of discovery, the disciples actions – their joining the movement Jesus is beginning – offer deeper understanding and new awareness of the ways God is being made known in our midst. In their actions we discover that God’s love and justice are made manifest when we move together. What Jesus’ ministry will continue to show us over and over again throughout the gospels is that the liberation and redemption he embodies takes all of us. And our task – to follow the best we can.
I find it particularly compelling that the narratives of the calling of the first disciples are part of our Epiphany texts each liturgical year. With all of Jesus’ revelatory stories, his miracles and life-changing healing, it would be easy to stay focused on all the ways that Jesus is God’s love made-flesh. These aspects of Jesus’ ministry are, after all, earth-shattering, sky-opening revelations of the new thing God is doing in and through Jesus. But Jesus, himself, reminds us that this is not the whole story. For every time he tells a catchy story, heals a broken life, encounters someone frequently found on the margins of his world, it seems that someone takes up their role in the unfolding story of God’s redeeming love. When the disciples follow, and bring others along, they become their own shareholders to new possibilities, for themselves, but also for us all these centuries later.
Biblical scholar Audrey West points out in her commentary of this passage in the gospel of John that it contains Jesus’ first words in the gospel. She notes that a question is the first thing Jesus utters to the two who became disciples and perhaps to us today, “what are you looking for” or more accurately in the original Greek, “what are you seeking?” West notes “Jesus’ ministry begins not with a mighty command to silence a demon, as in Mark; nor with a sermon to the crowds who have gathered on a mountain, as in Matthew; and not with a quotation from Isaiah to proclaim his anointing for the year of God’s favor, as in Luke, but rather with a question in John’s gospel: ‘What are you seeking? What are you looking for? What do you need?’ It is a question worth wrestling with – as individuals, as congregations, as communities, as followers – since our answers will have a great deal to do with what we find as well as with the journey we take to get there. What are you seeking? What motivates you? What is that you really need, not just on the surface, but deep down into the core of your being? What are you looking for?
I can’t help but think that this question was the beginning of Jesus building his own life, ministry and journey which would eventually take him to the cross. He turned to those he encountered and began to create relationships, to learn who they were and what they needed. He reached out to friends and followers, strangers and even enemies to connect to their deepest longings, and responded out of God’s love, grace and mercy right then and there in their midst. Perhaps the question Jesus is asking is a question with multiple layers – a layer of what are you looking for right now as well as what are you willing to give your life for and to? And I wonder what prompted those first disciples Andrew and John to follow the best they could.
Did those first disciples follow as do most of us because of what they have heard another say. We are Christians today because we have been taught about Jesus from others before us, just as our teachers were taught themselves. I wonder if Andrew and John, Peter and Thomas, Mary and Martha followed because they were looking for something deep and filled with meaning. Was it a thirst to drink from that wellspring of life that dwelled in Jesus? Was it because they hungered for righteousness and justice? I suppose we may never know why they followed as best they could.
Perhaps the more important question is ‘What are we looking for as followers of Jesus?’ Are we looking for a stay out of hell free card? Are we looking for a community of fellow followers to share in this journey called life and faith? Are we looking for something deeper, filled with meaning, filled with promise, filled with wonder and mystery? Or are we simply looking for something bigger than us to believe in so we don’t feel so alone in this world?
As we reflect about this passage of call from John’s gospel, what is it that we are looking for in Jesus? Are we looking for a friendly face, a tender response when things are in disarray? Are we looking for someone to teach us about faith and life, an example of what it means to walk humbly while seeking God? What is it that we are looking for in Jesus? Easy answers to life’s hardest questions. And perhaps, what may be the more important and harder question is will we remain with Jesus after we see what kind of life he leads, where he stays, what he eats, the challenges he faces with the governmental authorities in cahoots with the religious leaders? Is Jesus really what we are looking for?
As I read our lectionary passages for today, from Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth and from John, both stories of what and how we are called to discipleship, I found myself wondering about those early disciples and all who have followed since then. I wonder about the world that shaped them and the influences that guided them, which prodded them, filling them with such a hunger for something ‘more’ that they found themselves on a quest. Tomorrow is a day that we acknowledge Dr. Martin Luther King’s journey, which was grounded in his faith and understanding that all of humanity is embraced by God, and so I wondered what and who facilitated his call to ministry. What had him seeking for a deeper understanding of liberation and deliverance? Where and how did he find himself digging in and experiencing more and more profound meaning in the Civil Rights movement? And we all know it was costly on many fronts for him and the others who fought for those rights – what kept them going? And perhaps most importantly, what can we learn, what insights can we gain from looking at those who have been called in the past?
As we begin together another year and chapter here at Trinity Presbyterian, what about our own call stories can inspire us, can rekindle in us a passion to make a difference in this church, this community, this world? In what ways is Jesus saying to you, to me, to us this morning, what are you seeking, come and see what we can do together? What are we willing to do differently from the past? What sacred cows are we willing to give up? What vision do we have for the future together? How are each of us called to discipleship as we consider how to proceed in the future?
Those are questions that are continuing to bubble up in me as I have walked with you in ministry and in life here in Mansfield for the last few years. The one thing I trust implicitly as we continue this journey is that Jesus is standing in our midst, inviting us to come and see, inviting us to seek a transformative experience found in discipleship and shared ministry. May God bless us and guide us as we discern our growing mission and vision for TPC in our community – thanks be to God – amen.