Christ the King Epiphany Church, Wilbraham

The Rev. Martha S. Sipe

January 18, 2-26 / Second Sunday after the Epiphany

John 1:29-42

“What are you looking for?”

Those are Jesus’ first words in the Gospel of John.  Andrew and another of John the Baptist’s disciples observed John pointing to Jesus and calling him the Lamb of God, and they decided to check Jesus out.  When Jesus saw the two following him, he asked them, “What are you looking for?”

It seems like a rather mundane question.  But remember:  there’s very little that’s run-of-the-mill in John’s Gospel.  There’s always more than meets the eye in John’s recounting of the story of Jesus.   When Jesus asks them, “What are you looking for?” I suspect that it means a lot more than just, “Can I help you find something?”  Or “Is there some object you’ve lost?”  More likely, Jesus is really asking, “What are you searching for in life?  What is your soul’s deepest desire? What are you seeking with all of your being?”  What are you looking for?

On first glance, the disciples seem to fumble their response, like they’re sheepishly trying to cover their curiosity.  I mean, their teacher, John, has just called Jesus the Lamb of God, and their first question is:  “Where are you staying?”  Is that what they really want to know?  Where Jesus was spending the night?  But again, let’s remember that this is John’s gospel that we’re reading from.  The Greek word behind the English word staying means quite a bit more than “renting a hotel room” or “crashing on a friend’s couch.”  To stay means to abide, to dwell, to be present.  It seems to me that Andrew and his friend are really trying to find out where they can find Jesus, not only in the narrow sense, but also in the larger, cosmic sense.  Where is Jesus?

Jesus’ answer is, once again, deceptively simple.  “Come and see.”  I would bet my bottom dollar that Jesus is not just inviting them to lay eyes on his bed roll; he’s inviting them, and us, to open our eyes to see where he is.  And not just on the banks of the Jordan River, but where he is now.

What are you looking for?  And what do you see when you walk through these doors on a Sunday morning?  You expect to see Jesus . . . and you do!  You expect to see him in the words of scripture – not only in the Gospel stories about his life, but also in all of scripture.  Jesus is the incarnate Word of God.  You expect to meet Jesus in the sacrament of holy communion.  He has promised that he is with us in bread and wine.  You expect to experience Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, in prayer and community for he has promised that where two or three are gathered in his name, he is in our midst.  You expect to see Jesus . . . and you do!

Scientists say that what you see is what you look for.  In 1980, scientists ran what became known as the facial scar experiment.  Participants were told that they were helping scientists study how physical deformities change interpersonal interactions.  A make-up artist placed a scar on each participant’s face, and then the participants viewed their “scar” in a mirror.  The make-up artist then applied moisturizer, telling each person that it was to prevent cracking.  Then they went out to interact with other people, and each and every participant reported that the interactions that they had were tense or patronizing, as you might expect for a disfigured person.  And yet the moisturizer that was applied actually removed the make-up.  Participants expected to be treated differently, so that’s what they experienced, even though none of them actually had a scar!  What we see is greatly impacted by what we expect to see.   1

We see Jesus here, in part, because we expect to see Jesus here.  But do we expect to see him beyond these doors?  Do we expect to see him in places outside of the church, in people who think or act differently than we do here?  What are we looking for in the world?  Are we looking for evidence that “other people” are idiots?  Or godless?  Or evil?  Because if we are, we will probably see what we expect to see.  But what if, instead, we were to take seriously Jesus’ invitation to come and see where he is, where he abides, where he is present?

A rabbi asked his students how you can tell when the night has ended and the day is on the way back.  “Could it be when you see an animal in the distance and you can tell if it’s a sheep or a dog?” asked his students.  “No,” the rabbi replied.  “Could it be when you can look at a tree in the distance and tell whether it’s a fig or a peach tree?”  “No.”  “Then what is it?” his students wanted to know.  “It is when you can look on the face of any person and see that they are your kin.  Because if you cannot do this, no matter what time it is, it is still night.”

In these days of chaos and division in our country, it feels an awful lot like night, as if we have lost the ability and even the willingness to look into another’s face and see them as kin.  It feels as if we no longer expect to see others as beloved, as people whom Jesus loves and in whom Jesus is present, whether that presence is obvious or not.  It’s worth contemplating Jesus’ question:  What are we looking for?  Because if we’re not looking for a sibling in Christ, if we’re not looking to see Jesus even in our enemies, if we’re not looking at others as also beloved of God, then we’ll never be able to accept Jesus’ invitation to come and see where he abides, nor his call to follow.

Our hymn of the day is # 802.  Before we stand to sing it, I invite you to turn to it and to contemplate the words of the first stanza as I read them aloud.  May this be our answer to the question, “What are we looking for?”

Let us ever walk with Jesus, 

follow his example pure,

through a world that would deceive us 

and to sin our spirits lure.  

     (the sin of hatred, the sin of violence, 

     the sin of refusing to see Jesus in one another)

Onward in his footsteps treading, 

trav’lers here, our home above, 

full of faith and hope and love, 

let us do our Savior’s bidding,

faithful Lord, with me abide; 

    (abide with us, stay with us, be in us)

faithful Lord, with me abide; 

I shall follow where you guide.

__________________________________

1

 https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/theory-of-knowledge/202311/what-you-see-is-what-you-look-for?msockid=09bf96132f4968dd2f0680142eb569f5