Background Passages: John 1:35-39; John 1:1-14, John 15:4,9
Jesus asked a lot of questions during his time on earth. The Bible records over 300 questions that Jesus tossed out as he encountered people along the way. Those are just the questions we know he asked. I would imagine in the elapsed time between biblical stories, many other questions were asked. His questions were meant to probe deeply into the hearts and minds of those he met.
We live in a culture that demands answers. Truthfully, most of us would rather give an answer to demonstrate what we know than ask a question that demonstrates what we don’t know.
Jesus was a guy who had all the answers in the world. Yet, when most people asked him a question, he rarely answered directly. In fact, the scripture only records eight instances where Jesus specifically answered a question. Far more often, he answered a question with a question of his own. His questions caused those to whom they were directed to think, to dissect their lives, and to come to grips with that which was ultimately important.
Those questions recorded in scripture, if we pay attention to them, still cause us to think, dissect and decide upon that which is ultimately important in our lives today.
For the past several weeks, I’ve looked at some of the questions Jesus asked. “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?” “Why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do what I say to do?” The answers led me to explore my commitment to him and my need to be faithful and obedient to his teaching.
Today’s question is so profoundly simple.
“What do you want?”
Interestingly, these four words are the first words spoken by Jesus in the Gospel of John. It can’t be an accident that John included this question at the start of his narrative. The question, intended for those first century followers, is the same question John extends to every reader of his gospel throughout history.
When you think seriously about it, isn’t this the question? It stands at the heart of every religion and philosophy. It is the central question every person asks at some point in life. What do I want? What am I looking for? What is the point? What’s my purpose in life? If you’re anything like me, it is a question you’ve struggled with from time to time.
Jesus asked that question in the early days of his public ministry. Two days after Jesus walked into the waters of the Jordan to be baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, Jesus passed by the place where John continued to preach and teach. Here’s how it’s recorded in scripture.
“The next day, John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God.’ When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
“Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, ‘What do you want?’ They said, ‘Rabbi’ (which means Teacher), where are you staying?
“’Come,’ he replied, ‘and you will see.’
So, they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon. (John 1:35-39)
It is not a stretch to believe that, as disciples of John the Baptist, the two men who followed Jesus were present when Jesus was baptized two days earlier. It’s also not a stretch to believe they sat at John’s feet the next day when he testified that God’s spirit revealed to him (John 1:29-34) that Jesus was God’s Chosen One, the Anointed of God, the long-awaited Messiah.
As a result of that testimony and with his implied permission, the two ardent followers of John the Baptist left to follow Jesus when he passed by the next day. There is no mention of anyone else following Jesus that morning. At some point along the way, Jesus noticed the men shuffling along behind him.
It’s an interesting scene in my mind. Jesus looked over his shoulder and saw them. They stopped in their tracks and looked down and around, trying to hide the fact that they were following. Jesus smiled to himself and continued on his way. A few minutes later, he glanced behind him again and saw that they were still on his tail. He turned. With a tilt of his head, he asked, “What do you want?”
Jesus didn’t wait for them to get brave enough to speak to him. He spoke first. He made it easier for them to engage with him by opening the door to the conversation with a very simple question.
Therein lies a truth we find again and again throughout scripture. God always takes the initiative by reaching out to us. Our desire to know him is a seed the spirit plants within us when we’re longing for that elusive “something” that we feel is missing in our lives.
Augustine, the early Christian pastor, said God takes the first step in connecting with us. He wrote, “We could not have even begun to seek for God unless God had already found us.” God does not distance himself from us, he stops along the road and waits. He even takes those first steps toward us as he asks with a tilt of his head,
“What do you want?”
I suppose you could try to read a measure of irritation in the question Jesus asked, if you’re prone toward confrontation. “What do you want!? Why are you following me? Less of a question and more of a statement to “back off.” That says more about me and nothing about Jesus, I suppose.
No, I believe interest and curiosity oozed through Jesus’ question. On the surface, it sounds like, “Is there something I can help you with?” Here’s the penetrating power in the question though, linked to the deepest of life’s philosophical questions. What do you really want out of life?” It’s as if Jesus is saying, “I see you following me. That’s a good first step, but what are you really looking for? Do you even know what you want and need out of this relationship?”
When you think about it, it’s not an easy question to answer, is it? Most of us rarely have a handle on what we want. Standing on the side of the road, face to face with Jesus, I doubt those two men were all that sure either. To their credit, rather than give the “church answer” that they thought this new rabbi wanted to hear, they responded with a shrug of their shoulders and a desire to continue.
“Where are you staying?”
The disciples could have been content with exchanging a few words at the side of the road. “Tell us a little about yourself, Jesus. Where did you go to school? Tells us about your family. Briefly summarize your plans for the next few days. Such conversation would have been little more than a casual “get-to-know-you” encounter.
Instead, they asked him a question that implied a desire to stay with him for a time. To linger with him a bit longer. To engage in deeper conversation. To share their heart as he shared his own. These disciples said, in essence, “Is what John told us true? Are you the promised Messiah? Are you the one we’ve been looking for all our adult lives? Help us understand more.”
We should never read or hear that question from Jesus without giving it its due consideration. What exactly do I want?” We learn a great lesson from those followers. Even though they were less than certain what they wanted, they knew they needed time with Jesus to figure it out.
How are we any different? You and I should never be satisfied with a passing encounter with Christ. It will never be enough to accept him as our Lord, thinking that’s all we need do. It’s never sufficient to follow along at a distance without understanding what a life of discipleship means.
“Where are you staying?” becomes “Can we talk?”
“Where are you staying?” says “Are you the answer to the longing of my soul?”
“Where are you staying?” implies, “Teach me more.”
“Where are you staying?” means, “Help me grow in my understanding of what God requires of me.”
Jesus’ response is classic. He doesn’t give his three-minute elevator sales pitch nor does he share a three-point sermon and all six stanzas of Just As I Am. I doubt that Jesus made any attempt to persuade them that he is exactly who John the Baptist said he was. They just talked.
“Come and see!” An invitation to evolve…to grow. An offer to discover…to explore. An encouragement to keep digging until you find treasure.
I don’t think it took long for Jesus to put these two disciples at ease. When Jesus speaks, he is an open book. There is no pretense. No guile. No barriers to keep people at a distance. The warmth of his words draw them in so easily they quickly begin sharing more than they ever intended to share.
When we spend time with Jesus, quit pretending we know all the answers, we find that the longings of our hearts isn’t a philosophy or a religion. It is a person…a connection to the divine…a relationship that develops through trust over time. It is finding, as John says in those brilliant opening lines…
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…In him is life, and that life is the light of all mankind…Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (John 1:1, 12,14)
Once they received that invitation to come and see, John tells us they went to where he was staying and remained with him the rest of the day. Don’t you wish you could have eavesdropped on that conversation? I don’t know what was said, but it was life changing.
One of those two men who followed Jesus that day was Andrew. In the very next passage of scripture John tells us that Andrew was so moved by that conversation with Jesus that the first thing he did was find his brother Simon (Peter). When he tracked him down, he grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away from whatever he was doing. Brimming with excitement, Andrew told him, “We have found the Messiah” and he brought him to Jesus.”
I’m not sure the events of that day would have made a significant impact had those two disciples not stayed with Jesus for the rest of that day. It’s the staying with Jesus that gives us the time to truly discover what we’re looking for.
In his book, Being Disciples: Essentials of the Christian Life, author Rowan Williams wrote on this passage of John. He said, “The Gospel teaches us that the bottom line in thinking about discipleship has something to do with this staying. Later on in this same gospel, the same language of staying or abiding as it is often translated is used again to describe the ideal relation of the disciple to Jesus.
When Jesus talked about the vine and the branches in John 15, he said the optimal way to live life is to “abide” or “remain” in me. To stay.
“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me… As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” (John 15:4,9)
To remain is to stay. In other words, what makes me a disciple is not showing up from time to time when it’s convenient or when I want to demand something from him. Staying is not an on again, off again relationship of convenience. It is a relationship that continues. It is a relationship that grows.
I’ll ask you the question, even though I’m busy trying to answer it for myself.
What are you looking for?
It’s the question Jesus asks all of us…all the time.
Maybe it’s time for us to come and see.
Maybe this time, we’ll stay.