Transcript
He said to them, “What are you looking for? Please be seated.”
I don’t know if you were here last week, but I mentioned that the baptism of Jesus is in all four gospel readings. Well, the first half of today’s gospel reading is John’s version of Jesus’s baptism. It is John the Baptist, not the same John as the gospeler, who says he saw the spirit descend and who heard God speak.
The second half of today’s gospel reading moves on to how John portrays the call of the first two disciples, Andrew and Simon or Cphus or Peter, depending on which name you want to use. Next week, we’ll get Matthew’s version of the call of the first two disciples. That’s probably the version you know better when Jesus says, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” But in today’s version, in the Gospel of John’s version of Jesus first two disciples, we get John the Baptist calling out Jesus just like he did from the womb.
Because if you remember, it was John the Baptist who leapt for joy from within Elizabeth at the sound of Mary when she came to announce her pregnancy. And because of John the Baptist, we have two disciples who start to follow Jesus. When Jesus realize he has followers literally, I imagine Jesus walking down the street and randomly two guys start following him. I wonder if it’s like that scene in Eyes Wide Shut where Tom Cruz’s character is being followed by a guy in a trench coat. Anyways, these two disciples decide to start following Jesus.
And when Jesus realizes that they’re following him, he turns around and says, “What are you looking for?” In the case of this gospel passage, they ask him, “Where is he sleeping?” But the answer is basically you or a relationship with you with Jesus.
But it made me think, what are you looking for? If Jesus was here now in this place and he asked, “What are you looking for?” What answer would you give him? Would you even have an answer? Have you considered this question? What are you looking for? What are you looking for in life? What are you looking for in your faith? What are you looking for in your relationship with God? And being here on Sunday morning, what are you looking for in church?
As I already stated, the two disciples basically say they’re looking for a relationship with Jesus. They want to know Jesus and be known by Jesus. They want to be connected with Jesus. After all, that is what a relationship is. It is the way in which two or more people are connected. That’s official definition for Miriam Webster.
For those of you who are married or have been married or have watched a cheesy romcom movie, you have heard that being in a relationship is 50/50, right? It requires compromise and sharing and creating a whole from two halves. In fact, that’s often a common sentiment at weddings. Two have become one. It’s a give and take kind of situation.
We’ve heard this about romantic relationships, husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends. It’s also true about any relationship. There must be give and take. Yes, this could mean the romantic relationships. could also mean best friends or it could mean parent, child or siblings or even boss and employee or teacher and student and it definitely means God. It means Jesus and us. And it also means church as in you and me and the people sitting around you and the people leading ministry and the people serving on Sunday and the people singing in the choir and the people sitting on any of our governing or financial boards and the people teaching Sunday school.
To be in a relationship with God requires give and take. And being part of a church, a congregation, a community, it requires give and take. To be in any relationship, you must give so that you can take. And yes, it is common to hear that a relationship, again, any kind of relationship requires two parts to be combined to create a whole. But that whole piece isn’t really just 5050.
I mean, we’ve been in relationships before. Generally speaking, for a relationship to thrive, both parties must put in 100%. They must be completely committed and willing to give all and able to get all. They must show up with 100% of themselves 100% of the time, which is what the disciples do for Jesus and what Jesus does for the disciples and for all of us.
And it is what we each need to do for one another as we are in a relationship with one another here at church because community implies relationship. Congregation implies relationship, member implies relationship. If you want to be in a relationship with God, with one another, with the church, then you must be part of the relationship. It isn’t a passive role. Relationships require work and not just some work. If each of us only gave half of ourselves, then we would only have half of a congregation, half of a church, half of a relationship.
Thus, when Jesus asks the disciples, “What are they looking for?” And they answer by implying they want a relationship. They are asking for and offering 100%.
We know that passage from Matthew and Luke when Jesus calls people to follow him and they push back. One says he must go bury his father and Jesus says let the dead bury the dead. Yes, Jesus is possibly being rude, but he’s also saying if you’re in, you must be in 100%. If you want to be part of this community, this church, you need to be willing to give all of yourself.
Now, I know that church is not the only thing in our lives. After all, if it was, then we’d all probably be members of a cloistered monastery rather than out in the world living our lives with families and jobs and friends and other commitments. So, expecting you to give 100% of yourself to church and to God is very unrealistic. But then again, so is the same expectation for all of our relationships.
We all know sometimes a relationship requires 100% of ourselves. Sometimes we can only give 80%. Or even 20%. Sometimes we just don’t have 100% of ourselves to give.
Which is why church St. John’s, it’s not a oneon-one relationship. It is a group, a community. Because even if some of us can only muster part of ourselves, others in that moment can give even more of themselves. And as the cycle continues, we each take turns. We’ll each be fed and we’ll feed in a way that guarantees we show up as much as we can with as much of ourselves as available. And together we create a community and relationship.
Jesus asked the disciples what they are looking for. And the answer is community, relationship, togetherness. And if each of us show up with as much as we can bring to the community, we’ll have a pretty amazing community.
You know, like Sylvester Salone’s character Rocky, when he’s talking about Adrien, his love interest, he says, “I got gaps. She got gaps. Together, we’ll fill gaps. Together, we can fill gaps to make this a relationship, a community worth being part of.” Jesus asks, “What are you looking for?” The answer is here in community. as we each give all of ourselves to one another.
None of us can be in a relationship that is one-sided. So, choose to be in this relationship, the relationship that is St. John’s Church, that is with Jesus, that is with one another. Choose to be in this relationship by giving of yourself 100% if possible. But really, anything you can give will be enough.
Amen.