On John 1:29-42
Near
the end of the film La La Land, the
character Mia, played by Emma Stone, says to another character: “People love
what other people are passionate about.”
She
says this to encourage a sharing of that passion. She says this to inspire
movement and action. Don’t just be a dreamer who dreams, she is saying. Be a
dreamer who does. Sounds a bit like Field
of Dreams, “If you build it they will come.”
People,
in other words, want to see the passion in others. It moves them, motivates
them, guides them, inspires them, and encourages them to move beyond just
dreaming to doing themselves. It gives them hope in their own lives to see life
being lived fully in others. Passion for life. People are looking for it.
“What
are you looking for?”
That’s
the very first thing we hear out of Jesus’ mouth in the Gospel of John. A
question. Not yet a call of “follow me,”
as in the Gospel of Mark. Or asking to be baptized as in Matthew. Or
chastisement of the devil as in Luke.
Instead
it’s a question. A question that could also be posed more completely as: “What
are you seeking?” or “what are you longing for?” or “What is it that you are
missing?” And the Gospel of John will spend the rest of the next 20 chapters
answering that question. In fact, by the end of the gospel, John will say that
his whole reason for writing it is so that:
“You may come to believe
that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may
have life in his name.”
Have
life. That’s what the Gospel is meant to do to us. Lead us to life. That’s the
good news. That’s pretty passionate news.
It’s helpful to associate passion with this
question we get from Jesus because the truth is that without passion as part of
the context, we are left with the way culture would have us answer the
question. “What do
you need? We’ll tell you what you need. A new car. A better face cream. A more
expensive vacation. An iPhone. A quick
way to lose weight.”
Admittedly, I’ve encountered some who say they
are passionate about traveling or technology or even their car. But is that
really true passion? True passion is more than that. True passion involves
relationship. True passion is when the question “what do you need” is instead
phrased: “what do you need down to the very center of your being?” Or maybe
today in this gospel text, the question is better phrased as “Who do you need
down to the very center of your being?”
This question that Jesus asks at the beginning of
his ministry – what are you looking for – is a good question to begin the year
with. For ourselves, and for our churches. What ARE you looking for? To the
very core of your being, what is it you are truly need?
It’s fitting I think that this text comes today
on the day of our Love Does Fair. Love
Does is where Passion and Need meet. Passion for service meeting the needs of
the community. But also our own need. I
think it is fair to say that those who are passionate about the ministries in
Love Does need to do what they are doing every bit as much as those who benefit
from their service need them.
One of the new ministries that Love Does begins
today, that we heard about in the temple talk this morning is the Volunteer
English Program. I had the privilege, along with Anne-Marie Walters, to meet
with Terri Potrako about the program as we were trying to decide how to fit it
in with our Love Does ministry. Like Emma Stone in La La Land, I was swept away
by Terri’s passion. “People love what other people are passionate about.” And
nowhere is the connection to passion and relationship more clear than in a
situation where two people sit down together to teach and learn together.
I’ll bet there are things you are passionate about
that you haven’t even realized yet, so I hope that today you will take
advantage of the Love Does fair to find out exactly what it is “you are looking
for.”
Give yourself the opportunity to have your
passion meet someone else’s need.
Come and see what it is that God might be nudging
you toward.
Come and see.
That’s the next part of this gospel text. It
doesn’t end with a question, but instead, and invitation.
After Jesus asks the two disciples of John what
they are looking for, they reply with their own question. (I don’t know about
you, but this is a common habit of mine – to answer a question with another
question!)
“Where are you staying?” they ask.
Only the word translated here is a word that we
hear again and again in the Gospel of John. What they are asking really is
where Jesus is abiding. Abide as in, “abide in me.” That abide. They aren’t
really interested in what hotel he’s staying at so they can stop by and catch
up later, or where he lives, but instead they want to know where it is that
they can go so that they can simply be with him.
Just be with him.
They are looking for lasting presence with Jesus.
And that brings us right back to relationship,
doesn’t it? These two disciples – one of them, Peter’s brother, Andrew -
immediately know that they want to simply be part of what this Jesus is doing.
Be part of his life.
And so Jesus makes an ever-so-simple invitation
into this simply being.
“Come and see.” “Come and see what it’s all
about.”
The disciples didn’t answer Jesus as to what they
were looking for. Didn’t say, we are looking for wholeness or purpose or a way
to pitch in and help out because whatever it is that they were looking for,
Jesus’ answer for them is that they are going to find it in relationship.
Meaning, purpose, wholeness, peace of mind…that
comes from relationship. And relationship comes from sharing and giving and
leaning in and loving and hoping with and for others.
There’s another line in La La Land that resonated
with me for a different reason. John Legend’s character, Keith, plays a jazz
musician who has improvised and changed his style into something of a
jazz/funk/pop hybrid. At one point he lectures Ryan Gosling’s character,
Sebastian – a musician who sees Jazz as a dying art form and wants to save it. But
Keith thinks Sebastian is going about it all wrong.
“How you gonna save
jazz if no one’s listening? How are you going to be a
revolutionary if you’re such a traditionalist?” He asks. “You’re holding on to
the past, but jazz is about the future.”
As I heard him say
those lines in the film, I thought, “Gee. Take out the word, “jazz,” insert the word “church” and I feel like I’ve
heard this line before.
“How you gonna save church
if no one’s showing up? How are you going to be a
revolutionary if you’re such a traditionalist?” “You’re holding on to the past,
but church is about the future – and the present.”
There are plenty
bemoaning the so-called death of the church.
This reading today is a good reminder about what just might be the light
to reignite the passion and bring life back into the old girl.
Philadelphia
Seminary President David Lose posed a challenge that speaks to this very idea.
He said that he
believes that decline in our churches will stop on the day that two things
happen to a critical mass of the people in our pews…to a critical mass of YOU.
First, when we can
articulate what is that we value about our participation in church. In other
words, when we can answer for ourselves Jesus’ “What are you looking for”
question. When we can answer for ourselves just what has changed in our lives
because of our faith.
And second, when
we can share that with others. When we can say “Come and see” and show the
others in our lives what we are passionate about.” This isn’t heavy-handed
evangelism – and there are folks who rightly distrust that word for just that
reason.
Instead this is
about sharing an experience. Inviting others to see the powerful, the hopeful,
the life-giving – the “love doing.” Don’t we all have an inclination to share
the things we are passionate about? Goodness knows you all have heard enough
from me about U2 to last a lifetime!
Relationship.
Passion. Meaning. Simply being. That’s what we are invited into by Jesus. And
we are invited over and over again – because quite honestly this isn’t a once
and done thing we’re talking about today.
This is a life
long thing we are talking about. A lifelong relationship. A lifelong "being" with God.
Because as John
will show us over and over again in his gospel. If you want to be in God’s presence…If
you really want to experience relationship and wholeness and life, come and see
and participate and be. Simply be.
So…what ARE you
looking for?
