Second Sunday After Epiphany (A/RCL)
John 1.29-42
January 20, 2008
Holy Trinity, Manasquan
Remember the little book, Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten? One of those early lessons is: “Always hold hands when you cross the street.” When have you been blessed with a friend who reached out his or her hand for yours so you’d feel safe enough to step off the sidewalk?? When were you too afraid to do something you needed to do, or go some place you needed to go, until a friend signed on to do it with you??
You’re a woman who’s never had a mammogram. You know you should have one, and the doctor has given you a prescription, and your health insurance even covers the cost, but you’re too scared to make the appointment. Until a friend says, “Look, I’ll go with you.” “Come and see, it’s easier than you think.” She’ll hold your hand and you’ll cross the street safely in the comfort of each other’s company. She may have to walk a step ahead and tug hard on your arm, but you’re more apt to get there that way than if she advises you, “Go and see for yourself.” That’s what the doctor said and it didn’t work.
You’re a teen who binge drinks every weekend, a young adult who does drugs, an adult with a gambling problem, and the people you trust have all said, “You need to get into a twelve step program to clean up your act and reclaim your life.” What’s going to really get you through that door? A counselor saying, “Go and see” or a friend with the same problem saying, “Come and see, I’ll take you to my meeting”?
You’re an older adult with a chance to go on your dream vacation, but you have to fly to get there. You realize you’ll need a photo ID to present to airport security and you don’t have one. A friend says, “No problem, it’s high time you get a photo driver’s license anyway.” The last time you went to the DMV, about ten years ago, it was a nightmare. You didn’t have the three exact forms of identification they asked for, you had to go back home and return with the missing link, you waited in line another two hours, your day was totally chewed up and you finally left with a renewed registration that was barely worth the migraine it brought on. A friend may see, “Go and see, it’s changed a lot!” Are you really going to believe that, since you’re still having flashbacks to your last bad experience?? Aren’t you more apt to reenter the lion’s den if the friend says, “I’ll drive you there. Come and see, it’s a new and friendlier DMV!”?
Most people who join a church say they first came because someone invited them. Somebody said, “Come and see, check out our Sunday School. I’ll meet you at the 8:45 service, sit with you and introduce you to the pastor and one of our Sunday School staff afterwards.” “Come and see. I go to the 5 o’clock service. Let’s go to dinner after.” “Come and see. My grandchild is singing at the 11:15. How about if I pick you up at 10:45, so we get a good seat?”
If you’ve done it recently, you know that visiting a new church is scary. You’re torn between fear the pastor will ask all the visitors to stand up and introduce themselves and fear that no one will notice you, welcome you, answer your questions, show you the ropes. For someone to say, “Go and see that Lutheran church with the great landscaping,” can be like getting pushed off the curb from behind. For someone to say, “Come and see, I’ll go with you,” is like having a friend extend a hand, helping you live out the little rule, “Always hold hands when you cross the street.”
There’s an interesting flow of conversation in today’s Gospel. John the Baptist excitedly points to Jesus who’s passing by and tells his students,
“Look, here is the Lamb of God!” (John 1.36)
They know he means this is the long-awaited Messiah, about whom he’s taught them so much. They hurry after Jesus, who hears them coming, turns around and asks a probing question:
“What are you looking for?” (John 1.38)
Those are the first words out of Jesus’ mouth in St. John’s Gospel:
“What are you looking for?”
Since the question is included in the Gospel, the Good News on paper, Jesus is asking us, the readers, the hearers of this Good News, the same thing He’s asking John’s two disciples:
“What are you looking for?”
When you say you’re unhappy with your job: What are you looking for? When you’re frustrated you haven’t found your soul mate yet or upset with the one you have: What are you looking for? When you’re feeling you haven’t found the right niche here at Holy Trinity or in your other volunteer commitments: What are you looking for? When you’re disappointed with your physician or your financial advisor or your lawyer or your professor or your counselor: What are you really looking for?
Toward the end of St. John’s Gospel, in the garden on Easter morning, Jesus echoes that question in a slightly different way when He meets Mary Magdalene frantically searching for His missing body:
“Whom are you looking for?” John 20.15
It’s a good question for us to ask of ourselves, our friends, co-workers, relatives, neighbors, fellow students, the people we care about who seem at sea for whatever reason.
John’s disciples answer Jesus’ question with another question:
“Rabbi, where are you staying?” John 1.38
Jesus doesn’t say, “Go and check it out.” He says, “Come and see.” And they do. And one of those fellows, Andrew, who heard the Good News from John the Baptist that Jesus of Nazareth was the Lamb of God, the Son of God, in turn tells his brother, Simon Peter, “We have found the Messiah.” John the Baptist to Andrew to Simon Peter to the multitudes to whom that Rock of the church proclaimed the Good News about Jesus Christ. The Gospel is passed along when one believer witnesses to another, when one person invites the next, “Come and see!” There is a woman a few chapters later in St. John’s Gospel, known as the Samaritan woman at the well, who says to the catty neighbors who had ostracized her,
“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” (John 4.29)
This weekend we baptize Laila Faith Pedersen, whose parents have said to family and friends, “Come and see our daughter baptized!” More importantly, they are saying to their youngest daughter, “Come and see the One who will join you to His death and resurrection and offer you abundant life now, eternal life in the world to come!” Laila is precious to her parents, Sue and Chris, as precious as Emily and Paula are, Laila’s big sisters. They don’t say to their daughters, “Go and see when you’re adults what religion makes sense to you.” They say now, “Come and see the Lord of Life, come and drink from the well of grace that never runs dry, come and be a living, loving part of this family of faith.”
This week, invite someone you know who is looking for something, Someone that has always eluded them, to come and see. Extend your hand to bring someone to worship; you’ll be a life-saver as surely as if you accompanied them to a mammogram or a twelve step program. Help someone cross the street to a more meaning-full faith, by holding their hand. Amen
Pastor Mary Virginia Farnham