What would you tell Jesus if he asked you, "What are you looking for?"

Sunday, 1/15/12

This is a Gospel about Andrew and John who were neighboring fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. Andrew and his bother Simon worked a boat with their father Jonah, while John worked with his brother James, both sons of Zebedee. It seems that the two teams worked opposite ends of the same long seining net.

It must have been a down season for fishing, because Andrew and John got permission from their fathers to go south to where the prophet John was baptizing people in the Jordan. Thinking that John might be the promised Messiah, they attached themselves to him, perhaps helping old people out to be baptized by John.

One day Jesus passed by, and pointing to him, John said, “Behold the Lamb of God.” At that, Andrew and his neighbor boy left John the Baptist, and they followed after Jesus.

Being simple young fellows, Andrew and John kept their distance. Jesus turned and asked, “What are you looking for?”

You should imagine yourself as a companion to Andrew and John. You should imagine Jesus putting that same question to you. Have you any real goal? What are you doing about attaining that goal?

What the boys answered was, “Rabbi, where are you staying?”

Jesus said, “Come and see.”

So, “they went and stayed with him.”

The word “stay” is the key word to John’s Gospel. On average it occurs more than twice a page. It’s importance is that John’s Gospel is about the state of Sanctifying Grace by which we abide in Jesus as he abides in us.