Pastor Ash Dotson, Oasis UMC
In John 1:38, Jesus asks potential disciples, “What are you looking for?” These are the first words that the author(s) of John record Jesus as saying in this Gospel. This is the question Jesus asks in many ways throughout the Gospels and of each of us. And, our answer to this most important question will determine much in our lives. For that matter it will determine whether we live our authentic true lives or egoistic based false lives. Stop and think for a minute before going on, ‘What are you looking for?’
I love the writing style of the author(s) of John. Simple statements or questions can often have double entendre (meanings) which we don’t always see in English translations. For instance, in answer to Jesus’ question of, ‘What are you looking for,’ the two disciples ask, ‘Where are you staying?’ They answer Jesus’ question with another question, and it doesn’t really seem to go with Jesus’ question.
However, if you look a little deeper perhaps it does. The author(s) of John, being the mystics they were, often ask us to look a little deeper. In doing so in this case, you begin to see a picture of the whole point of John’s Gospel. In the Ancient Greek, the word translated as ‘stay’ in the disciple’s question, ‘Where are you staying,’ is μένω (menó). Now check this out—it is the same word used in other places in John’s Gospel (John 14:10, 17, and all through John 15) to refer to and proclaim the relationship of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit! In other words, Jesus ‘stays’ in God and God in Jesus, the Holy Spirit ‘stays’ in Jesus and in God, and vice versa.
So, is the author(s) of John saying that the two disciples should be staying in the same place as Jesus, in God and in the Holy Spirit? And, as an extrapolation does the same thing apply to us? Let’s go on … Jesus replies to the question of, ‘Where are you staying,’ with ‘Come and see.’ Jesus doesn’t proclaim his relationship as staying with and in God at this point, but tells them to come and see for themselves. And, of course we see that they become followers of Jesus and eventually realize they are indeed in God and God in them. I think maybe the “Come and see” part is the most important part of introducing folks to God.
Remember that John’s Gospel was written about 100 years after the crucifixion of Jesus. As such, it is written by folks who have an understanding of what it has meant for this early church to live in faith. It seems to me that the author(s) of John is telling us to, ‘Come and See’ what it is to follow Jesus … that we too can find ourselves in the same relationship of ‘staying’ in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
So, let us consider again, ‘What are you looking for?’