What Are You Seeking?

I find it interesting, particularly as I get older, to discover what sorts of things I remember from my past. Here’s a high school memory. I’m sitting in my English class, and the teacher is trying to get us to appreciate good literature. So, he’s talking about foreshadowing and tone, imagery and metaphor. As part of that class I remember discussing Jane Eyre with the teacher making a big fuss about the scene where lightning hits the tree, splitting it in two. This was a great symbol of the torn relationship between Jane and Edward, the master of the house – or something like that. Of course, I’m sitting there thinking, ‘What garbage! Who cares about symbolism or any of that other stuff? Let’s just get on with the story.’ Now, it helps to know that I was a science guy on my way to becoming a doctor – or so I thought. So, what mattered to me were facts and numbers. Who cares about foreshadowing? Since then, I have discovered some of the beauty of good literature. I recently picked up the Scarlet Letter again, just because. I’m quite sure that my days as a science guy have come to an end.

Good literature does more than just work through some facts about a group of people. Good literature has a way of conveying their story with beauty and power. Good literature touches the soul and not just the intellect. So, to illustrate, I recently read a blog that quoted from a poem.

Helen, thy beauty is to me

Like those Nicean barks of yore

That gently, o'er a perfumed sea,

The weary, way-worn wanderer bore

To his own native shore.

This was written by Edgar Allan Poe to a woman he loved. Now, the blog got this poem from a manual on technical writing. This is what the manual said, ‘Engineers employ technical writing, which is very different from the literary writing you learn in most English classes. Consider this passage.’ It then quotes the poem. The manual then continues, ‘To express these ideas in technical writing, we would simply say, “He thinks Helen is beautiful.”’ I think that makes clear my point about the beauty and power of good literature.

John’s Gospel is good literature. He doesn’t write like a country bumpkin. He doesn’t even write like a smart engineer. His Gospel is not just working through some facts about someone named Jesus. His Gospel is good literature. It is John’s intention to communicate the amazing life of Jesus with beauty and power. This morning’s text is just one example of what I’m talking about. So, please listen as I read John 1.29-41.

There are many things going on in our text. So, for one example, we have here a pattern that John uses throughout his Gospel: testimony, believing, life. John the Baptist shouts, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’ That’s his testimony to the truth. Two of his disciples respond to that testimony and soon enough they believe. ‘We have found the Messiah.’ Because of that, they come to experience eternal life. Watch for that pattern: testimony, believing, life. It’s not just a literary device. John uses it to show how someone gets to enjoy the Gospel. 

Here’s another example. As you read through this Gospel you will find people saying things that are much more profound than what they understand. John the Baptist says, ‘And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.’ He understands the title ‘Son of God’ in terms of Psalm 2. The king of Israel is a son of God. Just as that was true of King David, it also is true of Jesus. And that’s what John the Baptist meant. Jesus is the promised King of Israel. But John, our author, intends for us to also see something much more profound: Jesus is also Son of God, as in the second Person of the Trinity. This sort of double meaning will happen again and again in the rest of this Gospel. There are things going on underneath the surface.

Let’s spend a little time on this conversation that Jesus has with Andrew and his friend. These two men are directed to Jesus by the testimony of John the Baptist. Jesus, noticing them, turns and asks a question. They have a little conversation, and then we move on to the next scene. Looks simple, but it’s not. Think about what is going on. John is presenting the main character of his Gospel. How does he do that? The first words out of Jesus’ mouth are an ordinary question tied to an unremarkable conversation. Now, right off the bat, that should raise a flag or two. What an odd way to start. It would make more sense to skip all of this and begin with a miracle, like changing water to wine. Now, that’s how the main character can make a good first impression. Or do it in the way that Mark does. The first words of Jesus there are, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’ That’s how to introduce a main character! But John doesn’t do it that way. He starts with Jesus asking Andrew and his friend what looks like an everyday question. That’s a clue that something is up.

This is a good time to remember an important tidbit. God, whether incarnate or not, never asks a question because there is some information that He is lacking. Think back to Genesis 3. When God asked, ‘Adam, where are you?’, is it because He didn’t know? Something more is going on. Questions like this are intended to reveal what is hidden, sometimes hidden in God and sometimes hidden in those being asked the question. Jesus is asking a question. That’s another clue that something’s up.

Now, let’s compare the beginning of John’s Gospel with the end. Do you know what Jesus says toward the end of this Gospel? There’s Mary at the tomb. She thinks Jesus’ body has been stolen, and she is weeping. Jesus meets her and asks a question(!). ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?’ The same sort of question is at the beginning of the book as well as at the end. In fact, this seeking thing is important in John. John uses this word ‘to seek’ more than anyone else in the New Testament, much more. Another clue.

Let’s continue with the conversation. Andrew and his friend hear the question, and they respond. ‘Rabbi … ‘where are you staying?’ Why is this here? Why did John include this response? What does it add to his Gospel? If something actually happens at Jesus’ house, well, then it makes sense to include this. But this ‘where are you staying’ is a dead end. It adds nothing to the story. Dead ends are expected in compositions written by seventh graders but not in good literature. That’s another giveaway that there is something more going on. And this gets us to another important word in John’s Gospel. It’s the word ‘abiding’. The word translated here as ‘staying’ is the same word that is elsewhere translated ‘abiding’. Andrew’s question seems straightforward and simple. ‘Jesus, where’s your house? Where are you staying?’ But, we again have a double meaning: staying/abiding. And Andrew is being more profound than he knows. If you’ve spent any time in this Gospel you know that this word ‘abide’ is a big deal. Once again, it’s a word that John uses much more than any other New Testament author.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

‘Rabbi, where are you abiding?’

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

Jesus, the one sent from the Father’s side, from the bosom of the Father, abides in the Father’s love as will those who abide in Him. John will develop this ‘abiding’ later. That makes it foreshadowing here.

Back to the conversation. How does Jesus respond to this? ‘Come and you will see.’ That seems innocent enough – until you realize that John never finishes this episode by saying something about where Jesus is staying. It’s left hanging. In addition to this, these two words, ‘come’ and ‘see’, are some more important words for John.

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. … All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. … It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me…

Jesus … said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”

More double meanings. These two words are about responding to Jesus in faith and gaining life as a result. Jesus calls to these first disciples, ‘Come and you will see.’ This is a call to belief and life.

Now, why am I going into all of this? There are a couple of reasons. Here’s one. The Bible is not a tech manual, filled with facts and numbers out of which we construct doctrines. Bible is literature. It is, in fact, very good literature. So, it’s important that you read it as the good literature that it is. Read it slowly. Look for the stuff that is just under the surface. Notice pointers to deeper meaning, clues that something more is going on. It makes sense for those of you still in school to learn about the qualities of good literature. As you read the Bible this way, you will see more clearly into the story of God’s redeeming a people for Himself. As you read the Bible this way, you will experience more of the beauty and the power of the Word of God.

But that isn’t my primary reason for going through all of that. The more important goal was to make sure that you were convinced that more is going on in Jesus’ question than what you can see on the surface. That question is actually quite important. John has reasons for what he wrote. Jesus’ question, ‘What are you seeking?’, is the question that John wants his readers to grapple with. It’s as if he were saying, ‘Here you are, living your threescore and ten. As you live from day to day, what’s the point? What makes it worthwhile for you? Life is hard. Why bother with those hardships? What are you seeking?’ That’s why John includes Jesus’ question in this very prominent way and then comes back to this theme by his recurring use of the word, ‘seek’.

John provides the right answer to that question at the end of his book. Jesus asks Mary, ‘Whom are you seeking?’ The goal is no longer a thing (‘What are you seeking?’) but a person (‘Whom are you seeking?’). Do you remember how Mary answered? ‘Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”’ Or, to translate that, she answers Jesus’ question by saying, ‘I seek a dead Jesus.’ And that reveals much – which is why Jesus asks His questions. The way that Mary should have answered Jesus’ question is, ‘I seek the resurrected Jesus in whom is found the life of God.’ That’s what John’s Gospel is about.

Jesus’ question, ‘What are you seeking?’, is one that your friends and neighbors need to ask themselves. But they probably won’t – unless they are forced to. Too many of them know that they don’t have a good answer for it, and that’s scary. They do what they do because that’s what everyone else does. Life is a grind that repeats itself day after day, with some respite on the weekends. But the problem with weekends is that Monday always follows. Some are more hopeful. They have an answer the question. They talk about making sure the kids get to college, paying off the mortgage and then having a safe enough retirement. That’s what they seek. Really? That makes life worthwhile? That answer seems to work only because the last phase is left off. Once you make it to retirement – if you make it that far – what comes next is death. And while some die quickly, way too many just waste away, slowly and painfully. Quite frankly, if that’s what life is about, then what makes sense is to have a wild fling and then end it all. And my impression is that more and more people are agreeing with me on that. And that’s why they really do need to face Jesus’ question and answer it well. ‘Whom do you seek?’

That’s how Jesus’ question applies to your unbelieving neighbors. How does it apply to you? In my younger years, I would have said something to the effect that you need to do better at seeking the life of God in Jesus. I would have pointed out ways in which you were blowing it and then how you could do a better job of it. But where’s grace in that? Is that what the Gospel’s about, trying harder?

Fortunately, I have learned some things over the years – and that is another expression of God’s kindness to me. Even if you have never consciously considered Jesus’ question, your life is answering it. You are, in fact, seeking more of the life of God. You have tasted of this life that Jesus offers, you desire more and you are seeking it. That’s true of you not because you are especially devout or motivated or any of that. It’s true of you because the Spirit has made it true of you. It’s part of what He has done in your soul. It’s another one of those Gospel indicatives. The Spirit gives you the life of God, and He gives you a desire for more of it. The rest of your existence, in this life and actually also in the next, is all about growing in your experience of this life, eternal life. It is a process that will never end. Imagine, more and more of the life of God, forever. So, I’m not going to tell you that you need to seek Jesus and the life of God He offers. I know that you are already doing that because the Spirit of God lives in you. It’s a Gospel fact. And holding on to that fact is so encouraging, especially when you can’t see much growing going on. It’s a gift of grace.

But, as I’m sure you know, there are problems here. You all face obstacles to a greater experience of the life of God. You want more, but there are times when getting more is so hard. At times, the obstacles have seemed overwhelming. In fact, they may feel like that right now for some of you. So, when you’re feeling like that, the first thing you do is remember the Gospel fact that the Spirit is at work in you. He is causing you to seek the life of God that is found in Jesus. Progress is being made even when you can’t see it. Hold on to this Gospel fact. But along with that, it helps to understand these obstacles that block your way. That way you can respond to them wisely.

Let me identify some of the sources of these obstacles. One reason that you face these obstacles is inertia. We are the products of our past. I was born in Brooklyn in the ‘50’s to working‑class parents who loved each other, weren’t particularly religious and who wanted to get ahead which resulted in our moving to the suburbs of New Jersey. All of that (and lots more!) goes into making me who I am today. As a result, there are habits and attitudes that I now have that are very helpful and others that are simply awful, habits and attitudes that are obstacles. Inertia. Add to that the distractions that surround us on every side. Our lives are filled with things to do, and some of them are good things that really need to be done and others of them are good things that really don’t. Distractions. These distractions create a fog that makes it more difficult for us to understand the inertia of our lives so that we can encourage the good parts and get rid of the bad. Then add to all of that a measure of confusion. Developing a skill, whether it’s using some new piece of equipment on the job, figuring out marriage, or learning how to grow in your experience of eternal life, will have a measure of confusion. ‘So, how do I do this?’ The inertia and the distractions make answering that question quite challenging. And when the skill that is being developed is really important, and it appears that mistakes might well be fatal, there’s a little fear added in. Inertia, distractions, confusion, fear. Those are some of the things that produce obstacles to growing in your experience of the life of God.

So, how are you to deal with these things? An important place to start is to understand that you are normal. We all have obstacles for these and other reasons. The reason you are faced with these obstacles is not that you are especially sinful. The Church is a collection of people who know that their lives are not working nearly as well as they might – and who also know that change is possible. And it is that expectation of change that is so important. The Spirit lives within you. He is at work changing you. He is developing in you more of the enjoyment of the life of God. He is. That’s just a fact. He is bringing about change. What you need to do is work with the Spirit. And to do that you need to learn how to listen to the Spirit. And that, of course, is something that He will teach you. Just ask Him. It is the Spirit who will lead you safely through the inertia, distractions, confusion and fear. He will show you the way into more of the life of God. He will reveal to you more of the beauty and power of the Gospel and make sure that you enjoy it. Learn to listen to the Spirit and grow.