What do we really want in life?

“…What are you looking for” (John 1:38)

John 1:35-51

Year B: 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany, 14th January 2018

When did you last read an obituary (or hear a funeral eulogy) that went something like this:

‘He was a much revered person who worked all the hours God gave to become the head in this industry and organisation. He put in long hours, cut deals, fought off competitors and saved the organisation on more than one critical moment. He received numerous honorary doctorates and one real one while he wrote six books, 30 journal articles and served on many commission and boards. He had many friends and contacts but none terribly close. He did make time for family life and local rotary club activities.  He will be missed but life goes on and things change. It was sad to see his health deteriorate in his final years.  He did recognise the few who visited him in the very final months at St Fachtna’ Nursing Home.  His farewell was an occasion of some sadness.’

Not often, I suggest. Not at all in fact!

Write your own obituary or, better still, live in such a way that others will write an obituary that you can be justly proud of because you were a caring, loving, truthful and fair person in whatever role or responsibility was entrusted to you.

Every so often we need to stop for a few minutes, or hours or even days and ask the hard question that Jesus asked the two disciples: ‘what do I want?’ What do I seek?  Above and beyond the daily toils and struggles what is my purpose and aim in life? Truly?

Sometimes there are no immediate or clear answers. It may involve some trial and error. ‘Come and see’ was Jesus’ reply when asked ‘where are you staying?’

(words above = 286)

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Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

Preliminaries

The choice of passage is all encompassing: it combines John 1:35-41 with John 1:42-51 as, respectively, these correspond to the typical choice of Gospel reading on this Sunday in the Roman Catholic and most of the Reformed Churches.  Perhaps, by accident, the former emphasises Peter and his brother Andrew while the latter emphasises Philip and Nathaniel.

35-36:  John bears witness

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’ 

On ‘the next day’ (the third day), John bears witness in front of two of his own disciples. John’s Gospel attaches great importance to time, night, day and numbers hiding key parallels and deeper significance beneath the stories and words.

This is where Galilee and Judea meet up: the disciples of Jesus, according to John the evangelist, were disciples of John the Baptist. Where ‘two or three’ were gathered there was the Messiah in their midst. This prefigures what is to come after the resurrection of Jesus.

I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask, to be found by those who did not seek me. (Isaiah 65:1)

37-39:  Time to come and see

The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come and see.’ They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon.

It was late in the day and as often happens in the Gospel of John, light and darkness, day and night play out in a deep exchange of meanings.

The two disciples who followed Jesus belonged, initially, to John’s people (was Jesus also associated with them?). John lets go of his own disciples. These disciples were prompted by John and they set off on a new and unexpected course.

(We should always remain open to the inspirations and promptings of the Holy Spirit especially when they come through someone wise and someone we can trust).

‘What are you looking for?’ is the same question posed by St Benedict to those would follow in the monastic way of life. What do you seek? Do you really seek God?

Andrew and another disciple sought the Saviour. Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist and there is a possibility that, his brother, was at least connected to the Johannine dessert movement.  Note that, according to this passage, Jesus does not say to them, at this stage, ‘Come and follow me’ but, rather, ‘Come and see’. Jesus respects the freedom and responsibility of the disciples who will be called. In reality, this day is the decisive day for Andrew and the other disciple.  By following Jesus to where he stayed they were being led to a new reality. This was more than an individual call. The two disciples sought and followed Jesus together and not each of them alone. Might it be possible that the other disciple who is unnamed by John the evangelist was John the evangelist himself? Or, might it have been – perish the thought – a woman who could not be named but had been a follower of John the Baptist ! 

There is a strong echo of John 20:15-16 here. At the resurrection (the ‘third day’), Jesus is sought by Mary who does not recognise him at first. When she does acknowledge him she addresses him as ‘Rabbi’ just as Andrew and Peter do.

Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ 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.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew,‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher).

This coming to Jesus to see is a very striking way of telling us that the first disciples had a personal encounter with Jesus. Following Jesus was, in the first place, a personal encounter and experience and not a detached intellectual discourse followed by assent. They simply saw where Jesus lived and how he lived and related to them and others.

‘Staying’ and ‘remaining’ with Jesus that evening chime with our lives as disciples. We stay and remain in the blessed Trinity. As it says in the Prayer of Humble Access:

‘….and that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us’

40-42   Seeking, finding and responding

One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas’ (which is translated Peter).

Andrew could not contain himself. He had to go and tell his brother Peter and invite him to join up. He declared to his brother ‘We have found the Messiah’. John the evangelist is drawing important theological conclusions, here, and is careful to explain the meaning of terminology such as Rabbi, Messiah and Cephas to a non-Hebrew audience. Jesus ‘looked at’ Peter. Using the underlying Greek word, emblépō, it would be accurate to understand this ‘looked at’ as the equivalent of looking in a concentrated and sustained way.

The call to discipleship is pressing, urgent and appealing. In fact, irresistible. Our first and natural instinct is to share it with others and, perhaps, they too will follow.

There is a touch of irony here. The one to be called ‘rock’ was not quite rock-like when confronted with an opportunity for martyrdom on the night of Jesus’ betrayal.  Not even Peter could resist his human nature and betray his Lord at a crucial moment. Did this stop him from going on to witness to Jesus and, ultimately, be led to death for his sake? No.

Jesus would say to Peter much later in the Gospel of John:

Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.’  (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ (John 21:18-19)

Following Jesus is the road to freedom. But the paradox is that it leads to constraint too. This is especially so in those called to lead as Peter was. Grace is never lacking.

43-46   Jesus calls Philip and Nathanael  

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’

A third person from the ‘city’ of Bethsaida is called and this time it is Philip. (It may be that all three came from Capernaum which is 10 Km down the road from Bethsaida by Lake Galilee.  By now, the village must been buzzing! However, Nathanael (probably the same person as Bartholomew Matthew 10:3) was added to the small band. A distance of over 50 Km separated Bethsaida from Jesus’ home town of Nazareth.  Jesus was in search of followers and, perhaps, he already knew Philip or knew of him.  His invitation was simply ‘follow me’.  There are scarcely any occasions where the invitation to ‘follow’ is used in the New Testament except on the lips of Jesus. It reminds us as 21^st century disciples that we are invited to follow Jesus and Jesus alone. However, we do not follow him on our own. We travel together with others. This is, also, a key point of this passage of scripture. Nathanael is, initially, sceptical when Philip tells him of the Messiah he has found.  The invitation is extended by Philip to ‘come and see’.

47-48   what you see is what you get

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’

Were it only possible to say about every politician, church leader, minister, doctor, lawyer, plumber, car mechanic, economist, employer and trade union official: ‘Here is someone in whom there is no deceit – what you see is what you get’!

49-51   The dream of Jacob come true

Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’

Nathanael’s declaration of faith is more gradual in the synoptic gospels. John compresses a lot to bring theological matters to the fore. There is no mistaking it – Jesus is the Son of God and the King of Israel and it takes an Israelite without deceit to declare it.

Speaking of ascending and descending is very much rooted in scripture.  There are plenty of stories about people ascending up to heaven (e.g. Jacob’s dream of angels ascending and descending in Genesis 28:12, Jesus’ conversation with Nathanael in John 1:51, Elijah being taken up in a ‘whirlwind’ to heaven in 2 Kings 2:11).  In many different cultures of the ancient world people had a three-tier idea of the universe: the heavens up there, hell down there (a hot place!) and the earth right here where we stand. Over time, other categories were stitched on such as limbo and purgatory to meet various theological conundrums (necessity being the mother of invention!).