Selah Summer: What are you looking for?
In this post I introduce you to the gospel of John—one of my favorite books in the Bible maybe because it was one of the first that I stumbled my way through as a brand new born again believer. I had tried to run from my problems back in those earliest of days as a believer, but whatever wayward turn I took or stupid choice I made, I could not escape or hide myself from the presence of Jesus and I am so grateful for his relentless pursuit.
He asked me then and asks again today, “Cas, what are you looking for?” Has he been asking you a similar question? He continues to pursue us, wherever we are along the way and, as we will learn, if we are listening, he is still inviting us to “Come and see.”
I love how John’s narrative style invites us into the company of Jesus through the lives and experiences of people, just like us, who struggle with doubt or yearn for love, who need a miracle to save a life, or who live helplessly and hopelessly dependent on the strength and mercy of passersby. People whose lives were turned upside down because of the grace, mercy, and love of God embodied in the man Christ Jesus.
According to John’s record, Jesus first spoke to two of John the Baptizer’s disciples. John the Baptizer was sent by God to bear witness about the light—Jesus the Son of God—and to make straight the way of the Lord (John 1:6–8, 19–34; Isa. 40:3). John, the writer of this gospel, is a disciple of Jesus. The encounter goes like this,
“The next day John (the Baptizer) was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God!’ Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, ‘What are you seeking?’ And they said, ‘Rabbi’ (which means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come and you will see…’” (John 1:38–39).
I get the impression that they were perhaps unsure in their pursuit while being irresistibly drawn to follow this Jesus, and, oh! the things that they will see. John chronicles these adventures by recording, among other things, six signs attesting to the fact that Jesus is the Son of God—six signs that display Jesus’s power over creation, doubt, disease, and death. Ultimately, these miracles attest to the fact that Jesus is God.
Jesus changes the water to wine at a wedding (John 2:1–11)—he is the Creator; Jesus heals the royal official’s son at Capernaum (John 4:46-54)—he is the Giver of Life; Jesus heals the lame man by the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1–15)—he is our Healer
Jesus, the Bread of Life, feeds the 5000 (John 6:5–14)—he is the Bread of Life; Jesus gives sight to a man born blind (John 9:1–7)—he is the Light of the World; Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1–45)—he is the Resurrection and the Life
These six extraordinary signs introduce us to God in mysterious and often dramatic ways through Jesus, who is God incarnate—God in the flesh. John notes, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18).
These six attesting miracles embed Jesus in history—they take place in different places like Cana and Capernaum, Samaria and Jerusalem and serve to locate Jesus geographically. These signs also take place amidst ordinary and commonplace events where people have always needed the presence and the power of God—weddings and funerals, hospital beds and homeless shelters, official’s quarters and at work parties, on fishing trips and in the wilderness, at the center and along the margins. The seven attesting miracles remind us afresh of the power, compassion, holiness and grace of God at work in our lives right now.
In this sabbatical season I find God asking me, “What are you seeking?” and inviting me, “Come and you will see.” This juncture in my life feels like a fork-in-the-road. Even after forty-two years of following Jesus, it is as though he is asking me all over again, “What are you looking for Cas?”
Surprisingly, I am wrestling with this question—in a good, but kind of scary way. So, this month, as I mentioned in a previous post, I am releasing activities and responsibilities that have preoccupied my thoughts and have given me identity.
I am trying really hard to block out the din of life and listen and as I read John’s gospel. I sense God’s urging and tug, “Come and see ….” I so want to follow wherever he leads.
One contemporary writer describes his devotional journey through the gospel as the music that he heard behind the words and flow of John and they pull me in. I wrote next to the quote, “I want to sing this song too.”
I have listened to the song, which warmed and stirred my heart, opened up my intelligence, gave hope, meaning and orientation to my life, with all that is beautiful and all that is broken within me, and meaning to this world of pain in which we live.
I want to sing this song, too, even if my voice is weak and sometimes wavers so that others may sing it and that together we may be in the world singing a song of hope to bring joy where there is sadness and despair.*
What about you, what are you looking for? Have you listened to the song? Join with me and listen for the music of the gospel in the book of John this summer.
*Jean Vanier, Drawn into the Mystery of Jesus through the Gospel of John (Ottawa, Canada: Novalis, Saint Paul University, 2004), 15.
