You've Got A Friend

What Are You Looking For?

I have heard Marin Alsop, Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, describe Gustave Mahler as “one of the first rock stars” in the world of music. He was, she suggested, the Mick Jagger of Vienna as those who watched his uniquely wild approach to directing opera found him interesting and even mysterious. He would dash up and down a specially constructed gangway from the orchestra pit to the stage and back! He was known primarily for his opera productions, much less for his own symphonic creations, which in and of themselves were mysterious, breaking long established form and method. His popularity was such that people who saw Mahler on the street would follow behind him and try to imitate the way he walked, the way he looked. Perhaps, they may have thought, I might become as mysterious and creative as Mahler if I can learn to walk the way he walks. I only know this because of the testimony of Maestra Alsop.

This is how we learn or know anything at all – through imitation and practice, and from the testimony of others. Which is how we know about Jesus’s baptism by John the Baptizer as reported in chapter one of the Gospel of John [John 1:29-42]. There are two reported scenes.

Scene One, Day One: John sees Jesus coming toward him and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!... he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” The Lamb of God. Son of God.  Although sheep were often sacrificed in the Jerusalem Temple, lambs were sacrificed only for Passover – that annual ritual that recalls the great escape of a disparate band of slaves from Pharaoh’s Egypt. The Passover, or Paschal, Lamb is sacrificed on the eve of Passover.

John is unique among the four gospels. In this case, John does not describe the baptism of Jesus, but rather depicts the Baptizer giving testimony as to what he saw and experienced. Equally unique is depicting the Baptizer calling Jesus The Lamb of God. And again, John is unique in depicting Jesus’s crucifixion on the day of preparation for Passover – the day the Paschal Lamb is slain. It does not take much in the way of religious imagination to see what is going on here. For the Fourth Gospel, Jesus’s Baptism and Crucifixion make him out to be the inauguration of a New Passover, a New Exodus, a new deliverance from bondage for the people of God who have suffered under, and in many cases have been forced to accommodate and acquiesce to, the oppressive domination of Rome. Jesus is the new way out: Christ our Passover.

The Baptizer’s testimony that Jesus is the Son of God is the one detail consistent with the other three gospels. And for John’s Gospel, the Son of God is also the Paschal Lamb who takes away the “sin of the world.” Richard Rohr in his weekly meditation for Tuesday, January 14 [Bigger Than Personal Moral Failure @ cac.org], reminds us that Early Christian Moral theology recognized three major sources of evil: the world, the flesh, and the devil. In that order. Yet, the Church and Christians have almost exclusively focused on the secondary “flesh” level, letting the world and the devil off scot-free. This leaves individual humans to carry the majority of the blame. Just look at poor Eve! The implications have been massively destructive, both for the individual and for society, leading to many twentieth-century catastrophes that often took place in Christian countries.” [Ibid]

Rohr continues, “Both Jesus and Paul passed on to their disciples a collective and historical understanding of the nature of sin and evil, against which individuals still had to resist but in which they were usually complicit. Jesus and the prophets judged the city, nation, or group of people first, then the individual. This is no longer the starting point for many people, which leaves us morally impotent. We do not reproach our towns, our own religion, or our nation, though Jesus did so regularly (Matthew 11:20-24; Luke 10:10-16). My hope is that this recognition of Jesus’s and Paul’s emphasis on the collective nature of evil will increase both personal responsibility and human solidarity, instead of wasting time on feeling bad about ourselves, which helps nobody.” [Ibid]

Scene Two, Day Two: The Baptizer is standing with two of his disciples, sees Jesus again, and again declares, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples leave the Baptizer and begin to follow Jesus. Eventually Jesus turns around and asks, “What are you looking for?”  They said to him, “Rabbi, …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. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, runs off to find his brother and bring him to Jesus. Who looks at him and says, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

Like the Venetians following Mahler, Andrew and another of the Baptizer’s disciples follow Jesus. Note that Jesus asks them, “What are you looking for?” Try to imagine just how Jesus might say this. Because this is the question for all of us. What are you looking for? What are we looking for when we follow Jesus? Are we looking for answers? Are we looking for truth? Note: Jesus does not ask if they have faith. He sincerely wants to know what they are looking for.

They say, “Where are you staying.”  He says, “Come and see.” I will suggest that that is what Jesus always says. Come and see. He wants us to stay with him. Because once we go and see where Jesus is, like Andrew we will go and tell others, in this case his brother. And then Andrew brings his brother to Jesus. That’s the shape of discipleship summed up by this little encounter in Scene Two: tell Jesus what we are looking for; go and see where he is; go and tell others; bring them to wherever Jesus is today. This is the Christian Life in summary.

Where is Jesus today? He is quite clear about that. He is with the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the prisoners, the stranger. He is with those who are blind, lame, poor, homeless, lonely, widows, orphans, resident aliens. He is with the Vets who have PTSD. He is with the Vets who have lost limbs. He is with the Vets who have suffered traumatic brain injuries. He is with immigrants at the border. He is with victims of volcanos, tsunamis, earthquakes and fires. He says he is with and in all of those people. To “come and see” does not take much imagination to be with Jesus.

In other news, somewhat related, legendary Rush drummer Neil Peart died this week. He once wrote a lyric in the song Limelight, “I can't pretend a stranger/Is a long-awaited friend.” I understand that rock stardom can sometimes feel overwhelming. Yet, I find it sad. Jesus didn’t know Andrew and the other disciple of the Baptizer following him. Yet, he does welcome these two strangers as “long-awaited friends.” Jesus welcomes everyone as long-awaited friends.

What else are we looking for, if not being welcomed, as we are, as a long-awaited friend?

Come and see. You will not regret it! You will be welcomed as a long-awaited friend.