Questions God Asks Us, Part 6: Wha tAre You Looking For?

 Friends, we’re now in part 6 of this 10 part sermon series that I put together based on the book Questions God Asks Us by pastor and author Trevor Hudson. In every chapter of this book, Hudson takes a question that is posed to humans, either by our Creator God in the OT or by Jesus in the NT, and then explores how we might faithfully respond.

This week’s question is the first that Hudson is taking from the New Testament, and it’s in John chapter 1: What Are You Looking For? Jesus doesn’t waste any time, y’all.

What we’ll find with all five of the questions that Jesus asks in the second half of this sermon series is that Jesus has no patience with anyone doing anything “just because”. He wants to know what motivates you, what you really care about. Try holding that up against what brought you in the door of the church this morning.

What are you looking for?

“Oh, I dunno, I just wanted to go to a service, the schedule says we’re here this week.”

But…what are you looking for?

“Uh, I come here because my mom told me to.”

Now, surely many of y’all have much deeper motivation for finding your way to these pews than just making your mom happy. This is a provocative question. Jesus wants a reaction from you. He wants you to dig past the surface, past what you’d be comfortable saying.

“Oh, I’ve lived in Ionia for decades, my family has come to this church forever.”

Lovely. Great history. Y’all carry so much of it around with you. But that’s about your family. What are YOU looking for?

“I enjoy seeing my friends, hearing a message, and renewing my faith.”

That’s nice. But you didn’t have to come here for that, did you? You could see your friends out in the community. You could read the Bible and pray anywhere. There’s lot of places to go to hear a sermon, you could even stay home and watch the livestream of this. 

What are you looking for? And what are you looking for here? At 10am on a Sunday?

Jesus keeps peeling back the layers on all who follow him, trying to find your most authentic self. Mind you, it’s not that any of us are intentionally lying, or hiding our truth. It’s just that we’ve been taught to put veneers over it, pretty coverings. Things that look and sound nicer. What you’ll quickly find, if you sit with this thought exercise for long enough, and especially if you listen to me keep poking you, is that you’ll start feeling defensive. The more veneers this question takes off, the more exposed you feel.

What are you looking for?

“Sweet cheese, Natalie, I haven’t had my coffee yet.”

Now, I’m going to poke this question, not just because it’s the title of this sermon, but because most of us have a stock answer to it that we’ll reach for because it sounds like the most selfless answer, we say it all the time, and we think it will stop all the questions:

“Well, I’m here to support my church by being here, I want to help keep the doors open.”

Among my objections to that phrase: that’s not an answer to the question at all. That has nothing to do with what you’re looking for! And the doors are part of a building. Jesus wasn’t asking about the building, or the institutional Church, he was asking about you. What are YOU looking for?

Now, in our defense, when Jesus asked this question, he was directing it toward two people that he already knew were curious, and far more so than any of us. His cousin, who you’ll hear much more about during Advent, has been standing in the middle of the road, shouting in the general direction of anyone who will listen, that they need to change their behavior and get ready for who, and what, is coming. That cousin, John the Baptist, as you well know if you’ve heard me or anyone else preach about him before, is already a lot. Lives and sleeps outside, eats bugs, splashes in a creek and calls that a bath, and makes his own clothes. Lest any of you imagine a well put together gentleman calmly talking about Jesus–no. This guy looks like Tom Hanks’s character in the movie Castaway, at the point in the film where he’s talking to a volleyball. If that guy stood on Four Corners yelling at people, would you stop and hear him out? The benevolent part of you may want to say yes, but that’s really a stretch. If I saw that guy, if I heard that guy…heck, if I SMELLED that guy, I’d roll up my windows and drive away real fast.

The two men who approach Jesus this morning saw, heard, and smelled Jesus’ funny cousin, and rather than running away, they pulled up chairs and listened to him. Then, when Jesus popped up, and John said, “HEY EVERYONE THAT’S MY EVEN WEIRDER COUSIN!!!!!”, these two men promptly sought after Jesus. This is a curiosity that I don’t know if I’ve ever felt. Still, despite getting quite the introduction from John, Jesus didn’t make any assumptions about why two people immediately wanted to tag along with him. He asked a question that these guys were exceptionally willing to hear: What are you looking for?

But, if you feel bad listening to this sermon because you’re not sure you have a great answer for this question, know that Andrew and Simon, the very first two disciples to follow Jesus, heard this question, froze, panicked, and muttered “uh…uh…where do you live?”

Following Jesus, and discovering who he is, is a long journey that you walk one step at a time, and Jesus gets that. Your first answer to that question is merely your foot in the door, crossing the threshold. You have a very long way to go. This questions links discovery of Jesus with discovery of your true self, and then to discovery of your community. Andrew and Simon follow Jesus to whatever temporary shelter was home for one night only, and realize that they’ve hitched their wagon to yet another voluntarily homeless, wandering teacher. And they want more. When they decide to follow Jesus, Jesus’ first response is to change Simon’s name to Peter. It’s an entirely new identity that Simon Peter could never have conceived of. And can you imagine?

“Hey, look, here’s the thing if you start following me. I know you’ve always gone by Natalie, and your parents are really attached to that name. I don’t like it. I’m gonna call you Ursula. You should be so flattered, it means ‘girl bear’. I’m calling you that because of how you take care of your kids.”

Uh…thanks?

Jesus doesn’t gently guide us to our most authentic selves, he shoves us head first. And then, when Simon Peter and Andrew reconcile with the homelessness, Peter’s new name, and the general strange vibes, the next thing Jesus has them do is find more people to come along of the ride.

Some of y’all are still getting to know me, but I’m deeply inspired by an early 20th Century Baptist preacher and professor named Howard Thurman. Thurman was a prolific writer, a deep Christian mystic, a champion of Black liberation theology and reconciliation across our cultural and historical divides, and later in life he became one of MLK’s most important mentors because of his teachings on nonviolence. I have lots to say about Thurman, this is just a spoon of water dipping into the ocean of his wisdom. But among his many teachings was his idea that the Divine, the self, and community are inextricably linked to one another. It’s exactly what the disciples see here, and it’s what keeps us, and our church, alive. If you’re looking to get to know Jesus better, you won’t just find him, you’ll find a mirror showing you your own self, and you’ll be pointed to your neighbors. If you’re lonely and looking for friends, you’re going to see God in the faces of people you care about, and you’ll find yourself. And if you’re on a journey of self-discovery, you’ll feel called to look for what’s precious in you in everyone, and you’ll realize…that’s the Divine spark in us all.

So, what are you looking for? Ever since I learned about Thurman in depth in seminary, I’ve been looking for more of that. Give me more of that glorious spiritual mysticism. Start an IV on me and just pump that into my veins. I can’t get enough of it.

Natalie…says the Divine, yelling at me again. You’re intellectualizing this. We already know you’re a big nerd. I don’t just want to live in your head, I want to live in your heart, too.

Fiiiine. 

I’m looking for a safe place to lay my head. Jesus didn’t have one, and sometimes it feels like I don’t either. I’m fatigued from moving as often as Methodist pastors do. And I’m tired of baring my teeth and growling, like a Mother Bear, at every ableist that comes for Daniel. I want stability, peace like a river, and love for me and mine.

And even then, Jesus would tell me I’m hiding something. But I’m on my way. I’m looking for my truest self. I’m looking for Divine Shalom, and the God who makes it. And I’m leaning on neighbors, who spread that Shalom in the world.

What are you looking for? What do you need Jesus’ help with, past the surface, past the comfortable prayer phrases we’ve grown accustomed to? What do you need Jesus to show you? What do you need to walk with him to see?

Only you and Jesus know the answer to that question. Only you and Jesus can peel back the veneers.

I’m looking for the coffee.

I’m looking for a hot meal.

I’m just looking for the bathroom.

I’m looking for my missing car keys!

No, no.

I’m looking for work.

I’m looking for health.

I’m looking for meaning.

I’m looking for peace.

I’m looking for a break.

I’m looking for family.

I’m looking for companionship.

I’m looking for love.

I’m looking for Jesus.

Amen.