Call Forwarding

(Scriptures:         Isaiah 49:1-7; I Corinthians 1:1-9;    John 1:29-42)

Today’s Gospel, and next week’s Gospel as well, tell us about Jesus’ call of his first disciples.  In today’s reading from John’s Gospel, Jesus gathers Andrew and his brother, Simon whom Jesus calls Peter.  In next week’s reading from Matthew’s Gospel, we will meet Andrew and Simon again, along with James and John, the sons of Zebedee. 

Two different Gospel writers, two different call stories, each told very differently.  In next week’s gospel, we’ll read the more familiar stories about Jesus himself walking along the sea of Galilee and calling out to Andrew and Simon, to John and James, “Follow me”.  Likewise, in last week’s gospel reading about the baptism of Jesus, Matthew speaks of a voice from heaven testifying that Jesus is God’s beloved son.  But in this week’s reading from John’s Gospel, people approach Jesus, not because of voices from heaven or even initially because of Jesus’ own call, but because of what other people say about Jesus.  John the Baptist testifies about Jesus, twice saying “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”  Two of John the Baptist’s disciples leave John to follow Jesus.  One of these, named Andrew – and it is only in John’s gospel that we’re told that Andrew had been a disciple of John the Baptist before following Jesus – goes and tells his brother Simon, whom we will come to know as  Simon Peter.  Later on in John’s Gospel, Philip will invite Nathanael.   And in both these call stories, the invitation is issued, first by Jesus to Andrew, later by Philip to Nathanael, “Come and see”.   

Andrew had been a follower of John the Baptist, who wasn’t exactly a status quo guy, so his heart was already open to the possibility that God would lead him in some life-changing new direction; and so when John the Baptist pointed out Jesus as the one greater than John, Andrew was ready at least to approach Jesus. What happens next is a life-changing conversation in which, as often happens in John’s Gospel, seemingly mundane words mean a lot more than we might think at first glance.  Apparently as Andrew and the other of John the Baptist’s disciples were walking behind Jesus, Jesus heard them approaching, turned around, and said, “What are you looking for?” – quite a loaded question, the answer to which could be anything from “I’m looking for a penny that fell out of my pocket” to “I’m looking for the secret to life.”  As it happens, Andrew answers Jesus’ question by saying, “Teacher, where are you staying?”  At first glance, Andrew’s answer seems a bit awkward, as if he’d been caught off guard by Jesus’ question and blurted out something like, “What’s your address?” or “I’d love to see your apartment.” On the other hand, though, it was exactly the right question, because the way to know Jesus was to spend time with Jesus, to hang out with Jesus – and the only way to hang out with Jesus is to know where Jesus is.  In any case, Jesus says, “Come and see.”  They must have liked what they saw, because we’re told they stayed with Jesus that day, and Andrew was impressed enough that the next day, he invited his brother, Simon, to meet him.  And, as the saying goes, “the rest is history”; their lives would never be the same again.

What are you looking for?  What are you seeking?  As it was when Jesus walked the earth in human flesh, people seek Jesus for many reasons.   Some come to Jesus looking for freedom from the past – from bad decisions in the past, from poverty and broken relationships from the past, from past bondage to addiction, from disease, from oppression by the powers that be.  Some come to Jesus looking for freedom to live and love in new ways.  Freedom from sin and bondage, freedom for new life.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus is about freedom.  In calling Jesus the Lamb of God, John the Baptist’s refers to the Passover lamb whose blood saved the Israelites from the plague of death that was visited on the Egyptians, just before Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt – and so John is saying that Jesus brings freedom. 

Each of Jesus’ twelve disciples came to Jesus for any number of reasons, and the same is true of us.  Each of us came here for the first time for any number of reasons – because our parents brought us, because this is where our parents and grandparents found Jesus, because of the invitation of a friend or a flyer or a Facebook posting, or just because we wanted to see what was behind the red door of that little old church on Fillmore Street.  Andrew approached Jesus, asking to see where he was staying, but received far more than he could have asked or dreamed – far more struggle and far more blessing - and it’s my prayer that all of us here, each in his or her own way, along with our struggles, has been blessed by Jesus with far more than any of us could have asked or thought.

Our neighbors are looking, too – looking for healing, looking for love, looking for freedom.  I’d challenge each of us to be like Andrew and reach out to our sisters and brothers and neighbors and friends and invite them to “Come and see”.   Some of us have already – for example, Nessie’s been busy inviting her neighbors, and Susan is here.  Mark invited his family.  And each of us has our own stories of those we’ve invited.

John the Baptist received the call to preach and lead others to Jesus.  John passed this call on to Andrew and another disciple, and Andrew passed the call onto his brother Simon.  This call has been passed on down the centuries, and we’re all part of that story.

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!" 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.   May we have eyes and ears open to come and see and hear what God would show us, and having seen and heard, may we invite others.  Amen.