January 16, 2011

The second Sunday after the Epiphany John 1:19-42

Jesus saw them following and asked "What do you seek?"

Sitting in the dark waiting for light can be a lonely time: but the coming of the light is a time of relief, joy and anticipation. The coming of the light comforts and restores courage and strength. How does the light come? Maybe someone flicks a switch? Maybe in the half light of dawn the sun rises into full daylight; maybe it is the banishing of fear of the unknown when light drives away the darkness. When we sit in metaphorical darkness - the darkness that comes from the unknown or the mysterious, the emergence of light may be less clear than the rising of the sun, but it is no less of a relief, no less of a revelation.

How do we know the moment of recognition? When it happens, is it a brilliant light shining in the darkness, or is it a gradual dawning as light slowly spills into the gloom bringing illumination?

Our readings this week explore related but different moments of recognition; of revelation; of a covenant established and then realized.

God promised Isaiah that his Servant would come to bring salvation to the tribes of Jacob; but more than this, that bringing salvation to Israel alone was too small a thing; too limited; that the Servant's task would be to bring salvation to Israel and the Gentiles alike - that the Servant would be a light to the Gentiles. This promise of light in the world is not an isolated one; it is oft repeated, and as a metaphor is one that we can easily identify with.

John the Evangelist tells us that John the Baptist, cousin to Jesus, did not know him. It would be easy to misinterpret this - what did he not know? He knew his cousin but was in the dark about his true identity until that moment of illumination when the light from heaven broke through and he saw the Spirit descend on Jesus. What a moment of clarity that must have been!

John the Baptist, returning from exile, was a driven man. He had wandered in the wilderness and received his inspiration, his mission: to prepare the way for the One who was to follow. Thus John gathered around him a band of disciples, hungry for the word, hungry for change. The people wanted to know, to know without doubt, that God's promises were reliable and true. The time was right for challenge and change - the time was right for the light to shine in the darkness.

John did not leave the wilderness behind and go to the people, instead travelling through the wilderness, he spread the word slowly, it was the people who called others to come and see, to come and hear -- they wanted everyone to meet this wild man who brought with him a new teaching and a new understanding of God's covenant gift.

He was a man who looked, acted and spoke differently. He was a radical. He disturbed the peace, he caused unrest, and although he knew he was a messenger, a prophetic voice, still he was not aware of the identity of the One he was called to proclaim.

I wonder what he thought when he saw the Spirit descend on his cousin. This was the One. This was God's promised Servant, the bringer of salvation?! The light dawned, and that was it. John's job was done. He had foretold the things to come and he had prepared the way. Now, suddenly his cousin was here - and life would never be the same again. John gave his testimony and introduced the Lamb of God to the world.

For Jesus it was all about to start; and he knew that God would reveal those who were chosen to be his disciples - that they would become recognizable through God's action in their lives. Was it John or the Spirit who prompted Andrew and his companion to follow Jesus? John made the introductions, and the Spirit inspired the question: "What do you seek?" In choosing to follow him they started a ne journey - a journey that was to change the lives of millions, bringing salvation to the ends of the earth.

Spending the day with Jesus was an illuminating and life-changing event for these two men; one named Andrew and the other possibly the apostle John. If so, this was the beginning of the friendship between Jesus and "the disciple he loved".

When we experience something that moves us deeply or inspires us our humanity prompts us to share it as quickly as possible. Andrew clearly felt this and immediately ran to his brother Simon - but the way he explained his encounter with Jesus is illuminating. He did not say he had met someone really exciting; nor did he invite Simon to come and judge for himself. No! For Andrew there is no doubt at all - "We have found the Messiah". For him, in that moment, the darkness was lifted and the light shone brilliantly so that he was able to say without doubt that he had found the Christ.

This does rather beg the question: What happened next? Because for Andrew, Peter, John and all the others, during the subsequent weeks, months and years, this revelation seems to have been forgotten or dismissed. Questions, lack of understanding, doubts and misgivings seem to dog the disciples' progress from that day on. It is as though the light shone only briefly and then was dimmed again - until the time was right.

Small moments of clarity, like a shaft of sunlight piercing a cloudy sky what the Greeks called an epiphany - mark the journey undertaken by the disciples. But the shafts of light come and go; the moments of understanding, of knowledge, of acknowledgement are fleeting.

When Jesus turned and asked the question "What do you seek?" the answer for that day was for that day alone. We, like the disciples, have needs that change according to circumstances. We have moments of absolute clarity when we know and understand; and we have times of absolute dullness when we find life utterly incomprehensible. John the Baptist knew Jesus as his cousin, but until the right moment he did not know him as the Lamb of God - not until exactly the right moment when God chose to light the way and reveal it to him.

As the light dawns on a New Year, so new light dawns in the heart of each believer and when the time is right clarity brings everything into view. But if the time is not right then the clouds remain solid and unyielding. As we hear again the voice of Jesus asking, "What do you seek?" it is important to consider our response. What do we seek in this New Year? Do we answer as the disciples did with more questions? Maybe our own questions concern our purpose in the year ahead: do we seek new light on the horizon, new adventures, and new understanding? Do we seek to share more deeply that faith which moved us to follow Jesus in the first place?

Isaiah's vision is of a Servant of God sent to bring restoration and salvation to the whole world, to encourage those who have fallen away to come back, and to extend God's invitation to the ends of the earth - even to Midland, Texas. What do you seek? Light in the darkness is a very good place to start. Amen.