Home at Last.

“you can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.” ― Frederick Buechner


Texts:

Psalm 69:1-5, 30-36

Isaiah 41:14-20

John 1:29-34

The question in the middle of the passage in John today, "What do you seek?" seems an apt question when it comes to matters of faith.  Isaiah proclaims that the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, will come, and John points to Jesus, indicating he is the Lamb of God.  A couple of John's followers, then, seem to jump ship and follow Jesus.

Were they just following the newest trend, trying to be cutting-edge?  Was following Jesus, then, akin to our propensity to follow and desire the next technological advance?  

Was Jesus just the next trend in renegade leaders?  In this light, I think Jesus' question is apt.  Often, that which we seek informs what we find.  If something comes that does not fit into our expectations, we tend to discount or discredit it.  These followers asked where Jesus was staying.  Jesus' response pairs nicely with his first question: "Come and see."  

We have a Come and See sort of God.  In the face of our questions of who Jesus is, of what it is to have faith, in the face of our hopes and expectations, God says, "Come and See."  With scarcely an indication of where Jesus is staying, the narrative continues.  Jesus, throughout John's narrative, seems to keep moving.  John seems to pay little attention to answering the question of where, but spends quite a bit more time answering the question, "With whom are you staying?"  I think Jesus' implicit answer to his followers is: "I am staying with you."  

John 1:14 states, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth..."  In Christ, God finds God's home with us as Immanuel (which means God-with-us).  Come and see: come and see that I have come to live with you.  Come and see: there aren't really any easy answers when it comes to faith, but perhaps what is more important than the answers on the journey is showing up for the journey.  It is in coming and seeing that we behold this Christ, who is the light of the world, the Lamb of God, the one in whom all things have come into being and find their final resting place.