A reflection for the 15th of January.
In May 1987 a band called U2 released a song called “Still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” It has influences from gospel music and its lyrics describe our familiar spiritual yearning.
Listen to the first verse.
“I have climbed the highest mountains|
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for”
In today's gospel, we have a few people looking for something and looking for someone.
John the Baptist is one such searcher.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ”
“I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptise with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”
And it doesn’t stop there.
The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
One of those disciples is Andrew. We are not told who the other disciple was, but they both start to follow Jesus.
In my mind's eye, I have always imagined that they were a step or two behind Jesus but perhaps that is not the way that it happened. Perhaps they were walking alongside Jesus and the Master asks them,
“What do you want?” or in another translation “What are you looking for?”
Their answer/question is.
“Where are you staying or where are you living?”
The first two apostles don't ask Jesus for a lesson, or a sure truth or next week's tatts-lotto numbers. Perhaps they are a little surprised and confused by the initiative Jesus takes with them: it is He that turns towards them and it is He that invites them to become aware of the question that they hold in their hearts.
What they are really asking for is a relationship! The place where we live, speaks to who we are. The house is the place where one becomes family. Once a relationship becomes strong enough, then you feel free to invite someone to your house.
Notice too that the two disciples remember perfectly the time of day of the encounter. (it was about four in the afternoon), This is because it is a historic moment. All of us can remember where we were and who we were with when the queen died, or where marriage was proposed or what the weather was like at our dear aunt Flo’s funeral.
However, the scripture does not tell us where Jesus lives. That place remains unknown because there are so many possible places in which we can find Jesus. God does not allow Himself to be enclosed within our experiences.
The two disciples do not stay in the house with Jesus forever: they go out again. Our relationship with the Lord, if it is to bear the fruit of an authentic encounter, becomes an announcement, a proclamation: there is always another whom we must bring to Jesus. Andrew found Simon. And it is through these encounters that lives are changed. Hence Simon must become Cephas and he can never be the same again. He can’t go back to being Simon.
Life is set in motion by our desires and we alter reality along the way. Perhaps not everything will change at once, but at least we will have initiated something, even if we don’t see it or understand it at the time. There are all sorts of possibilities.
Now in these encounters, we think that we poke into possibilities with God. “We are pretty sure God that with you, there is the possibility of world peace and political stability in Yemen, no more car accidents, drownings or bushfires.” And while that is putting it simplistically, the truth is that with God there are always possibilities.
But… and here’s the lovely trick… God also sees it in reverse. He sees in us all sorts of marvellous possibilities. He saw possibilities with the Blessed Virgin Mary, with Simon now Cephas, with the 12 and with you and I. He pokes around into our possibilities. And it matters not what our gender is, our race, or our age God sees all sorts of possibilities and potential for us, in us and through us. And I can’t help but wonder what might be achieved if we spent less time on telling God what his possibilities and responsibilities are and spent a bit more time allowing God to poke into our possibilities. Stirring them around and letting them bubble.
The yearning and seeking that U2 sang about all those years ago is a real and authentic part of the journey. But perhaps we might see more, arrive sooner and more gently if we understood where The Master lives. Not just in the person who is next to us in the pew, but He has always been deep within us.
Perhaps we should let U2 have the last word
“You broke the bonds
And you loosed the chains
Carried the cross
Of my shame
Oh my shame
You know I believe it
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for”
Or have I…?