What Do You Want?

The first recorded words of Jesus in the gospel written by John appear to be very ordinary:

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!” 
When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, ‘Rabbi’ (which means ‘Teacher’), ‘where are you staying?’

‘Come,’ he replied, ‘and you will see.’

Did Jesus ask this question because he lacked information? Was he annoyed? Or was he inviting these two men to focus on what they were really looking for when they found themselves walking behind him?

John has just described Jesus (his cousin) as "The Lamb of God." That seems quite a strange thing to call someone, although for first-century Jews living in Palestine, the phrase was a bit easier to understand. The Jewish religion had a system of animal and food sacrifices made to God. The sacrifice of a lamb was a way of transferring the guilt of a person onto the animal. The lamb died in the place of the sinner.

Earlier on, John had said that Jesus was "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." When John's two followers heard their teacher say this about Jesus, they were interested and wanted to find out more.

When we first find ourselves stumbling into the words of Jesus, it's good for us to think about the question he asked these men: what do you want?

What are your questions? What do you need? Why are you thinking about the person of Jesus? What's stirring inside you?


A mature sheep in three-quarters view standing and looking left, beside it a lamb lies on the grass
Karel Dujardin Dutch, c. 1655


You can read the passage we've looked at today here.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In the previous post we saw how Jesus broke the social conventions of his day by starting to talk with a Samaritan woman by a well. The conversation that followed had a major impact on the woman's life and that of her community.  The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to...
Read more

Family Matters

Throughout history, the presence of large amounts of free alcohol have meant that weddings have often been occasions when people drink a lot. It was the same in first-century Palestine. At this particular wedding, the party was about to take a turn for the worse: the hosts had run out of wine. Then, as now, this would have been embarrassing and Jesus' mother appears to want him to do something about it.  On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, ‘They have no more wine.’ ‘ Woman, why do you involve me? ’ Jesus replied. ‘ My hour has not yet come .’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’  At first sight, Jesus' answer seems a bit rude. First, he addresses his mother as "Woman." Then, he seems to shrug off her request with the seemingly off-hand phrase, "Why do you involve me?...
Read more

Can you Prove it?

It's a common question when people are exploring the Christian faith: can you prove that it's true? Jesus faced similar questions himself. Having just driven out the traders from the temple area, people wanted to know why he thought he had the right to do it: The Jews then responded to him, ‘What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days .’ At first sight this seems a crazy answer. Is Jesus claiming to have some magical construction powers? Evidently his hearers thought the same: They replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. The hearers demanded a sign. Jesus responded by predicting his death and resurrection. H...
Read more