“What are you looking for?”
We’re bombarded with questions every day.
What’s for supper? Have you made your bed? Isn’t it your turn to change the baby’s diaper?
Then there’s some a little more important: What should I do with my life? Will you marry me?
And then there’s even deeper questions: Why am I here? Where am I going? How do I get there?
Those are 3 big questions. 3 questions everyone ought to ask: Why am I here? Where am I going? How do I get there?
Many have tried giving answers to those questions.
But today, Jesus gives us the answer to them in our Gospel.
Jesus is starting his public ministry of preaching and selecting apostles, and where does he go for these apostles? – to John the Baptist, who’s preparing people to recognize and welcome the Messiah.
As Jesus walks beside the Jordan, John the Baptist tells two of his disciples that Jesus is the guy – the Lamb of God, the Messiah.
Andrew and John start following Jesus at a distance, watching him, trying not to be obvious. They want to check him out a little.
And there’s Jesus: He knows they’re back there, knows what they’re thinking, knows what He wants them to do.
I like to imagine Jesus turning a corner and stopping: Then there’s Andrew and John, not wanting to lose Jesus in the crowd, running to catch up. And they turn the corner and there’s Jesus!
Then Jesus asks an important question:
"What are you looking for?"
These are the first words Jesus says in John’s Gospel.
It’s a big question. It’s one Jesus is asking each of us today and every day.
"What are you looking for?"
Surprised by the question, Andrew and John just say, "Teacher, where are you staying?"
And while that seems like an odd answer to Jesus’ question, maybe – without realizing it, they’ve given the perfect answer to the question: ‘What’re you looking for?’:
"Jesus, we’re looking for you."
So, Jesus invites them to walk with him, to follow him, to be his companions - and THAT is Christ's answer to the 3 questions: Why am I here? Where am I going? How do I get there?.
You see, the answer to all 3 questions is not something to be possessed, or an idea to be understood.
It’s not acquiring things or trying to fill our lives with food or work or vacations trying to find happiness.
The answer to all 3 questions is a relationship – one meant to be lived: a personal friendship with Jesus Christ.
And since the answer is a relationship, it doesn't depend just on us; it also depends on God's willingness to offer us his friendship.
And in this Mass, he’s reminding us that he’s not only willing, but that our developing friendship with him is his deepest desire!
Notice how personal God's call to Samuel in the First Reading is.
It's so real, so human, so personal, that Samuel thinks that it’s Eli calling him.
Eli is someone who knows Samuel, and Samuel knows him: they’re close companions.
That Samuel was able to confuse God's voice with Eli's shows just how personal and intimate God's offer of friendship was.
God knows Samuel, through and through, and calls out to him not from far away, but from very near.
That’s how God calls each one of us.
The Catechism expresses this truth wonderfully.
It says: "... at every time and in every place, God draws close to man...and God never ceases to draw man to himself."
So on one hand God’s always coming close to us, and on the other hand he’s always drawing us closer to him. That’s what the events of our life are: God bringing us closer to him.
That may not always happen as we might wish. Sometimes it’s in good things that happen – sometimes in the lowest moments of our lives – the tragedies, the disappointments, the disease – but all are opportunities for drawing closer to God.
So, if the answer to the questions of: Why am I here? Where am I going? How do I get there? is to be found in friendship with Christ, then our highest priority in life should be constantly deepening that friendship – in getting to know him.
Because in coming to know him, we come to know the men and women we are called to be.
So how do we come to know Jesus? Here are three suggestions:
First, we have to pray.
You have to communicate with any friend to keep the relationship strong and the relationship with the Lord is no different.
Prayer has to be a priority. So how do we make prayer meaningful?
Be still and quiet and just start and speak from your heart. Don’t just tell God what you want, but ask Him what he wants. Listen to what he may be saying. And just keep showing up. Prayer doesn’t always make us feel good. Sometimes it is dry, like God’s not even listening. But he is. Just keep praying.
Second, we need to build our lives around the sacraments.
When John the Baptist calls Jesus the "Lamb of God," he’s referring to the Old Testament lamb sacrificed before the Passover and the Exodus from Egypt, saving the Israelites from slavery.
In New Testament times, that image is fulfilled in the Eucharist - the actual body and blood of the real sacrificial lamb, Jesus, who saves US from our slavery to sin.
Going to Adoration, receiving Holy Communion, asking for forgiveness in confession, anointing of the sick, and the other sacraments draws us into that mystery of salvation by linking our lives more intimately with Christ's.
Third, to deepen our friendship with Christ we have to make God's will our first priority.
Friends generally want and like the same things.
Friendship with Christ, then, means wanting and working for whatever Christ wants.
Today's Psalm puts it beautifully: "Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will... To do your will, my God, is my delight."
And what is God's will? Loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves. It’s understanding, as St. Paul says in the Second Reading, that we are “temples of the Holy Spirit.” And if that’s the case, we need to “glorify God with our bodies” by not doing anything that defiles that gift.
My brothers and sisters, prayer, sacraments, and living God’s will: that’s how we get to know Jesus. They are the foundation of a meaningful life, one where our friendship with Christ will reach its fulfillment: eternal life – life with Him forever in heaven.
Heaven. Isn’t that really the answer to Jesus’ question: “What are you looking for?”