When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?”

John 1:38

If you have a red letter version of the Bible, the kind where Jesus’s words are printed in red, you will find that the very first words printed in red in John’s Gospel are found in the question above: “What are you looking for?”

It’s a very simple question. But an important one. A question that Jesus asks to two of John the Baptist’s disciples, who have begun following Jesus. But it’s also a question that I think Jesus asks anyone who wants to follow him, including us. What are you looking for?

Now, stop and think about that for a moment. If Jesus were to ask you that today, how would you answer him? As Christians, we might answer by saying that we are looking for eternal life. But is that all? Because if that is all we were looking for, couldn’t we just go about our lives without a thought about God, until it came time to die, and only then reach out to Jesus? Even as Christians, we are looking for more than eternal life. But what? 

What Is the World Looking For?

What is anyone looking for in this world, Christian or not? Out of curiosity, I asked ChatGPT that question. I’m not a huge fan of AI, but it seemed like this would be a good task for it. Here is ChatGPT’s answer to what the world is looking for:

That question has been asked in every age, by philosophers, poets, psychologists, and people lying awake at night. The answers vary, but they tend to circle the same few longings.

At a deep level, most people are looking for meaning — a sense that their life matters and fits into something larger than survival, work, or distraction. 

Closely tied to that is belonging. People want to be known and loved without having to perform or pretend. 

People also seek security: freedom from fear, chaos, and loss. 

Another powerful desire is identity. We want to know who we are and that our identity is good, worthy, and recognizable. 

And beneath all of these is a longing for hope—that pain is not the final word, that love outlasts loss, that brokenness can be healed, and that death does not erase meaning.

Honestly, that seems like a pretty good answer to me. People are longing for meaning, belonging, security, identity, and beneath it all, hope. Yes. 

I am sure you have heard about the Buddhist monks walking from Texas to Washington D.C. to spread peace in our world. They are walking through North Carolina now. They have captured people’s imagination, including mine, and it is not just because they are walking for peace, although that is part of it. After all, don’t we all want peace in our world? But I think they have captured our imagination for another reason: These monks seem to have all of these ChatGPT longings. They seem to have found meaning, belonging, security, and identity. And beneath it all, they clearly have hope. 

But even though I admire these monks and what they are doing, I have no plans to become Buddhist, nor do they want me to. I am a Christian, and I am here today, because I have found meaning, belonging, security, and identity through my Christian faith. I have found all of these things in Jesus, who fills me with hope. 

A God-Shaped Vacuum

As Christians, we believe that everyone in this world is looking for a relationship with the God who created them. And we believe that this God has been revealed to us most completely and fully through God’s only Son, Jesus. 

It was St. Augustine who once said so simply but profoundly: “You made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” St. Augustine rather famously looked for meaning and identity in all sorts of places before he found it in Christianity. He was restless until he found rest in Jesus. 

Another Christian, Blaise Pascal, put it this way, in a famous paraphrased quote: “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person, and it can never be filled by any created thing. It can only be filled by God, made known through Jesus Christ.” Nothing else can fill that hole, that vacuum in our hearts, in the way that Jesus can. We believe that. It is why we are here. 

Jesus Who?

But, back to Jesus’ question to those first disciples, when he asked them what they were looking for. 

We might wonder why Jesus asked that question in the first place. John the Baptist has already pointed to Jesus and said, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” And when two of his disciples heard this, they followed Jesus. And that is when Jesus turned and asked them this question. 

But why? Isn’t it obvious what they are looking for? They are looking for the Messiah, and believe they have found him in Jesus. But what did they hope to find in Jesus? That is what Jesus wants to know.

Did they hope to find in Jesus a military commander who would lead them out of the oppression they were experiencing from Rome? Or perhaps a teacher of the Scriptures, who would help them understand exactly what they had to do to earn righteousness in God’s eyes? Or maybe a miracle-worker who would heal them or their loved ones of sickness? Or a prophet who would speak the Word of God to them? Or were they simply looking for the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? “What are you looking for?” Jesus wants to know. Then, and now. 

When Jesus asked those first disciples what they were looking for, they responded with a question of their own: “Rabbi, where are you staying?” Maybe they were just trying to avoid answering Jesus’ question. Or maybe they were just stalling for time. But I think that something different was going on. I think that they really did want to follow Jesus, and learn what it meant to be his follower. So, they asked him where he was staying, because they wanted to follow him, to stay near him, and to learn from him. 

Come and See

And if that is what we are looking for, too, then the very next words that Jesus speaks in John’s Gospel are also very important: Come and see. 

These two red letter phrases that open up John’s Gospel summarize this gospel in a wonderful way. “What are you looking for?” And: “Come and see.” 

Jesus invited them to come and see. In other words, Jesus invited them to faith. He invited them to come and join him on a journey. 

Finding Jesus isn’t the end, but the beginning, of a very special journey. It would take Andrew and John several years, perhaps a lifetime, to truly see who Jesus was and what kind of messiah he was. And they would not fully understand who Jesus was, or what they were looking for, until his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. And even then, their journey was just beginning. Because after Jesus’ resurrection, he appeared to his disciples and said to them: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

And they went, still discovering who Jesus was, and what their mission was. When they left everything to follow Jesus, they were invited to simply come and see. They didn’t know where he would take them. 

And neither, truth be told, do we. But those first disciples knew enough, from that very first moment, to leave everything and follow Jesus. They knew that he alone could satisfy their restless hearts. He alone could fill that God-shaped vacuum in their souls. He himself was all that they wanted to live for.

And we know that, too. We know that Jesus alone can offer us what we are truly looking for, what we are truly living for. That’s why we’re here again today. To be reminded that what we are really looking for in this life, is Jesus, and Jesus alone. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And sometimes, we just need to be reminded of that.

We Have Found the Messiah

But the story doesn’t end there, for Andrew and John, or for us. Andrew and John followed Jesus that day, and found the answer to their question – they found where Jesus was staying. And then Andrew went to find his brother, Simon: He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah.” … He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter) – John 1:41-42.

Peter found what he was looking for. But only because he had a brother willing to share his faith. So, who is your Peter? Who in your life is searching for something more? Who needs to be reminded that what they are searching for, in one way or another, is Jesus? 

Andrew went and found his brother, and we are called to go and find our brothers and our sisters, and our neighbors and our co-workers and tell them: we have found what we are looking for. We have found the Messiah. We have found the one who alone can satisfy our restless hearts. We have found the one who alone can fill the God-shaped vacuums in our souls. We have found the one who can offer us meaning, and belonging, and identity, and security. We have found the one who fills us with hope. We have found him, and his name is Jesus.

Closing

It is so very important for us to do this, because so many in our world are desperately seeking meaning and belonging and identity and security, and looking for it in places that will ultimately disappoint them. Because what they are really looking for is a life-giving relationship with their Creator. They don’t know, or have forgotten, that what they are really looking for is Jesus. Nothing else will satisfy them. 

So, what are you looking for today? If it is something other than Jesus, then you need to keep looking. But if it is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, then hear the words of invitation that he spoke to those first disciples who were looking for him:

Come and see. Come and see the one who is the way and the truth and the life. Come and see the one who is the light of the world. Come and see the one who is Savior, the Messiah, the Resurrection and the life.

And then go and tell. Go and tell the world that you have found what they are looking for. And his name is Jesus. Amen.