Questions of Jesus

 In the book of John,  Jesus asks a lot of questions.  He never asked a stupid or pointless question either.  Each time Jesus asked a question, it had a probing purpose and was always on the mark.  I think many times, we as the reader glance over these questions and due to the narrative flow of the synoptic Gospels, miss the reality that these questions are for us (many times) as well as for the person being asked in the narrative.  I desire to, over the next few months highlight many of the questions Jesus asked in the book of John and see how they intersect with our lives.  The first one comes in John 1

"What are you seeking?" (John 1:38 ESV)

John the Baptist had just begun to hand the reigns of his ministry over to Jesus, declaring to his followers that Jesus is the Lamb of God.  The two disciples of John the Baptist who heard this immediately began to follow Jesus.  In John 1:37, it simply states: "The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus".  They didn't "announce" their presence with Jesus either because after awhile, Jesus turned and saw them following him.  He then asks the question above.

Jesus sees these men following him, he knew who they were and most likely why they were following him, but he still asks (in today's terms) "What do you guys want?"  Imagine if Jesus just now turned to you, saw you were "following Him" and he asked you the same question.  How would you respond?  What do you want from Jesus?  In following him, what are you seeking?  Personally, I don't often ask myself that question, but it is an important one to ask.  The world around us presumes what we are seeking when we state we are following Jesus, but what are we seeking?  Are we seeking love?  Validation?  Are we seeking truth? Proof that we are right?  What are we seeking when we follow after Jesus?

The disciples in the narrative answered Jesus simply: "Where are you staying?"

That answer may not seem like a good one, but what they said in that question was this: we are seeking you.  They didn't say: "we need to be right", or "we need to know we are good people".  They asked where he was staying because they wanted Jesus for Himself.  This is a powerful illustration of what our desires should be.  When asked the question: "what are we seeking", our answers shouldn't be about rules and regulations, or about personal needs to be "fulfilled". The answer we should be giving is: "We simply what You!"

Jesus reply to the disciples after they answer this way is: "Come, I'll show you where I'm staying"; which was His way of saying: "Follow me, I'll show you where I'm staying and you can abide with me".  When we seek God, we will find Him.  He is more than willing to give himself to us.  May we seek Him, not the stuff he can give us...trust me, when we seek Him for Him, all the "stuff" comes with it.  However, if we seek Him for his stuff, we may get some of the "stuff" but we will miss Him and He is much more important than His "stuff".

 

So, I ask you, in life: "What are you seeking?"