Lucia Lloyd’s sermon: Epiphany and Discipleship
Epiphany 2, Year A
John 1:29-42
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I got an e-mail from a parishioner about an experience that had happened while traveling far from home:
“We had reached the halfway point in our hike and were having a backpack lunch by a beautiful rock filled stream that ran across the beach to the ocean. Two oddly dressed young men came from the other direction and crossed the steam by jumping from rock to rock. One was wearing something that looked like a sarong and the other something that resembled a loin cloth, they also had backpacks. They greeted us when they got to our side of the stream and asked how far we were going, etc. They were both very friendly. One of them had an incredibly beautiful smile and open expression that was mesmerizing. His appearance/expression gave me an electrifying flash of awe, but also fear. The whole exchange didn't last more than two minutes and they were on their way. But I thought about him the rest of the day and still haven't forgotten the sensation I felt. I count this with three other occasions that were very special to me in a spiritual way. I also had the feeling that he could see right through me, i.e., that he knew me. Anyway, the whole point of relaying this story is that it made me think of how the disciples came so easily to follow Jesus. I'd often wondered how it was that some of the disciples could just see Jesus and drop what they were doing and follow him. Certainly he must have had this very special charismatic appearance that made people want to follow him and put their trust in him. I think after my own experience I can see how that happened.”
I agree. I believe that there are some people whose spiritual essences are so strong they can be felt by others immediately. Some people interpret the gospel accounts as the “to make a long story short” type of thing, leaving out the insignificant details of a lengthy conversation in order to get to the point, and that’s certainly possible. Still, I lean toward the interpretation that Jesus has a kind of spiritual intensity that people pick up on immediately. They are immediately drawn to him and have a gut instinct to follow him. Either that or they want to kill him, one or the other. There is a sense of epiphany about these passages. A sense of “aha!” A sense of something new, and also a recognition of something we’ve been hoping for our whole lives.
John the Baptist also seems to have this kind of spiritual intensity that draws people to follow him. We notice that today’s gospel passage mentions John the Baptist’s disciples are with him when he exclaims, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
People who have this kind of spiritual intensity can use it for purposes that are corrupt or even demonic, and unfortunately there are plenty of examples of leaders who use this power to exploit people. John the Baptist, though, shows no interest in holding on to power, and encourages his followers to follow Jesus.
What happens next has a certain appeal to me. Jesus turns around and sees them following him. So he asks them, "What are you looking for?" They have no idea what to say to that. I can sympathize. I have felt that way myself sometimes. I think how wonderful it would be to meet someone I’ve always admired, and then when I get the chance, I have no idea what to say. Small talk seems pathetic, but where do you begin? Or I have the sense that I want something deep and meaningful and spiritual, but how do you actually get to that? And once in a while I get the feeling that someone is hoping I can offer them something that would be helpful in their spiritual life, but since they don’t know what it is, they don’t know what they want to ask me.
What they blurt out instead is, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” It sounds like a non sequitur. They might feel like a doofus for not even being able to come up with an answer to this guy’s first question. But I think it’s actually an excellent response. However clumsily, it is a step toward spending more time together. “Rabbi, where are you staying?” And Jesus replies, “Come and see.”
That leads us to our main message today. An epiphany from God isn’t always a big flash of revelation of everything you’ve always wanted to know. The main message today is that sometimes, the epiphany from God is that you want more.
“What are you looking for?” We may not know exactly, and that’s okay. We may have mostly a vague sense that there’s something here we want to hang around with, something more we want to discover. Disciples are, when you come right down to it, learners. A disciple is someone who wants to learn, to find out more, and not just in an academic book-knowledge sense, but in an active way following along on the journey together.
What are you looking for? If you don’t have a precise answer, you’re in good company. We’re all followers here, all disciples. None of us are Christlike all the time. If you expect every Christian to be Christlike all the time, you will end up angry with yourself and angry with your neighbours. Even the twelve didn’t manage to be Christlike all the time. The only one who was Christlike all the time was Christ himself. For the rest of us, we are disciples; we learn, we try, we sometimes fail, we learn from our mistakes, we try again, we listen, we practice, we follow, we discover, we love. We don’t have to be perfect. We only have to be willing to learn.
The first step may take only a moment. Discipleship can take a lifetime. What are you looking for? Even if you don’t have a precise answer, you can follow until you find it. Even if you feel like a doofus sometimes, Jesus has a soft spot for doofus disciples, and he is telling you, “Come and see.”
“We had reached the halfway point in our hike and were having a backpack lunch by a beautiful rock filled stream that ran across the beach to the ocean. Two oddly dressed young men came from the other direction and crossed the steam by jumping from rock to rock. One was wearing something that looked like a sarong and the other something that resembled a loin cloth, they also had backpacks. They greeted us when they got to our side of the stream and asked how far we were going, etc. They were both very friendly. One of them had an incredibly beautiful smile and open expression that was mesmerizing. His appearance/expression gave me an electrifying flash of awe, but also fear. The whole exchange didn't last more than two minutes and they were on their way. But I thought about him the rest of the day and still haven't forgotten the sensation I felt. I count this with three other occasions that were very special to me in a spiritual way. I also had the feeling that he could see right through me, i.e., that he knew me. Anyway, the whole point of relaying this story is that it made me think of how the disciples came so easily to follow Jesus. I'd often wondered how it was that some of the disciples could just see Jesus and drop what they were doing and follow him. Certainly he must have had this very special charismatic appearance that made people want to follow him and put their trust in him. I think after my own experience I can see how that happened.”
I agree. I believe that there are some people whose spiritual essences are so strong they can be felt by others immediately. Some people interpret the gospel accounts as the “to make a long story short” type of thing, leaving out the insignificant details of a lengthy conversation in order to get to the point, and that’s certainly possible. Still, I lean toward the interpretation that Jesus has a kind of spiritual intensity that people pick up on immediately. They are immediately drawn to him and have a gut instinct to follow him. Either that or they want to kill him, one or the other. There is a sense of epiphany about these passages. A sense of “aha!” A sense of something new, and also a recognition of something we’ve been hoping for our whole lives.
John the Baptist also seems to have this kind of spiritual intensity that draws people to follow him. We notice that today’s gospel passage mentions John the Baptist’s disciples are with him when he exclaims, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
People who have this kind of spiritual intensity can use it for purposes that are corrupt or even demonic, and unfortunately there are plenty of examples of leaders who use this power to exploit people. John the Baptist, though, shows no interest in holding on to power, and encourages his followers to follow Jesus.
What happens next has a certain appeal to me. Jesus turns around and sees them following him. So he asks them, "What are you looking for?" They have no idea what to say to that. I can sympathize. I have felt that way myself sometimes. I think how wonderful it would be to meet someone I’ve always admired, and then when I get the chance, I have no idea what to say. Small talk seems pathetic, but where do you begin? Or I have the sense that I want something deep and meaningful and spiritual, but how do you actually get to that? And once in a while I get the feeling that someone is hoping I can offer them something that would be helpful in their spiritual life, but since they don’t know what it is, they don’t know what they want to ask me.
What they blurt out instead is, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” It sounds like a non sequitur. They might feel like a doofus for not even being able to come up with an answer to this guy’s first question. But I think it’s actually an excellent response. However clumsily, it is a step toward spending more time together. “Rabbi, where are you staying?” And Jesus replies, “Come and see.”
That leads us to our main message today. An epiphany from God isn’t always a big flash of revelation of everything you’ve always wanted to know. The main message today is that sometimes, the epiphany from God is that you want more.
“What are you looking for?” We may not know exactly, and that’s okay. We may have mostly a vague sense that there’s something here we want to hang around with, something more we want to discover. Disciples are, when you come right down to it, learners. A disciple is someone who wants to learn, to find out more, and not just in an academic book-knowledge sense, but in an active way following along on the journey together.
What are you looking for? If you don’t have a precise answer, you’re in good company. We’re all followers here, all disciples. None of us are Christlike all the time. If you expect every Christian to be Christlike all the time, you will end up angry with yourself and angry with your neighbours. Even the twelve didn’t manage to be Christlike all the time. The only one who was Christlike all the time was Christ himself. For the rest of us, we are disciples; we learn, we try, we sometimes fail, we learn from our mistakes, we try again, we listen, we practice, we follow, we discover, we love. We don’t have to be perfect. We only have to be willing to learn.
The first step may take only a moment. Discipleship can take a lifetime. What are you looking for? Even if you don’t have a precise answer, you can follow until you find it. Even if you feel like a doofus sometimes, Jesus has a soft spot for doofus disciples, and he is telling you, “Come and see.”