John 1:29-42; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Former Chief Scout and intrepid TV explorer Bear Grylls released last year his new book about the life of Jesus Christ. Entitled The Greatest Story Ever Told
it seeks through the stories of eyewitnesses to introduce readers to the person and story of Yeshua who lived 2000 years ago. It is a compelling read. So far it has sold 190,000 copies and in a newspaper interview before Christmas Grylls expressed the hope that it could sell 250 million and thus be the third best-selling book ever.
What struck me as interesting in the interview was the place of the church in the author’s landscape of faith. He was reported as being very critical of churches and organised religion, and was quoted as saying ‘You don’t need to go to church. Our faith has nothing to do with church.’ Whether this is what he really wanted to say, I don’t know, but it is certainly a view that I have had expressed by others.
Now I don’t want to suggest that the church as institution is not worthy of substantial critique; the safeguarding failures of recent years would be cause enough for lament and shame. But I couldn’t help wondering as I read those words whether the distinction between faith in Jesus Christ on the one hand and church on the other is really as clear as is being suggested. And certainly the gospel reading for today, I would argue, invites us to reconsider such a view quite carefully.
Because on one level this passage from the first chapter of John’s gospel is clearly focussed on the person and work of Jesus Christ. There is a reason we are reading this in the season of Epiphany, that season where Jesus is revealed to wise men, to onlookers at his baptism, and to the guests at the wedding at Cana as the Messiah, the one sent from God. In today’s passage we have John the Baptist – or as one commentator calls him John the Witness – testifying to Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, as the one who will baptise with the Holy Spirit, as none other than the Son of God. And then Andrew himself sees Jesus and testifies about him to his brother Simon ‘we have found the Messiah.’
And these two epiphanies set the scene for the unfolding of John’s gospel, where women and men from all backgrounds come to see Jesus for who he is, including, John prays towards the end of his book, the readers of the gospel themselves.
But on closer inspection there is more going on in this passage that simply individuals realising who Jesus is. As David Ford points out in his brilliant commentary on John’s gospel, it is also about a community being built. A community where questions are being asked and answered by Jesus, time is being spent with Jesus, meals we imagine are being shared, and good news being witnessed to. Ford describes a community which is ‘about recognizing and testifying to who Jesus is, following him with others and learning from him with others.’
As a description of what the church is called to be, that’s not a bad starting point. When Paul was writing to ‘the church of God that is in Corinth’ (1 Cor 1:1), he wasn’t addressing an elegant building in the nicest part of that city. He was writing to a very mixed community who had been drawn together by a shared belief in Jesus as the Son of God, and who were seeking together to follow Christ and learn from Christ. Yes they were getting quite a bit wrong, but at least they were trying.
We are gathered here today invited to a similar task. Whether we are regular members of the worshipping community or people who often worship elsewhere or people who are dipping their toe in the water, we are invited to join those first followers of Jesus in confessing Jesus as Lord and with others – with others – seek to follow him and learn from him.
What are we invited to learn? Three responses to Jesus from our gospel reading today give us food for thought.
Learning area number one, we are invited to desire more of Christ. ‘What are you looking for?’ , the question which Jesus asks Andrew and the other disciple, is a question about longing and desire, a question which as a community we are invited to hear from Christ ourselves. David Ford writes of a community ‘where desires are stimulated, educated and fulfilled in relationship with Jesus, and whose minds and imaginations are stretched through being questioned, called and taught by him.’
Next month sees the start of our Lent Course here at Durham Cathedral. In our weekly sessions on the General Thanksgiving, a beautiful prayer written 350 years ago, we will be invited to explore together what it is grow in our prayers and thus relationship with Christ. I pray our desires, minds and imaginations are deepened and stretched. And we will do this together.
Learning area number two, we are invited to witness to Christ. ‘Come and see’, Jesus says to Andrew and his companion. As Andrew sees who Jesus is, so he testifies to his brother what he has seen in Christ. And so it will continue, with Philip and Nathanael and later Mary Magdalene and Nicodemus all coming to see Christ for who he is.
We can make witnessing to Christ either very complicated or moderately embarrassing but in essence it means sharing through our lives who Jesus is for us. Simply living in a deeply troubled world and trusting that Jesus is the hope and the strength that we need, that is witnessing to Christ.
Before Christmas at the Christian Union carol service here at the Cathedral I interviewed a student called Tom who had come to faith in his first year at university. One of the key things that drew him to faith was discovering a church community where people were focussed not on themselves but centred on Jesus Christ. It wasn’t about the clever answers they came up with; it was their focus as a community on Jesus and his glory.
As we say the Creed in a moment, as we pray in Christ’s name, as we trust in Christ in the week ahead, we are witnessing to Christ.
Learning area number three, we are invited to abide in Christ. ‘Where are you staying?’ is the question Andrew and his companion ask, and they then remain with Jesus that day. But the depth of that word stay or remain indicates that the journey has just started. As David Ford again says, ‘the rest of the Gospel can be seen as a journey into learning what that remaining/abiding/dwelling/enduring means.’
Whatever it means, I suggest, it is something we do with others. ‘Abide in me’ as Jesus will say later in this gospel (and it is the same word as stay and remain here) is addressed not to a single individual but to a community called to love one another with the love in which they are called to abide.
We are invited to return again and again to the love of God poured out in Jesus Christ. As we come to the Lord’s table today we are invited to receive bread and wine, for us the body and blood of Christ, love poured out, love in which to abide.
The landscape of faith depicted in John’s gospel is one where individuals discover Jesus for who he is, but it is also one where as a community, the church, they seek to follow him and learn from him. In this season of Epiphany, of revelation, may we be a people – here and wherever God calls us – who not only see and confess Jesus but also together follow him and learn from him - desiring him, witnessing to him and for the rest of our days abiding in his love. Amen.