Two Questions

John the Baptizer and two of his disciples saw Jesus walking by and John said to his followers: There is the Lamb of God. The two disciples walk away from John and into the life of Jesus. Jesus sees them following, turns and asks the first of two very interesting questions: “What are you seeking?” or “What do you want?” He knows they are connected to John, so is he simply curious: Why are you walking behind me? Maybe, but let the question go deeper. Shift from a curiosity question to one of life definition: What do you desire of me? What do you want me to give to you? This is a relationship question. The two men could have been asking for directions to the market, or seeking information about something happening in the city, but they weren’t. Jesus knew who they were from previous encounters with John and his band of followers, and he probably knew, or at least sensed, that their act of walking away from John and into his footsteps was very significant. Perhaps it’s: What do you expect of me? How serious are you? “What do you seek?”

And then comes the second question, this one asked by the two men. “Rabbi, (Teacher) where are you staying?” Is that an answer to the first question? Jesus asks: what do you want, and they reply: where do you live. That’s a weird response until you let it go deeper, until it becomes a “heart” question, not an inquiry about the address of his home. Perhaps their reply means something like this: we just want to be near you. His home is where he abides, and that’s the Greek word used in the text: “abide.” The men are offering their hearts to Jesus: we want to abide in you; where you are, we want to be. Now their response makes sense. In fact, the two questions now fit beautifully together: What can I offer you? And they say: Nothing except your presence. We want to be where you are because being in your presence, abiding in you, will lead us closer to God.

Finally, imagine that you are one of those two men trailing after Jesus and that he turns and poses that life-defining question: what do you seek from me? why are you following me?

Let your heart speak. What is your answer?