What are you seeking?

     What are you seeking? 

     This is the question Jesus asks two of John the Baptist's disciples in Sunday's gospel lesson.  We are in John's gospel this week, a gospel often thought of as more philosophical and theological than Matthew, Mark, or Luke (the three together are called the synoptic gospels).  However, John also has amazing details that bring the stories back to earth, and part of our every day lives.  The gospel lesson comes from John 1.29-42, and includes a second account of Jesus' baptism as well as John the Baptist continuing to point to Jesus as the Messiah, and in our lesson John refers to him as the "lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world".  (Sound familiar?  Those are the words of our 'Lamb of God' that we sing during communion each week.)
    Shortly after John sees the Holy Spirit descent on Jesus (notice in John's gospel that John also sees the dove - in Matthew's gospel we read last week it is only Jesus who can see the dove and hear God's voice) Jesus passes by John and some of his disciples.  John points to Jesus and two of the disciples follow Jesus.  In a somewhat awkward encounter, Jesus turns to those disciples and poses the question: What are you looking for (seeking)?  The disciples in a not-so-eloquent manner respond with their own question: Where are you staying?  Then comes Jesus' famous response:
       Come and see.
But Jesus doesn't just stop with the come and see.  He also then invites the disciples to remain with him.  Remain - this is the same word for abide, stay, or rest. 
     What strikes me about this encounter is that the disciples, either because they were startled by Jesus' question or simply because they didn't know, couldn't articulate what exactly it was they were seeking.  Why were they following Jesus?  What were they seeking? Hoping for?  Looking for?  But even though they couldn't put their finger on it, Jesus invites them to come, see, and abide with him.  What are you seeking?  Why are you a disciple of Christ?  What are you looking for?  Perhaps a little bit of peace in a world that seems lacking?  Maybe a little bit of sanity in the craziness?  Or is it a word of grace, reminding you that you are God's child, made in God's image, full of gifts and talents God is putting to use in the world?
    Whatever it is, even if you don't know, the answer is found in Christ.  In remaining in Christ, abiding in God, staying with the Holy Spirit.  That is the grace of God.  Providing for us even when we don't know exactly what it is that we need.  Giving us salvation in the forgiveness of sins.  Allowing us to live an abundant life (and perhaps we need to think about what it means when Jesus says that he gives us abundant life).  The mystery is a hard one for me to answer, and it changes on a regular basis.  But the mystery remains:
What are you seeking?