2026-01-18 (Iain) What are you looking for_ A Gospel of Encounter
18th January 2026: What are you looking for: A Gospel of Encounter
Jesus’s life and ministry comes from 3 traditions within Hebrew scripture: The Priestly tradition, explored in the book of Hebrews where Jesus is called our High Priest; the Prophetic tradition highlighting Justice and challenge to oppressive power and empire, found in books like Jeremiah, Isaiah & Amos and the thirdly the Wisdom tradition, found in Proverbs, Ecclesiastices, Song of Songs, Job etc– which emphasise personal transformation: how we live our lives, challenging us to open our hearts and enlarge our consciousness.
Jesus ministry was founded on the calling of a small group of disciples, including women, spending time with them, transforming their consciousness – how they saw God & the world – enlarging their hearts, using parables, designed to challenge their assumptions. Jesus, in this Wisdom tradition, is primarily the Giver of Life (The Eastern Orthodox church) rather than a ticket to heaven. Jesus imparts this life and transformation through encounter.
It is easy to think that the disciples had an amazing epiphany enabling them to realise that Jesus was the Messiah but this couldn’t be further from the truth. The disciples on the shores of Galilee, two thousand years ago, would have heard about a new teacher arriving on the scene and causing a stir – with the religious experts, the rabbis, in the synagogues saying he’s breaking the Law, healing on the Sabbath, disrespecting the Law and Prophets – charismatic but dangerous, giving false teaching and leading people away from God. Yet others had never heard such amazing, strange, wild stuff kindling a fire inside them. These opinions are jostling around the disciples’ heads when they approach Jesus, and the problem is there aren’t any overt signs he is the One – he looks like everybody else! These first disciples don’t know the outcome – they have no idea about the Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension – that he would conquer death and rise again. In fact I would question whether Jesus fully understands his own identity and mission at this point.
So what is it that causes people to say Yes to Jesus? One person after another dramatically encounters and experiences something mysteriously compelling in Jesus that changes the course of his or her life, whether it be the disciples Andrew and Peter, or the blind man beside the road to Jericho, the father of the paralytic boy, the centurion whose servant is sick, the woman at the well, the thief on the cross: time after time there is a breakthrough of life, a recognition that this is who and what they were looking for, even if they didn’t know it, a wave of wonder that pulses through their body, – an energy that was so strong that they were compelled to say Yes. In each case there is a heart to heart encounter and inner connection and seeing. They have a glimpse of who he is and he sees them fully in their naked vulnerability and yet they still feel loved: it is terrifying and wonderous at the same time.
Cynthia Bougeault, in her book the Wisdom Jesus talks of her mentor, Father Bruno describing these encounters as a mysterious energy awakening people at the core of their being, breathing life, freedom and fullness into them, reminding us that Jesus was and is the light at the centre of our world and a fire within it. Their resulting faith is based on this mutual recognition of hearts and a transfusion of energy that becomes a wellspring of life. Nothing shows this transfusion of energy so completely as Jesus encounter with the woman at the Well – there verbal sparring just takes them deeper and deeper, higher and higher, closer & closer – both are fully present and both are transformed.
Our Gospel encounter of the first disciples begins after they follow Jesus having heard John the Baptist proclaiming Jesus is the Lamb of God and starts with a beautiful and gracious invitation: ‘What are you looking for?’ A question that asks the disciples to discern and articulate something significant about their lives? It is a question Jesus asks of us all: What are you looking for? “Where do you find meaning in life?” What activities make your heart sing? What difference do you want to make in our world? What ideas stir you to action? What breaks your heart? What are you passionate about? What are you looking for? You may come up with an answer immediately; you may not know the answer; you may need to ponder to sharpen your response. I would invite you prayerfully to imagine Jesus asking this simple but profound question: what are you looking for?/ Not set it stone – may develop, even change.
It is a question at the heart of our transformation designed to uncover our passions and help connect us to others with a similar passion so that we may come together to have a positive impact in our world. This is what Jesus did, gather a community around him to change their world and His first foundational question is: ‘What are you looking for.’ God wants us to find and own our passions because as our Isaiah passage shows us our calling can be traced back to the womb: And now the LORD says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and my God has become my strength. Consciously or subconsciously God has planted and developed our desires and passions throughout our lives – whether by upbringing, our experiences, especially painful experienced where we may have suffered – for out of a broken heart compassion flows, or who we might encounter at a particular time in our lives. My passion for justice and the people of Palestine isn’t a sudden response to the events of the last 2 and a bit years but has been a journey over time of transformation resulting in a change of consciousness and an opening of the heart, where assumptions held over time are challenged. Yad Vashem.
Each of us is unique and will have a unique calling based on our passion and desires, experience and encounters but even though the answer to the question: ‘What are you looking for?’ may be different and nuanced for each one of us, yet there are desires which are generic to all of us: To be seen & loved; to find home & a safe place to abide; to find community and connection with others and finally to find purpose – to live a life that has meaning, not just for ourselves but others.
It is no coincidence that the disciples answer to Jesus question is: Rabbi, where are you staying?’ Where do you abide? For Jesus is the one to whom we are invited home, where we are invited to abide, where we are seen and loved. And Christ’s response is perfect for people (both then and now) who follow him, not fully knowing why . . . who come to church with questions about the whole enterprise . . . who aren’t quite sure how they got here or what they want from being here. “Come and see,” walk this path awhile, let me walk alongside you, let’s find your place in this community & in this world. Let’s figure out what moves you, what your purpose is? Let’s hang out together, spend time together, learn together; I’ll be at your side when you make mistakes. Come and see. The journey will never be dull. You will find purpose. Come & see.
What are you looking for? . . . Come and see? It’s OK if you don’t understand it all but Come with me and see – That is Christ’s invitation both then and now. What are you looking for? Come and see. Amen
Jesus’s life and ministry comes from 3 traditions within Hebrew scripture: The Priestly tradition, explored in the book of Hebrews where Jesus is called our High Priest; the Prophetic tradition highlighting Justice and challenge to oppressive power and empire, found in books like Jeremiah, Isaiah & Amos and the thirdly the Wisdom tradition, found in Proverbs, Ecclesiastices, Song of Songs, Job etc– which emphasise personal transformation: how we live our lives, challenging us to open our hearts and enlarge our consciousness.
Jesus ministry was founded on the calling of a small group of disciples, including women, spending time with them, transforming their consciousness – how they saw God & the world – enlarging their hearts, using parables, designed to challenge their assumptions. Jesus, in this Wisdom tradition, is primarily the Giver of Life (The Eastern Orthodox church) rather than a ticket to heaven. Jesus imparts this life and transformation through encounter.
It is easy to think that the disciples had an amazing epiphany enabling them to realise that Jesus was the Messiah but this couldn’t be further from the truth. The disciples on the shores of Galilee, two thousand years ago, would have heard about a new teacher arriving on the scene and causing a stir – with the religious experts, the rabbis, in the synagogues saying he’s breaking the Law, healing on the Sabbath, disrespecting the Law and Prophets – charismatic but dangerous, giving false teaching and leading people away from God. Yet others had never heard such amazing, strange, wild stuff kindling a fire inside them. These opinions are jostling around the disciples’ heads when they approach Jesus, and the problem is there aren’t any overt signs he is the One – he looks like everybody else! These first disciples don’t know the outcome – they have no idea about the Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension – that he would conquer death and rise again. In fact I would question whether Jesus fully understands his own identity and mission at this point.
So what is it that causes people to say Yes to Jesus? One person after another dramatically encounters and experiences something mysteriously compelling in Jesus that changes the course of his or her life, whether it be the disciples Andrew and Peter, or the blind man beside the road to Jericho, the father of the paralytic boy, the centurion whose servant is sick, the woman at the well, the thief on the cross: time after time there is a breakthrough of life, a recognition that this is who and what they were looking for, even if they didn’t know it, a wave of wonder that pulses through their body, – an energy that was so strong that they were compelled to say Yes. In each case there is a heart to heart encounter and inner connection and seeing. They have a glimpse of who he is and he sees them fully in their naked vulnerability and yet they still feel loved: it is terrifying and wonderous at the same time.
Cynthia Bougeault, in her book the Wisdom Jesus talks of her mentor, Father Bruno describing these encounters as a mysterious energy awakening people at the core of their being, breathing life, freedom and fullness into them, reminding us that Jesus was and is the light at the centre of our world and a fire within it. Their resulting faith is based on this mutual recognition of hearts and a transfusion of energy that becomes a wellspring of life. Nothing shows this transfusion of energy so completely as Jesus encounter with the woman at the Well – there verbal sparring just takes them deeper and deeper, higher and higher, closer & closer – both are fully present and both are transformed.
Our Gospel encounter of the first disciples begins after they follow Jesus having heard John the Baptist proclaiming Jesus is the Lamb of God and starts with a beautiful and gracious invitation: ‘What are you looking for?’ A question that asks the disciples to discern and articulate something significant about their lives? It is a question Jesus asks of us all: What are you looking for? “Where do you find meaning in life?” What activities make your heart sing? What difference do you want to make in our world? What ideas stir you to action? What breaks your heart? What are you passionate about? What are you looking for? You may come up with an answer immediately; you may not know the answer; you may need to ponder to sharpen your response. I would invite you prayerfully to imagine Jesus asking this simple but profound question: what are you looking for?/ Not set it stone – may develop, even change.
It is a question at the heart of our transformation designed to uncover our passions and help connect us to others with a similar passion so that we may come together to have a positive impact in our world. This is what Jesus did, gather a community around him to change their world and His first foundational question is: ‘What are you looking for.’ God wants us to find and own our passions because as our Isaiah passage shows us our calling can be traced back to the womb: And now the LORD says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and my God has become my strength. Consciously or subconsciously God has planted and developed our desires and passions throughout our lives – whether by upbringing, our experiences, especially painful experienced where we may have suffered – for out of a broken heart compassion flows, or who we might encounter at a particular time in our lives. My passion for justice and the people of Palestine isn’t a sudden response to the events of the last 2 and a bit years but has been a journey over time of transformation resulting in a change of consciousness and an opening of the heart, where assumptions held over time are challenged. Yad Vashem.
Each of us is unique and will have a unique calling based on our passion and desires, experience and encounters but even though the answer to the question: ‘What are you looking for?’ may be different and nuanced for each one of us, yet there are desires which are generic to all of us: To be seen & loved; to find home & a safe place to abide; to find community and connection with others and finally to find purpose – to live a life that has meaning, not just for ourselves but others.
It is no coincidence that the disciples answer to Jesus question is: Rabbi, where are you staying?’ Where do you abide? For Jesus is the one to whom we are invited home, where we are invited to abide, where we are seen and loved. And Christ’s response is perfect for people (both then and now) who follow him, not fully knowing why . . . who come to church with questions about the whole enterprise . . . who aren’t quite sure how they got here or what they want from being here. “Come and see,” walk this path awhile, let me walk alongside you, let’s find your place in this community & in this world. Let’s figure out what moves you, what your purpose is? Let’s hang out together, spend time together, learn together; I’ll be at your side when you make mistakes. Come and see. The journey will never be dull. You will find purpose. Come & see.
What are you looking for? . . . Come and see? It’s OK if you don’t understand it all but Come with me and see – That is Christ’s invitation both then and now. What are you looking for? Come and see. Amen
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