What Do You Want? Series

The Palestinian sun beat down on the two friends as they listened to John exhort the crowds to repentance. For the past few weeks they had followed John everywhere he had gone, listened to his message, and watched the crowd’s reaction.

At first they were sure that he was the one that the prophets had pointed to. The one who would deliver Israel from the hands of the Romans. This guy even looked like a prophet, that long wild hair, a beard that reached down to the middle of his chest and the eyes, his eyes shone with a zealots rage.

But as he preached he said things like, “I am not the Christ”, and “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.”

Who would it be? Who could be more powerful then John the Baptist? And then today, a day that really had nothing special about it John said, “Behold the lamb of God”. He was the one, the one they had waited so long for the one who was going to change the world, the messiah, the Christ, the son of God. They were so stunned that they just turned and followed him, thinking that he didn’t look so special as a matter of fact John looked more like a messiah should look then this man.

But they didn’t say anything they just followed wondering what they should do next, what they should say, how they should approach him. And then it happened he turned around and saw them following and asked them point blank, “what do you want?”

This is week four of our Red Letter Summer series. For something to be marked in Red Letters means there is a certain importance or significance attached to it. The practice began over 500 years ago when they started marking Holy Days on the Calendar in Red. They were Red Letter Days. And then, just a little over a 100 years ago the first Red Letter New Testament and Bibles were printed with the words of Christ printed in red. I would suspect, although not a hundred percent certain that the majority of bible printed today would be Red Letter editions.

And these are the first words of Christ as recorded by John, obviously not the first words of Christ, simply the first written down in John’s Gospel.

The question is asked in John’s gospel Chapter 1 verse 38, and was asked almost 2000 years ago by Jesus of Nazareth. But it is a question that is timeless. It is a question that remains, the question of the day, the $64,000 question. The question that Jesus Christ still asks everyone who seeks to follows after him. “What do you want?” “What are you after?” And it is a good question.

Jesus Christ wanted to know what these two men wanted, why they were following him and what they were looking for. Notice that he didn’t ask, “Who do you want” but instead he asked “What do you want?”

Were they the legalist who wanted to indulge in conversations about the law? You know the Pharisees? They’re still around today. You know the ones if Christ returned tomorrow they would proudly tell him “We didn’t let anyone call themselves a Christian if they weren’t Wesleyans, or they smoked or drank, or wore their hair too long or went to the movies or danced, or had any fun at all.”

Or maybe they were just ambitious time servers, they were after power and position and were just seeking to use God for their own means, and they’d follow whoever they had to follow.

Or maybe they were fierce zealots who were looking for a political demagogue or military commander to overthrow the pagan Romans and restore Israel to her proper greatness.

Or perhaps they were just humble men of prayer looking for a light to point them toward God and the higher calling. Or then again maybe they were just puzzled bewildered sinners who were stumbling along through life and were looking for a light on the road.

Whatever and whoever they were Christ recognised one thing in them, and that was the fact they that wanted something. And however noble or base their motives were they were after something.

And as we come to Christ two thousand years later we have to recognize the truth of the fact that everyone who comes to Jesus is looking for something. Good, bad or indifferent it doesn’t matter the fact is that you are looking for something.

Everyone of us is striving for something as we plod through this life, from day to day, week to week, month to month and year to year. You are looking for the one thing that makes you tick, the thing that shakes your tree, rattles your chain, floats your boat or scratches you where you itch.