Psalm 40:1-11
John 1:29-42

I begin today by offering apologies to all my previous English teachers for my sermon title that ends a sentence with a preposition. Although it is a direct quote from Jesus my instructors would have changed it to "Whom do you seek?" or "For whom are you looking?" Since I believe all my English instructors have died, they will have to take their concern directly to Jesus.

There is another problem, however, that may be more important than the preposition. It has to do with how we understand the question. Jesus asked the two followers of John the Baptist what they were looking for. The assumption most people make is that they were seeking God's Anointed One, the Messiah. However, Jesus does not ask them whom they were seeking but what they were seeking. Had they answered directly and honestly they would have said they were seeking to find a warrior-king like David who would lead Israel in glorious battles in which they would defeat all their enemies. That is what they truly were seeking.

The disciples do not answer Jesus directly. Instead they ask Him where He is staying. At least that is how the NRSV translators interpret the sentence. The key word is "abide." "Where are you abiding?" is a more accurate translation. While it may mean a place of abode it can also mean, and I believe it does, "In what are you grounded?" In other words they are asking Jesus to share with them His basic or foundational beliefs. I don't think the disciples of John really cared all that much about where Jesus was staying. They were mainly interested in His agenda. What did He believe, and what did He intend to do about those beliefs? Whatever Jesus told them caused them to believe He was the Messiah although the stories that follow in John certainly indicate that the disciples did not really understand Jesus' mission.

I'm guessing that Jesus must have said something about saving the lost souls of Israel. Those hearing Him understood this to mean He intended to rescue those caught in the oppression of Rome and the poverty that accompanied that situation. I am quite certain the disciples were not looking for anyone to save them from their sin but rather were seeking someone who could improve their physical life situation.

In nearly 2,000 years things have not changed all that much in this particular arena. Many of the world's people, including many Christians, still believe it is God's duty to save them from the horrible conditions or experiences of the physical world in which they live. While God has done this for both individuals and nations in the past this is not the primary responsibility God has according to the covenants God has made with us.

Most recently we have seen this rather common expectation expressed following the horrific tsunami. People in almost every nation have asked why God allows things like this to happen. The answers span a variety of understandings from, "There is no God" to "God is punishing these people for their wickedness." Another common interpretation is that the end of the world is near.

We cannot know if the end of the world is near. It could be. Jesus clearly states that only God knows when this will happen. What Jesus tells us is that we need to be prepared for it when it comes. In spite of this the vast majority of Christian and non-Christians alike seem to be far more concerned about being ready for a number of other things which they deem to be more important than the end of time as we now know it.

I seriously doubt that those directly affected by the tsunami were any more or less evil than any other group of people on the planet. It doesn't make sense for a God who has sent a Savior into the world to turn around and kill or injure those who have been forgiven and offered eternal life through that Savior.

If one contends there is no God, there is very little in the way of argument to the contrary that holds much merit unless one attempts to explain the billions of dollars of aid that has come forth as having something to do with something beyond self-centered human nature.

I think those that first followed John the Baptist and then Jesus were looking for something most of us seek, a way of life that makes sense and that gives us relevance and meaning as human beings. We want to be more than just some cosmic accidents that appear for a brief time, do our thing, whatever it is, and then disappear.

A Hassidic rabbi may have put it best when he said, "I walk, I fall, I get up. I walk, I fall, I get up. I walk, I fall, I get up. All the while I keep dancing." (Homiletics, January 2005, p. 23.) What causes him to dance? This is an important question.

The late Mike Yaconelli whom I quoted a few weeks ago writes in his book, Messy Spirituality: God's Annoying Love for Imperfect People, "You and I are incomplete. I'm unfinished. I'm unfixed. And the reality is that that is where God meets me — in the mess of my life, in the unfixedness, in the brokenness. I thought he did the opposite," he said, that "he got rid of all that stuff." But if you read the Bible, if you look at it at all, he was constantly showing up in people's lives at the worst possible time of their life. That's where he kind of broke through, where he connected to people where they learned so much about it, where they met him, where they understood what he was talking about." It's knowing for certain that God shows up in these situations that enables us to dance.

I am certainly not trying to minimize the tragedy of the tsunami. More people are starving to death and dying of AIDS every week than were lost in the tsunami but we don't seem to get as upset even when we have the means available to prevent a lot of the loss. We seem to have accepted that people killing each other is an acceptable way of life in Africa, Central and South America, the Middle East, Northern Ireland, nations of the former Soviet Union, China — the list is endless. We must include ourselves in the list even though we have been fortunate to not have the present war within our own borders save for 9/11.

While it is for the moment in a distant place it is our sons and daughters, moms and dads, sisters and brothers and our friends we read about every day in the paper. Six are killed with a car bomb and fifteen more are injured. Our hands are not clean so we turn to God and ask why do You allow this to happen? We should be asking ourselves about our role.

Perhaps we need to recognize and admit our situation for what it is. Like the Psalmist in Psalm 69:1-2 we need to cry, "Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me."

First of all this statement demonstrates the one making it knows the reality of their situation and is able to admit it. Secondly, this statement reveals a belief in God and shows an awareness of the need for God's help. Thirdly, it demonstrates the one making the statement has cause to believe help will be forthcoming. The reason for this is the memory that help has come previously in a time of need.

In Psalm 40:1-2 we hear the other side of the story. "I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from a desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure." Waiting patiently for the Lord is an act of faith. It is a trust that God ultimately will prevail and that God's promises will be kept.

Do we ever stop to ponder if God also waits patiently for us to keep our part of the covenant? The loving response to the need created by the tsunami is part of our response but there is so much more needing to be done.

The image I have of this is two hands straining to touch each other and take hold, God's hand and ours. My belief is the day will come when those hands will fully clasp each other. In the meantime we keep reaching.