Read: John 1:35-42 NRSV
The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come and see.’ They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas’ (which is translated Peter).
ACT I, SCENE III
Along the Jordan river, the following day. Enter JOHN THE BAPTIST and DISCIPLES from one side. Enter MYSTERIOUS STRANGER, masked.
“What are you looking for?”
That question pretty much summarizes the gospel accounts. Those are the first words given to Jesus in our drama, and they hang over every interaction he has with his disciples from this moment of his introduction, to Mary Magdalene weeping in the empty tomb: “Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?” Every time Jesus gives his followers a clue to his identity, they take it and head off in the wrong direction. Think of the disciples on the road to Emmaus who didn’t realize who they were talking to. Jesus, back in his role as the Mysterious Stranger, begins to question the travelers. Soon it is revealed that more than their eyesight is obscured. Jesus of Nazareth was among them for many years but their “eyes were kept from recognizing him,” that is, who he truly is. But we’re getting ahead of things.
What Jesus is introducing to the plot is the question that the author set out to answer: who is Jesus? It’s not only Jesus that asks the question, but pretty much every character that John brings into his drama. Pilate asks “Are you the King of the Jews?” The Jews ask, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
The problem with the phrasing of all these questions is that they’re too narrow. Each person who asks the question is only catching a glance of Jesus’ face, only a part of his nature. Sometimes his disciples identify him as a teacher, the woman at the well wonders if he is the Messiah, the Centurion at the foot of the cross says “surely he was the son of God.” So which one was he? All of the above, and more! If this really were a play, Jesus would stand the role of the long-absent King, returning to restore justice, the wise teacher instructing a new kind of life, the champion prepared for the ultimate sacrifice, all rolled into one person whom no one recognizes.
Exeunt JOHN THE BAPTIST, DISCIPLES, AND MYSTERIOUS STRANGER
