20th January 2008SEPTUAGESIMA

Fr Julian Browning

Isaiah  49  :  1 – 7  ; I  Corinthians  1  :  1 – 9   ; John  1  :  29 – 42   

We have found the Messiah .  John 1.41 

Questions and doubts about God do not mean we are losing our faith; they are signs that God is drawing us further into the mystery of Himself.

There is a critical moment in the life of every Christian when we think, when we know there is no God, there is no love, there is no mercy. Not just a passing thought, either, it can be a secret conviction held for years, that God's promise will not be fulfilled, and that we shall never find the Messiah because there isn't one. The paraphernalia of church and the business of being churchy hides this for a while, but doubt, the big doubt about God never goes away. The Christian is no different from any other human being in feeling unsure about God. What makes us Christian is a knowledge too deep for words, a knowledge we didn't ask for, but which has been given to us, that all the time, through all the despair, someone is walking with us, and leading us to a shelter, to a home of love and mercy. This is called being poor in spirit, and it is a blessed way of life. So much more rewarding than knowing it all and boasting of certainties. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

University Challenge, question one for the College of St.Cyprian. What are the first recorded words of Jesus in the Gospel according to St.John?  It is a remarkable thing that the first words of Jesus, the lamb of God, in one of the greatest spiritual documents of all time, St.John's Gospel, are those we heard today. Jesus turns, and he says to the two disciples who are following him, What are you looking for? Not a statement about himself, I am a prophet, I am the son of God, nothing like that. We hear a direct question, face to face. What are you looking for? That is the first question which Jesus asks us, when we meet him in the Gospels. We are in his story, just as he is in ours. Christianity is not a historical study, it's a living religion which will call our lives into question at every turn of the year. It is through that questioning, those questions about what we really want to be, that nagging, that refusal to let us go, that God chooses us to be his disciples, and invites us to see where he lives. Questions and doubts about God do not mean we are losing our faith; they are signs that God is drawing us further into the mystery of Himself. He said to them, 'come and see'. What are you looking for? In the monastic life, in the Cistercian order, that is the question which the abbot asks each novice at the clothing ceremony at the beginning of the monastic life: What is it that you seek? The ritual answer is 'The mercy of God, and of the Order'.

Today's three readings tell us about the wonders of the life which God calls us to come and see. In Isaiah's servant song, the servant speaks of his calling, his training and his mission. St.Paul speaks of the 'strengthening' which God gives to those he has called, and the fellowship we can find with others because we are part of something greater than ourselves. And St.John talks about meeting Jesus and how we, like St.John the Baptist, can come to see him not just as a teacher, but as a Saviour. Andrew says to Simon, We have found the Messiah. And we're still in chapter one of St.John's Gospel, a very good place to start. The Messiah, the long-awaited one, is walking with us.


God has perfect timing. This is the time of the year when our New Year resolutions begin to look a little ragged. All those plans for a new you, to run a mile and jump a stile, and say no to two for one offers; there are words for you in Isaiah today: I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and for vanity. I think we often see religion as if it were a new year regime of exercises that will make us better. But we find ourselves back at the beginning again, even more unfit, older but none the wiser. So it's just as well it's not up to us. God has made a New Year resolution. God's resolution every year is to come among us and help us to live our lives as we should and in His service. We are like those two disciples, who followed a man called Jesus, who was pointed out to them as the Lamb of God. He says to us, What are you looking for? Maybe we just want to know if it's true, and we answer with a question of our own: where do you live? And Jesus replies with a great summons to life and to faith: “come and see”.