A couple of weeks ago I was at an Aggie baseball game with one of our preschoolers and her family.  She looked at me with those bright eyes that make preschoolers so much fun and said, “I know something that you don’t know.”  She wasn’t taunting me or bragging.  There wasn’t a mean syllable in her expression. 

I knew exactly what she was saying, so I played right along, “What is it?” I asked. 

She leaned into my ear and whispered, only it wasn’t quite a whisper, “We made my mom a cake for her birthday! But you can’t tell her. It’s a secret.”  It was such a great secret that she was having the hardest time not telling someone, anyone, everyone – except her mom. 

I wonder if Jesus ever had an expression like my little friend, an expression that communicated, “I know something that you don’t know, but I’m dying to tell you.”

We’ve been focusing on the 8 Jesus Habits during the Lenten Season.  The series was developed after I was introduced to a book by Christopher Maricle entitled, The Jesus Priorities.  The book was written with one question in mind, “What did Jesus consistently say and do during his public ministry that would be instructive for us?”  One of those habits that Jesus had was Spreading the Word.  Thirty six times he is reported doing this.  He knew something that others did not and he wanted desperately to tell them.  Sometimes he told them boldly, sometimes in a large crowd, but the times that draw me in most are the intimate times, when it was just Jesus and a few others.  Such is the case with today’s scripture found in John 1:35-41.  Hear now the Word of the Lord:

³⁵The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, ³⁶and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”

³⁷The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸When 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?” ³⁹He 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. ⁴⁰One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). 

This is the word of God for the people of God.  In this passage John reminded his readers of the intimate beginnings of Jesus’ public ministry.  As we look at this scripture we realize that some things are too good to keep to ourselves.  Jesus knew this.  He modeled this by the many times that he focused on spreading the word, and extending the kingdom. Notice in this passage how Jesus does this as he enlists followers, entertains guests, and expands the guest list.
 

Jesus Enlists Followers

John’s story is a great story of Jesus and John the Baptist being in the same area.  John looked up and selflessly pointed his disciples toward Jesus saying, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”  This is a curious expression, because the title, Lamb of God, points all the way back to Genesis when Abraham was going up the mountain to sacrifice his son, Isaac.  You may remember that an angel stopped him and pointed Abraham to the lamb provided by God.  Howard Vos wrote in his commentary, “Jesus is the lamb for all of us Isaacs.”  The disciples were at the very least curious, and perhaps even inspired.  The word translated, “follow” means “to give oneself to another”.  They had just changed rabbis, or at least were hoping to do so.  Jesus turned toward them and spoke the first words recorded in the Gospel of John.  The King James Version uses only three words to translate the three words in the Greek scriptures, “What seek ye?”  These three words are so personal, so intimate, so interesting.  What seek ye, what are you looking for?  The word translated, “seek”  means “to seek in order to find, to crave, or to strive after.”  It is not just looking around, it refers to a definite search.

Last week I had the chance to go on my annual jaunt to Florida where I saw as many Spring Training games as possible – nine in four and a half days.  One of the places I love to go is Tiger Town in Lakeland.  The first time I took Zac there years ago, he walked over to the bushes and found a baseball that had been fouled off and undiscovered.  Ron, my friend of forty years, accompanies me to every Spring Training vacation.  Ever since that day he walks over to those bushes and looks all around, certain that he will uncover a baseball.  He has yet to repeat Zac’s good fortune, but he still looks.  If I were to ask Ron, “What seek ye?”  He would have a clear answer.  He is seeking in order to find, not just looking around in some sort of vague way.

These are the two disciples of John, seeking in order to find.  They are looking for, indeed, craving the Messiah for their lives.  So they leave their friend and mentor John, whose mission is to point people to Jesus, and Jesus notices that they are searching and asks them, “What seek ye?”  They ask him where he is staying, wanting to spend some time with him.  That’s when he enlists followers with a simple invitation, “Come and see.”  He had some news that he was dying to tell them.  Some things are too good to keep to yourself.
 

Jesus Entertains Guests

So they are invited to come to where Jesus was staying and they remained with him that day.  John Calvin commended these followers when he wrote, “There are many who merely sniff at the Gospel from a distance and thus let Christ suddenly disappear and whatever they have learned about him slip away.”  These followers went to where Jesus was staying and stayed with him all day and their lives were changed.

Last semester I participated in the Journey to Christ ministry that Guy Pry and Mort Kothmann facilitate.  One of the nights we focused on this scripture.  We read it the first time and were asked what we noticed about this passage.  We read it a second time and were asked what we thought God was trying to tell the church through this scripture.  Then we read it a third time and were asked what we thought Christ was inviting us to do this week through this scripture.  I knew instantly what I needed to do.  I needed to have afternoon tea with the Savior.  Every day at 4:00 in the afternoon I was to stop and spend some time in prayer.  It was an oasis that awaited me all that week.  Seven days of stopping what I was doing and resting in the presence of Christ.  Doesn’t that sound wonderful?  Why is then that it became so hard to do?  There was always something else that I needed to be doing.  What was intended to be a daily gift, I turned into a daily guilt trip.  It seemed as though Jesus was sitting at the table waiting for me to join him with a cup of tea, coffee, a soda, or whatever and spend some time with him and I forgot all about it.

John was specific about what time it was in the afternoon and that he told us that they stayed the day with Jesus.  Howard Vos wrote, “This never to be forgotten day ends with the two disciples of John staying with Jesus.”  What a beautiful, intimate image.  Just imagine Jesus at the table with them and all of them talking deep into the night like our youth did with each other this week in Mexico and my friend and I did this week in Florida.  Imagine Jesus at the table with you entertaining you as a guest.  What does he want to tell you?  What do you need to hear? What seek ye?  Spend some time with the Savior.  When you do, listen, I am certain that he wants to spread the word even today.  Some things are just too good to keep to yourself.
 

Jesus Expands the Guest List

There seemed to be something about Jesus that made others want to spread the word too.  This passage begins with John the Baptizer doing that and it ends with Andrew finding Peter and announcing, “We have found the Messiah.”  It is the nature of the Christian experience that those who enjoy it, however partially, desire to share it with others.  Christopher Maricle draws into this discussion the parable of the Great Banquet that Jesus told in Matthew 22 and Luke 14.  The parable tells of the King wanting his house to be full.  Servants are sent out more than once to invite more and more people to the banquet.  It is as though the guest list is always expanding.  Maricle wrote, “The servants are not too judge worthiness, they simply invite others.”  There is always an extra ticket to this banquet, always room for others to meet the Messiah, so Andrew found his brother, Peter. The Gerasene who had been cleansed of a legion of demons was given an extra ticket in Man Mark 5:19-20 and told to tell others what God had done for him.

Friday afternoon was my last game for Spring Training.  My friend had to fly home to Ohio for a family funeral, leaving me with his ticket.  I stood out in front of the stadium trying to sell it and later tried to give it away.  It was one of those printed tickets from the computer that costs a lot more and looks a lot less than the official tickets.  People were looking at me suspiciously as I offered them the ticket.  After about 30-40 minutes I went into the stadium with an extra ticket and felt like I was wasting something.  Have you ever had that happen to you?  I know some of you have, because I have gotten calls right up to game time by some church members who have an extra ticket and don’t want it to go to waste.  I am happy to serve.  I know that having an extra unused ticket is an uncomfortable situation.

Here’s the situation, friends, we have an extra ticket.  We have good news of a God who cares deeply for us, of a savior who truly was dying to tell us what he knew that we did not – God loves you, desires for you to a meaningful and fulfilling life, and wants to spend eternity with you.  He has gone to great extremes to facilitate this reality and to tell people about it.

“I know something that you don’t know,” she said and I knew right away that she wanted to tell me.  I want that to be me.  I want to be so excited about spending the day with Jesus that I invite others.  Jesus made it quite clear that some things are just too good to keep to yourself.  He knew something we didn’t know and he was dying to tell us.  Amen.