The Readiness is All
2 Epiphany 08
January 20, 2008
Isaiah 49:1-7
John 1:29-42

Jesus tells the disciples who are following him to “come and see.”


I remember a story about Mother Theresa. She rather abhorred publicity, and generally avoided it. But once early in her career a journalist followed her through the streets of Calcutta, asking her what she was doing there. Instead of trying to explain, she said, “Come and see.”


To follow the Lord Jesus Christ is to go into a whole new way of life and to see things in a profoundly different way than we have ever seen them before. We who have been on this road often find ourselves saying things that really make no sense to people who haven’t tried this path. When people ask us to explain ourselves, we are often at a loss. Often all we can say is “come and see.”


When I was a kid, my grandfather George wanted to share his knowledge of tools and repair and the way things worked. He was really talented in these matters. But I was always more ready to put my nose in a book, and I think he found that very frustrating, because he was doubtful about what use those books would ever be, and he knew exactly how useful his knowledge could be.


Well, it turned out that all through my twenties and thirties, I lost untold thousands of dollars because I had not a clue how to fix anything myself. It wasn’t until I came down here that I took a real interest, mostly because I had to. When I found I had the interest, it seemed as if people came into my life to show me what I needed to know.


There’s an old Buddhist adage, “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”


How often are we surrounded by all the teachers we need, but are simply unready to hear them? If I was going to offer a simple definition of sin, I might say it is the inability to be taught.


John the Baptist in this gospel says that the whole reason he went into the wilderness, to that great symbolic boundary line, was to reveal the Messiah. He knew he himself wasn’t the Messiah, but he knew what the Messiah would look like, and he went out preaching baptism, and he knew that by doing that he would reveal the student that was ready for the divine teacher.
Jesus was ready. He was open, he was desirous, his commitment was unconditional.
And the teacher, the Holy Spirit, appeared.


And of course, both Andrew and his brother Simon were also students who were ready. Their teacher, Jesus, appeared, and they followed him. I think there’s a reason we’re not given much insight into exactly what Jesus was teaching or even quite where he was staying.
Jesus just tells them, “Come and see.”


The connection to the divine, if it is to be authentic, must be direct. It can’t be mediated by this or that guru. As Jesus himself said, “many will come saying ‘I am he’.” Yet how do we have such a direct connection unless God himself initiates it? We can’t make God do anything. We can’t obligate him. We can only get ready, and when he comes, we really have no idea what exactly he will require of us. We simply go and see.


Some people here think I am a teacher, that this is my gift. But I actually don’t teach a thing. Many have asked me what the Christian should do in this or that situation. I think a lot of people choose churches on the basis of getting advice about specific life situations. Some preachers trade on that.


But I think my job is not to advise you or direct you or tell you what God’s intention for you is at all. I think my job is to get you ready so that God can tell you himself. My job is to make the student ready, and when you are ready, Jesus will do the rest.


In fact, if I was going to say how I practice my faith, I would say everything I do is designed simply to ready myself for the possibility that God will reveal his will to me and give me the opportunity to carry it out. I practice various disciplines, and all of them simply ready me for God’s rule.


In fact, a lot of Christian life is turning down the volume on all the powerful voices and forces in this world that are trying to tell us what to do.


Getting ready is pretty much the whole job of the disciple. I have found, too, that being ready requires constant work, that to let up on any aspect of the discipleship lets down the whole shebang.


This is the baptismal life. It’s a three-legged stool: fellowship, spiritual discipline and service.


Fellowship at its most basic is gathering to worship God every time the community gathers. But it is also developing relationships with others who are in the community of faith. We have a worship committee who work hard to make sure everything goes right on Sunday mornings. A lot of what the staff does is also about these gatherings. We have a fellowship committee who create opportunities for us to get together outside of worship. We have fellowship organizations in the church for women, men and youth that also gather here at Philippi.


Spiritual discipline is the second leg of the stool. We follow Jesus. We do the things he did. We pray. We wrestle with our demons. We study God’s word. We admit we need God’s help and ask for it frequently. We practice reconciliation in our personal and our public relationships, that is, we work always to forgive and heal relationships. We have an education committee that is currently running about five different programs to help you learn. A lot of our staff’s work is in counseling and spiritual direction.


The third leg of the stool is service to the gospel. We give our time, our talents and our wealth to the mission of the church. My wife and I give ten percent of our gross income to Philippi, about a hundred dollars a week. I also give what I consider an extra ten hours each week above my regular salaried time to ministries of the church. And of course, we try to give our best abilities in the service of our common ministry here.


None of these things guarantee God will do anything. We don’t give God orders, or obligate him to anything. But if we are ready, the teacher is likely to appear.



And if I neglect any one of these three practices, I find that the demands of the world begin to clamor more and more loudly and before you know it I am back in the old country again. The teacher has disappeared.


I really think our whole job as a congregation is to help people get ready so that the teacher, Jesus, can appear to them. All of the committees and the worship services and the classes, all of them are to help us become ready for the teacher Jesus to appear.


Too many churches try to box the kingdom of God and sell it like it was some kind of product, like a Big Mac. Jesus predicted this also, saying, “many there are who are trying to take the kingdom of God by force.” There is no forcing it. There is no single person who can stand and say, “this is it.” Rather, through the practices of our faith, we become ready for the true teacher to appear, and we are never sure exactly what he will say or do.


Another story of Mother Theresa:


Dan Rather once asked her, “What do you say to God when you pray?”


She answered, “I don’t say anything. I just listen.”


But Rather, being the ever-inquisitive reporter, then asked, “Well, what does God say?”


She thought for a moment and then answered: “He doesn’t say anything. He just listens.”


Amen.