Sunday, January 18, 2026
John 1:29-42
There’s a funny line I remember from the famous sit com, Friends. Phoebe, the stereotypical “dumb blonde” (played by the brilliant Lisa Kudrow) says something remarkable in this very brief scene. Now, this is late in the 2nd season and takes place actually in the 47th episode of these weekly scenes that have mostly taken place in the coffee shop where the gang hangs out. The coffee shop, you’ll remember, is across from Central Park in New York City and Phoebe suddenly sees the name of the coffee shop on the store front and says, “Oh! Central Perk! I just got that!”
This is funny because it took her 47 episodes to get this seemingly obvious play on words - and maybe half the fans of the show took that long to get it too.
This was an epiphany moment for Phoebe.
I have had moments like that. They seem to come more rapidly the older I get. You know, all of a sudden there is the realization of the double meaning in a logo or a punch line. Like the newsletter at one of the churches I served was called Grace Notes, because the name of the church was Grace. And I’d been there about a year before I said one day, like Phoebe, “Oh! I get it! Like little music notes!”
So, life can be full of big and sometimes very little epiphanies.
In this Year A of the lectionary we skip around a lot. Since the first Sunday of Advent, we have been bouncing back and forth between Matthew and Luke mostly but today we have a passage from John. We’ll spend most of the rest of the season of Epiphany with Matthew and then revisit John quite a bit during Lent.
This can be challenging for the preacher, especially if you were to want to preach on a theme for a few Sundays - like in the old days before the lectionary.
If I were to choose a theme for today, I would talk about Black History Month, or Civil Rights Day or maybe one of those other things January is set aside for. These include: Mental Wellness Month, Poverty Awareness Month, Dry January and, I’ll bet you didn’t know this - Veganuary. I guess that’s when some people try out a vegan diet.
But I’ll stick to the discipline of the lectionary.
This passage takes place on two different days. John the Baptist is a prominent character in the story, but there is no baptism of Jesus in John’s gospel. There is a lot of movement in the first chapter of John. If you read the whole thing it seems like a three ring circus. The disciples are hearing the good news of the coming of the messiah for the first time and the word spreads quickly and everyone is scampering around to get on board and become a disciple. I guess John was trying to get us to realize how important and exciting these early days of the story of Jesus were.
The point of this passage is all about the identity of Jesus. The Gospel of John has already made it clear that Jesus is pre-existent and One with God. We read that part on Christmas Day. Here we are told that the Spirit of God descended and remained upon Jesus and we are provided four titles for understanding Jesus’ identity: Lamb of God, Son of God, Rabbi, and Messiah.
He is the lamb of God - the sacrificial lamb.
He is the Son of God because of his incarnational relationship with God.
He is a rabbi because he is a teacher.
And he is the messiah because he is anointed by God, the One we have waited for.
But what bubbles up for me in this passage is John’s telling of the first words Jesus speaks in the story. In our very first encounter with Jesus, he says two things: He says, “What are you looking for?” and then he says, “Come and see.”
“What are you looking for?”
“Come and see.”
Do you remember when Elvis came to town?
Elvis actually was performing in, I think, Gatlinburg but his people were looking for a place for him to stay which was in a small town where they might get away with hiding him. Jack and Loretta Trayer offered to let him stay in their apartment in the back of the Holiday Inn on Volunteer Parkway. That hotel is now called the Bristol Parkway Inn.
Back in the 70s, after Elvis stayed there, the staff called that apartment in the back the penthouse! - even though it’s only on a third level of that two story building.
My then-teenage-brother was working as a dishwasher back then and volunteered to work late just for the chance to take room service up to the penthouse for Elvis. He was disappointed. No one saw Elvis that weekend but everyone in town knew he was there.
Years later, I had the chance to ask Loretta if that was an exciting time for her and she told me the truth she had been too polite to tell before.
After Elvis had gone, employees or just random people broke into that apartment and took anything they could get. They sold these items on the black market because Elvis had stayed there and possibly touched them. They cut the draperies into 2 inch swatches and sold them. Elvis himself was rude and using drugs and left a mess.
It’s funny what happens when someone famous comes to town.
We certainly live in different times. When Jesus came to the town of Bethany, at the beginning of his ministry on Earth, these followers treated him with respect. They asked him where he was staying, not so that they could ransack the place but because they wanted to see if they could sit at the feet of this rabbi and learn. And Jesus said,
“What are you looking for?” Then answering his own question, he said, “Come and see.”
It is wonderful to worship God, and to praise and worship Jesus. We call this a worship service because it feels good to express our joy in songs and prayers and laughter and reverence. That’s the worship part. But there is that other word Jesus wants of us - service.
How can we become less focused on our idolatry of Jesus and work on following him. How can we be better servants of our Lord? How can we spend more time sitting at the feet of the teacher?
“What are you looking for?”
“Come and see.”
And then, when we have seen it, when we have had our epiphany, then we “get it” and then we see Jesus and then we follow Jesus.
Richard Rohr says that he believes that we are invited to gaze upon the image of the crucified Jesus to soften our hearts toward all suffering, to help us see how we ourselves have been “bitten” by hatred and violence, and to know that God’s heart has always been softened toward us. In turning our gaze to this divine truth—in dropping our many modes of scapegoating and self-justification—we gain compassion toward ourselves and all others who suffer.
History is continually graced with people who somehow learned to act beyond and outside their self-interest and for the good of the world, people who clearly operated by a power larger than their own. The Nelson Mandelas of the world, the Oskar Schindlers, the Martin Luther King, Jrs.
But it is not an enviable position, this Christian thing. Following Jesus is a vocation to share the fate of God for the life of the world. To allow what God for some reason allows—and uses. And to suffer ever so slightly what God suffers eternally.
This story of Jesus calling his disciples is a story which is appointed during the season of Epiphany for a reason. This story is an epiphany. Epiphanies tend to transform people. The disciples who dropped everything to follow Jesus were changed. And we need to accept our call to change too in order to follow him.
This reminds me of an epiphany-induced change that Martin Luther King, Jr. described once in his first book.
Dr. King was in the middle of leading the bus boycotts in Montgomery. He had just finished his PhD through Boston University and had two babies at home. He decided to help with the bus boycotts and soon after published the book which is called Stride Toward Freedom. But like Jesus in Gethsemane, who prayed for God to let that cup of poison pass by him, King was reluctant to take on the level of leadership that was emerging at that time. His home was bombed, his family was in danger, things were getting very heated and he wanted to just go back to being a simple preacher.
So, late one night, his young family sleeping, he sat and prayed over a cup of coffee at his kitchen table. This is how he described that moment in his own words:
I was ready to give up. With my cup of coffee sitting untouched before me, I tried to think of a way to move out of the picture without appearing a coward. In this state of exhaustion, when my courage had all but gone, I decided to take my problem to God. With my head in my hands, I bowed over the kitchen table and prayed aloud.
The words I spoke to God that midnight are still vivid in my memory. "I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But now I am afraid. The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they too will falter. I am at the end of my powers. I have nothing left. I've come to the point where I can't face it alone.
At that moment, I experienced the presence of the Divine as I had never experienced God before. It seemed as though I could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice saying: "Stand up for justice, stand up for truth; and God will be at your side forever." Almost at once my fears began to go. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was changed by this epiphany often referred to as his “vision in the kitchen.”
Those who truly follow Jesus are often changed this deeply.
So friends. “What are you looking for?” Are you looking for Elvis? Some touch of fame or a get rich scheme? Are you looking for salvation? Are you looking for safety? Are you looking for a good feeling after worshiping God?
These are good and righteous things to do and to look for in Jesus, but we are called to more. We are called to follow. We are called to the work of building up the Kingdom of God and we are called to follow all sorts of new paths in our discipleship.
So “come and see.” Come and see what Christ has done in and through those of us who are willing to follow. Like Martin Luther King, Jr., we too are called to a sacrificial following of Jesus. Like Dr. King, we too are called to courageous steps and we too can do what God asks of us.
Come and see. Come and follow. Come and trust that your next steps are the ones you are called to take. Then you will find what you are looking for. Though you may not have even known it.
Amen.
The Rev. Dr. Kathy Kelly
1Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe (Convergent Books: 2019), 152-153.