The first words of Jesus, according to John’s Gospel, might be mistaken for those of a hardware store clerk, a produce manager, or a father who inadvertently discovers his 12-year-old rummaging through the liquor cabinet.

‘What are you looking for?’ Jesus asks two strangers, who had started tailing him at the behest of the much better-known, and admirably self-aware, co-reformer John the Baptist. It is a question whose subject – you – betrays the heart of a man and of a father whose main concerns lie beyond them.

This first question is soon followed up with Jesus’ first command. It is not to bow down and worship, it is not to go to church, or even to be nice to your mother. Jesus first command is actually a gracious invitation, “Come and See.”
These first words begin to paint for John, and for us, Christianity’s picture of God. This isn’t a god who’s out to test, torture, or frustrate us – though it may seem so at times – No, this is a God who desires, above all, to serve and to love – to invite and to welcome you and me.
At this time of year, called Epiphany, which means ‘manifestation,’ this Sunday’s Gospel manifests God’s nature to us. We are reminded that God is, at the core, self-giving and kind-hearted. And when we sign on to follow Jesus, we are asked to behave in the same way.

In what ways might our interaction with the world be characterized by service and love – by gracious invitation and radical welcome?  Christmas is the seminal proclamation that the monopoly of love is being broken. The world no longer relies solely on God’s grace and kindness – but on the grace and kindness God has put into our hearts to go out and share with the world.

Reading
The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work - Alain de Botton
The Liturgical Year - Joan Chittester
Crush It! - Gary Vanyerchuk