homily notes: 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

"What are you looking for?"


If I asked you that question, you could have any number of answers: a place to sit in the church, a page in your missalette so you know which words to say, your cell phone ...


But when Jesus asks that question it takes on a whole new meaning, a deeper meaning.
It goes to the heart of today's gospel. But let's start at the beginning ...


We find ourselves with two disciples of John the Baptist. What were they thinking about the course of their lives. They were following this man, this prophet who was preaching repentance. We don't know how long they had followed him or how well they knew him, but when he points out Jesus, they immediately go after him.


"Behold the Lamb of God" - what does this mean? It's not about a cute little animal. These men would have associated the lamb with sacrifice, a sacrifice offered to God for the forgiveness of sins. What does that mean about Jesus? We know that, in the end, Jesus does offer himself for our sins. He gives himself as the lamb that was slain. But these two disciples don't.


Yet they still go after Jesus. And when they come up to him, he asks them a question: "What are you looking for?"


How would we respond? This is a question far beyond, "what do you want? why are you following me?" It asks, "what is your desire? what are you seeking for you life?"


We're faced with that same question - when you come to mass, what are you looking for? When you go to confession, what are you looking for? When you cry out to God with a prayer for a sick loved one or a bad situation, what are you looking for?


The answer is God. He is the answer to our every desire. He is the solution to the problems of our life. We are made with this desire - it's built into our very being. In the famous words of St. Augustine, "our hearts are restless until they rest in you."


The two disciples had the right answer to this question. They didn't respond to Jesus with, "what's the meaning of life? what should we do? give us some orders?" They asked, "where are you staying?" They realized that, to find what they were looking for, they needed to be near Jesus.


That is our answer as well. If we want to find what we're looking for, we have to stay close to Jesus. We receive him in the Eucharist, we find his forgiveness in confession. In the sacraments and prayers of the Church, we come close to Jesus.


At the end of the Gospel, we hear about a man named Simon being brought by Andrew, his brother, to Jesus. And Jesus gives him a new name: cephas, the Aramaic word for Rock - where we get the name Peter.
Right at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus calls Peter and sets him as the rock that will be the foundation of his Church.


This is the reality we live in - we are seeking, we are looking for something - and the place to find what we truly desire is here in the Church he established.


What are we looking for? We're looking for God. Let's go to where we can find him.