So imagine this scene: You and a friend (whoever you want it to be) are sitting with John the Baptist (JB) listening to him talk about how unique yesterday was when he was baptizing all those people and especially the young man from Galilee. You were there and it was overwhelming as something happened that you find way to hard to explain. So here you are enjoying this conversation with JB, reminiscing about yesterday and then he pauses and then emotionally says, "Look, there is the Lamb of God!" So you and your friend slowly turn from JB and you decide to follow this man named Jesus.
So you and your friend are walking together with Jesus and it is pretty quiet when all of a sudden, Jesus stops, turns to you both and says, "what do you want?" Now pause. We will come back to this story in a second. How would you answer that question? There is something powerful about this man but you can't put your finger on it and your mentor has told you to follow after Him and now you find yourself with a question in your face..."what do you want?" How would you answer that? I say let your mind go with this for awhile. Ok...now let's look at the Biblical story from John 1:29-39:
Of all the answers they could give in that moment, they respond with "where are you staying?" Wait, really? Jesus says, "what do you want" and they say, "where are you staying?" Haha. Ummmm, that seems weird. Or is it? Maybe that answer is the best answer to give. Like, instead of getting something from Jesus they want to hang out with Jesus. David Platt asked this question to his congregation a few years back that rocked my boat and has been a question I wrestle with almost on a daily basis. "Would you take the promises of God without the presence of God?" I must confess that there are days that I would take the blessings regardless of His Presence and that grieves me that I fall there at times. I love Moses though, he says, "I am not going anywhere without Your Presence, even if it is the Promise Land." That is our aim friends. I'm not sure the disciples knew what they were asking but I believe that their question caused Jesus to smile as He said, "come and see." And then I love this added statement, it was about 4 in the afternoon when they went with Him to the place where He was staying and they remained with him the rest of the day (and might I add, for the rest of their lives!). Real quickly I laugh at this part of the story because it wasn't even Jesus' home. He was staying as a guest as He invited other guests to this person's home...haha.
I must be honest here, I chuckled at their response to "what do you want?" and now i find myself thinking, oh my goodness, that has to be the best answer ever!!! Jesus, where are you staying because we want to hang out with you. Think about how powerful that is friends. It is like saying to God, "we don't give a rip about the blessings and the promises to come...we just want to be with YOU." That response, I must declare, moves the heart of God. To say in the depth of our hearts, "we just want to hang out with you Jesus" is so perfect. It is so moving! It is the start of our beautiful relationship with Him. And my favorite part is that when we start hanging out with Jesus just to be with Him, it leads us to being consumed with His Presence! So let me shout loudly, if Jesus ask you personally "what do you want?" make your answer simple and true by replying, "I just want to be with You." It is life-changing!!!
