"It matters a great deal who is going to win, but not at all who won"
What do you want?
When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” John 1:38Imagine, Jesus turning to you and asking you, “What do you want?” How would you reply? Andrew and Peter were encountering Jesus for the first time. John the Baptist had just pronounced, “Look, the Lamb of God!” and Peter and Andrew wanted to know more. (If you have time, read the account of the meeting, John 1:35-42). Is it significant that the first words of Jesus that this gospel records are: “What do you want?” We may ask why did Jesus need to ask the question when he knows everything? Is it because Jesus wanted Andrew and Peter (and us) to tell him what is in our heart?
Annabel Robinson suggests that it is a question that Jesus asks all of us. It makes us articulate our need. It is where our relationship with Jesus begins. It also shows him the level at which we want to interact with him. I know a sports chaplain who regularly asks athletes, “What can pray for you?” The answers vary: “that I am free from injury”; “that I make the starting line-up”, “for an opportunity to share Jesus with a team-mate”; “to grow in my relationship with Jesus”. None of them are bad answers but they may give an indication of what the athletes’ deepest desires are.
At the beginning of 2013, imagine Jesus shows up at training today. (Actually you don’t have to imagine it because Jesus usually shows up at practice – it’s just that you are sometimes too pre-occupied to notice!) He turns to you and asks: “What do you want in 2013?” How will you answer? Don’t tell me. Tell him!