But Jesus asked, “What do you want?”
John 1:35-38 The following day [after his baptism by John the Baptist] John was again standing with two of his disciples. As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and declared, “Look! There is the Lamb of God! When John’s two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus. Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you want?” he asked them.
Have you played the game Twenty Questions? When I was a child, my siblings and I entertained ourselves on long car trips playing this. A person thinks of an object, and the others try to guess it through asking fewer than twenty questions. The first question is, “Animal, vegetable, or mineral?” to narrow the field.
Jesus’ first question of two men following him also narrowed the field. They could have responded a zillion ways to the question, “What do you want?”
What do you want?
If Jesus showed up in your living room today asking this question, what would you answer?
Jesus is still, two thousand years later, asking this question. I invite you to take a few minutes to respond. And even to write down your answer. Think about it now. What do you really, really want?
Next time, I’ll share a few of my responses. I would love for you to share too.
Debra Kornfield 