In response to the rather traumatic death of his father…

some years earlier…

the media personality, Andrew Denton, established an advocacy group…

called “Go Gentle”…

in order to campaign for voluntary assisted dying laws.

The fact that such laws have now been passed in every state––

and should be passed soon in the territories––

probably would not have happened without the enormous amount of work that he and Go Gentle did.

In a recent radio interview, he reflected on the experiences of that national campaign…

which began, here, in South Australia back in two thousand and sixteen.

Prior to that point, the issue had already been debated in our State Parliament fourteen times.

Although public opinion had always been massively in support…

Denton said that he became aware, very quickly, how much power certain groups wielded…

the peak medical bodies, certainly…

but especially the churches.

And while the attitude of medical authorities appears to be changing––

as they experience the legislation in operation––

that of the churches certainly is not.

No sooner had New South Wales passed its legislation––

the final state to do so in May last year––

the Catholic Church’s anti-VAD advocacy group…

ironically named “Hope”…

announced that it was their mission to see these laws repealed ‘bit by bit, state by state’.

Meanwhile, Senator Alex Antic from South Australia… has declared that he is working to purge all the moderates from the state’s Liberal Party––

the sorts of people who helped pass this law––

and to replace them with, quote, “God-fearing conservatives”.

 

Sadly…

religion has always been good at telling us what we ought to believe…

what we ought to think…

and how we ought to live.

Indeed, for too many Christians…

if you don’t believe what they do, then you’re destined for hell.

Is it any wonder, then, that for many people…

being religious–– 

being a Christian–– 

means being a socially-conservative, intolerant, judgmental wowser?

And, frankly, who could blame them for thinking that?

 

Writing perhaps some seventy years or so after Jesus lived…

the community that produced John’s Gospel was not trying to write history.

Rather, they were writing symbolic stories––

stories that were never intended to be read as “realistic” or “factual”––

but stories that invite us to enter in;

to see ourselves in the characters;

to allow the stories to connect with our own experience…

albeit at a much later time and under quite different circumstances.

And, in our reading this morning, that’s what we’re invited to do.

We’re invited to see ourselves in the place of the two disciples of John the Baptist…

one of whom, we discover, was Andrew the brother of Simon Peter.

In this story––

unlike in the other Gospels–– 

Jesus doesn’t go out looking for followers.

He doesn’t go and call them.

He doesn’t ask them to leave behind their boats and their nets…

their homes and their families…

nor does he ask them to give up their way of life.

Far from it!

Rather, here, Jesus is simply walking along, minding his own business.

John the Baptist sees him…

and, the author suggests, he has some sort of insight or revelation about who Jesus is…

and he shares that insight with his own followers.

Whereupon, two of them leave John the Baptist and start following after Jesus.

Later, they go and tell their family and friends… 

and they invite them to come and meet Jesus.

So, in this Gospel, Jesus doesn’t call people to follow him––

rather people come seeking him. 

They come at the invitation of family and friends;

they encounter him through those whom they trust––

through those who offer their personal perceptions and insights… 

and their reflection on their experience.

What they find, in him, they understand through a variety of images, metaphors, and symbols…

which are drawn from their history, their culture, and their experience.

But we don’t get the sense that any one of those images… 

or metaphors… 

or symbols is meant to be binding.

Thus, although John the Baptist describes Jesus as “the lamb of God”…

he’s the only one who does so in this Gospel;

as if to say that all revelation––

all spiritual or religious insight––

is both personal and partial.

After all, our knowledge and experience of God is always shaped and constrained…

by our culture…

by our world-view…

and by our own experience.

Here, John the Baptist has had his own perception and insight––

he draws upon images and traditions that were meaningful for him––

and he also draws upon his own revelatory experience that’s led him to certain conclusions.

But, in the end, it’s his insight;

it’s his experience;

it’s his conclusion––

which he offers to others by way of suggestion.

There’s no sense that it’s imposed or that there’s any compulsion.

Indeed, rather than simply swallowing John’s understanding…

his two disciples follow after Jesus in order to discover for themselves––

in order to understand who Jesus is… 

and who he might be…

and what it might mean for them to follow him.

 

In other words…

what the author of John’s Gospel is describing here is a spiritual journey.

It’s a story about people who are looking––

people who are longing for a deeper dimension to their lives…

who are searching for spiritual awareness…

and who are trying to understand and relate to God;

they have some insight and they go searching for more.

In this story, people seek out Jesus as part of a search or a quest.

They come to Jesus…

and note how Jesus engages them.

He asks, “What are you looking for?”

What is it that you are seeking?

And his response is simply to offer an open invitation–– 

“Come and see”.

Jesus invites would-be disciples to embark on a journey of discovery not knowing the destination;

but a journey where the journey, itself, is what matters.

Jesus invites people to follow and to learn…

to see and to stay.

And, in the end, that is what the author of John’s gospel suggests that faith––

that religion–– 

is really about:

it is, fundamentally, a journey.

It’s not about subscribing to some set of dogmatic beliefs…

nor is it about adhering to some rigid moral code.

It’s a journey of spiritual self-discovery––

a search for deeper truth and insight about God…

a quest for greater awareness of self in relation to God.

Other people can help us on that journey…

by sharing their own insights and experience––

like John the Baptist did for those two disciples…

or like Andrew did for his brother.

Other people can point us in certain directions.

But, in the end, it’s not for them to tell us who God is––

as if theirs is the only correct insight… 

as if only they have true understanding.

Nor is it up to them to tell us how we ought to experience God…

or what we ought to find on our journey…

or even where we ought to end up.

Because, in the end, it’s our journey of faith.

It’s up to each one of us to “come and see” for ourselves.