Before the coffee kicks in, before the phone lights up with everyone else’s needs, there’s a quiet moment most mornings where your heart is reaching for something. Often we don’t stop long enough to notice what.
In John’s Gospel, the very first words Jesus speaks are a question about exactly that.
“And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?” (John 1:37–38, KJV)
Two young men had been following John the Baptist. When John pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb of God!”, they started walking after Him. They didn’t have a plan. They probably didn’t have a speech ready. They just followed, a few steps behind, the way you might trail someone you’d like to meet but aren’t sure how to approach.
And Jesus turned around.
That’s worth sitting with for a second. He didn’t wait for them to work up the courage. He didn’t make them catch up. He turned, saw them, and spoke first.
The question underneath the question
“What seek ye?” isn’t a gatekeeper’s question. Jesus isn’t asking for their credentials. He’s inviting them to name what they actually want.
It’s a question that goes deeper than it first sounds. Some of us, if we’re honest, are seeking relief: for the anxiety to stop, for the bill to get paid, for the diagnosis to change. Some of us are seeking approval, or a sense that our life adds up to something. Some of us are just tired and want someone to tell us it will be all right.
Jesus doesn’t scold any of those answers. But He asks the question so that we’ll look at what we’re carrying, and bring it to Him instead of keeping it vague and heavy.
Notice what the two disciples answer. Not “healing,” not “answers,” not “a better week.” They say, “Where dwellest thou?” In other words: Where do You live? Can we be where You are?
They didn’t really want a thing from Him. They wanted Him.
Come and see
Jesus’ reply is beautifully simple: “Come and see.” And John adds a small detail he clearly never forgot: “They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour” (John 1:39, KJV). Decades later, he still remembered the time of day. That’s what an encounter with Jesus does. It becomes the hour everything else gets measured from.
You don’t need to have your seeking sorted out before you come to Him. These men didn’t. They just followed, and He turned toward them. Jesus later put it as a promise: “Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7, KJV).
A Thursday morning practice
Before the day gets loud, try letting Jesus ask you His question. Sit for a minute and hear it as if He’s turned around on the road just for you: What seek ye?
Answer honestly. Name the worry, the hope, the longing. Then, if you can, add the disciples’ answer: Lord, more than anything I want to be where You are today.
You may still carry the same tasks into this Thursday. But you won’t carry them alone, a few steps behind someone who never looks back. You’ll walk with the One who turned around, saw you, and said, “Come and see.”