THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
January 16, 2005
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
The Rev. M. Anthony Seel, Jr.
John 1:29-41
"Finding the Lamb of God"
In 1961, one of the abiding symbols of the Cold War and Communism went up between East and West Germany. On November 9, 1989, that symbol came down.
When I was in Dallas a year ago last October, I saw two sections from the Berlin Wall. It was a somber and moving moment to stand before such witnesses to history. Large, concrete segments of the Berlin Wall have been sold and transported to a number of different sites around the world. These sections stand as silent witnesses to a tragic period of oppression for millions of the world’s peoples.
Eddie Fox, the general secretary of World Methodist Evangelism was in Prague, Czechoslovakia after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the communist governments of Eastern Europe. There he observed a sign that went up the very first day after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It read: The Lamb Wins!
Fox notes: Not the bear, not the lion, not the tiger. But the Lamb -- the lamb wins!
[As quoted by Dr. Hal Brady, Dallas, 21 May 1995.]
The lamb is usually a sign of gentleness and timidity, prone to disaster from many hazards. But for Christians, the lamb is a sign of victory. In today’s lesson, John the Baptist attaches the title “Lamb of God” to Jesus. While all of the gospels record the baptism of Jesus by John, each does so in a different way. As we might expect, John’s version is the most different of the four gospels. John writes,
vv. 29-31 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ’After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be reveal to Israel."
On the day after Jesus was baptized, John the Baptist saw Jesus walking toward him and exclaims that Jesus is the Lamb of God. While the expression Lamb of God has passed into regular Christian usage, as New Testament scholar Leon Morris points out, it is not at all clear what it means exactly. This phrase only appears in this chapter of the Gospel of John. We see it in verse 29, verse 36 and no where else.
The great scholar St. Jerome one day toward the end of his life was encountered by Jesus. He gazed at Jesus for a moment and then asked, “Lord, what do you want from me?” Jesus said nothing, and continued to look lovingly upon his faithful servant. The silence disturbed Jerome greatly.
“Lord,” Jerome insisted, “what do you want of me? My writings are all yours, my mind and my gift for languages are all yours, my piety and prayer life – they are all yours.”
“Jerome,” Jesus said, “I have all these things already. I want what you have kept from me. Give me your sin.”
Giving God our sin can be the hardest part of the Christian faith. It means that we have to admit that even our best efforts fall short of God’s righteousness. John the Baptist understood at some level that the Lamb of God would be sacrificed for the sin of the world. Perhaps John the Baptist is referring to the lamb of the Jewish sin offering. The Passover lamb is not a sin offering, but this is another possibility for interpretation. Possibly the Lamb of God of John the Baptist should be understood by the Church that lives after Christ’s resurrection as the conquering lamb of the Book of Revelation. Or is He the gentle lamb led off to slaughter in the prophecies of Jeremiah (11:19)? There are so many possibilities.
There is one certainty at least in our gospel reading. John the Baptist himself admits that Jesus ranks ahead of him, and while John had been looking for the Messiah, he did not know who he was until God revealed it to him. The sign that indicated to John the identity of Jesus is mentioned in the next verse.
vv. 32-34 And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ’he of whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."
John the Baptist testifies that he saw the Spirit of God descend from heaven like a dove and come to rest on Jesus. John reiterates that before this happened he did not know that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. Now he understands that it is Jesus that he has been preparing the world to receive.
vv. 35-39 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" And he said to them, "Come and you will see." So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.
With 3,104 guest rooms, the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee is the largest combined hotel and convention center under one roof in the world. Inside the hotel complex there are nine acres of lush indoor gardens, winding pathways and sparkling waterfalls. For example, the Garden Conservatory contains greenery-lined walkways, secluded park benches, a waterfall, fountains, restaurants and shops. The Cascade Conservatory has a four-story waterfall, a revolving lounge, a seafood restaurant, and a laser-enhanced fountain show. The Delta area features a waterfall that flows into an indoor river that is home to flatboats that wind around a New Orleans-themed island.
We may not opt for anything as opulent as the Opryland Hotel when we travel, but it is wise for us to book a reservation somewhere so that we aren’t left to find a dive with paper-thin walls, peeling wallpaper and a lumpy bed. When Andrew and friends asked Jesus where he was staying Jesus replied, “Come and see.” They stayed with him for the whole day, and at it turned out, they stayed with Him the rest of their lives. The very definition of a disciple is one who stays with Jesus wherever that stay may be.
On the third day of this story, John sees Jesus once more, and he again identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God. This intrigues his followers. What could John mean? Someone versed in the Old Testament might recall the lamb that God provided when Abraham and Isaac went up on the Mount of Moriah (Gen. 22). Some see the Lamb of God as a subtle reference to the suffering servant that we find in Isaiah’s prophecies. Maybe Lamb of God is meant to signify the horned ram that leads a flock of sheep.
The truth is that there are so many possibilities, but what is clear is that the Lamb of God is the Messiah sent by God to bring judgement to the wicked and deliverance to the righteous. As we were last week, again we are at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. In today’s lesson, John the Baptist is pointing his followers toward Jesus. Two of them are curious enough that they begin to follow Jesus and Jesus notices them and asks them a question. This is the first question that Jesus asks in the Gospel of John and it is a good one. It still has relevance. "What are you seeking?"
It is quite possible that they, like many of us, didn’t know what they wanted or what they were looking for. What is it that any of us seek and find in Jesus? Perhaps there is a vague sense in us that we want what most people want: a comfortable lifestyle, good health, and maybe children who are successful. We want security for our golden years and to have some fun along the way. And hopefully, along that same way we can be of help to others that we meet.
Maybe we want nothing at all. I recall one of the scenes in Field of Dreams when Iowa corn farmer Ray Kinsella goes to Fenway Park with reclusive author Terrence Mann. Kinsella asks Mann, “What do you want?” To which, Mann answers, “I just want to be left alone.” Kinsella points to a concession stand and explains that he was asking whether or not Mann wanted any food or drink.
Maybe you feel like Terrence Mann; you just want to be left alone. The problem for the Christian is that Jesus doesn’t just leave us alone. When we are first intrigued by Him, he beckons us further with a simple invitation, “Come and see.” When we have chosen to be His follower, He sends us into places and situations that we never would have chosen for ourselves. Chances are, for most of us, we’re not going to be staying at the Opryland Hotel when we are on the road with Jesus.
In April of 1963, the Rev. Martin Luther King was invited to stay in a place that was not of his choosing. King was in Birmingham, Alabama for a series of civil rights protests. The police commissioner “Bull” Connor had King arrested on Good Friday along with 54 other marchers for “parading, demonstrating, boycotting, trespassing and picketing. King was parked in the Birmingham Jail where he was singled out for isolation and denied the chance to make phone calls or the legal right to talk to his lawyers.
He had no mattress or linen, and ended up sleeping on metal slats. Over the Easter weekend, in solitary confinement, down in what was called “the hole,” Martin Luther King was staying with Jesus. It was while he was locked up that King penned one of the most significant Christian documents of the civil rights movement. Surprisingly, his “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” was not addressed to abusive police officers or racist politicians, but to a group of white, liberal clergymen who were urging people to withdraw from the demonstrations which they called “unwise and untimely.”
King responded strongly to their criticism and rebuked them by saying “we must use time creatively and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.” He pointed out that “it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, “Wait.” His letter was a stirring condemnation of those who would do nothing in the face of so much injustice directed at blacks.
When Jesus invites us to “Come and See,” He is welcoming us into a life that is abundant with meaning and purpose, but He is not necessarily inviting us into a life free from conflict or turmoil. Who is this Jesus? One of the hallmarks of our day is the proliferation of alternative views of Jesus. Listen to what Andrew says about Him:
vv. 40-41 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ).
Andrew understands John’s calling of Jesus to be the Lamb of God as a synonym for the Messiah, as we see in verse 41. When we come to understand that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, sent from God, it doesn’t matter where He sends us or what we find in the places where He sends us. Back in 1963, who was really staying with Jesus? Was it the white moderate who was devoted to law and order, or the black radical who used non-violent means to push for justice? Was it the majority who preferred a negative peace based on the forceful control of tensions? Or was it the minority who worked for a positive peace marked by the presence of justice?
Whether it is the Berlin Wall or the Birmingham Jail, wherever Jesus takes us we have nothing to worry about. He may take us to a natural disaster like the recent tsunamis, or to an AIDS hospice. He might lead us to be a part of a demonstration or a mission trip. He may send us to a classroom, a community, a neighbor’s house or a hospital. What matters most is that we go at the direction of Jesus and stay with Him.
You see, the lamb that we follow is the Lamb of God. He is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the Living God. His is the one who calls us to Himself, and the one whose presence transforms our lives. Go with Him and stay with Him. Jesus bids all who encounter Him, “Come and See.”
Let us pray.
Most loving Father, we give thanks for your Son, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. Set us free from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in whose Name we pray. Amen.
