"pointing To Jesus"

“Pointing to Jesus”

John 1:6-8, 19-29

Many thanks to Adam Hamilton’s book: “Prepare the Way for the Lord” for helping guide me in this sermon.

John the Baptist is famous for many things, but his most important role is to point away from himself and toward Jesus.

In our Gospel Lesson for this morning, John points out Jesus as “the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

And so, he gives insight, right at the very beginning of John’s Gospel, into how things will end and why.

Jesus will die a sacrificial death for the world's sins.

And sure enough, Jesus’ death occurs in the afternoon when the Passover lambs are killed in the Temple.

Jesus is the TRUE Passover Lamb, and John wants us to understand these things about Jesus as a new and better Exodus story.

Just as God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, God was now getting new people out of even older and darker slavery.

But who are these new people?

In the original Exodus story, Israel is rescued from the dark powers of the world, which in that case meant the Egyptians under Pharaoh.

But now, God’s Lamb is going to take away the sin of the world itself.

John 1:12-13 says: “to all who did receive him (referring to Jesus), to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor human decision or a parent’s will, but born of God.”

This means everybody--not just those with a particular family tree or fantastic achievement.

Over and over in the Gospels, we see the ancient people of God, especially their rulers and self-appointed guardians of tradition, missing the meaning of what Jesus is doing, while people on the margins, outside the boundaries, get the point and find themselves forgiven, healed and born anew by God’s transforming love.

This is what John the Baptist wants us to get when he points Jesus out as God’s lamb, taking away the world’s sin.

People thought John the Baptist might be the Messiah, but he constantly said that he was not the one, but someone much more significant than he was on His way.

Nearly everyone respected and admired John, yet he was unwilling to point to himself.

In John Chapter 3, John’s disciples start getting jealous of Jesus.

They come running up to him saying, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

And I love John’s response.

He says: “He must become greater; I must become less.”

What if this were our goal in life?

Perhaps it is.

When we humble ourselves and point to Jesus through our actions, kindness, thoughts, prayers, words, and lives…this is when we are most happy…this is when we are most alive.

It quite literally is the fruit of our repentance…

…the reason we were created…

…the only thing that can truly satisfy us and enable us to live into whom we are supposed to be.

It is the answer to the problems of the world and the problems in our minds.

It frees us to be truly human and to love God and our fellow human beings.

Notice how John the Baptist is first described in John’s Gospel?

Verses 6-8 say, “There was a man sent from God named John.

He came as a witness to testify concerning that light so that through him, all might believe.

He was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.”

One night I was awakened by the light of a full moon shining through my window in the middle of the night.

It was bright enough to see our yard outside by its light.

I’ve been told that if you look at the moon through a telescope and the right lens, you can see the mountains on the moon, the edges of the craters, and even the American flag—okay, not the American flag, but fantastic views of the mountains and craters.

But if you do this, you must use a specific filter.

If you don’t have a filter on the lens, you’ll hurt your eyes if you look too long because the moon is so bright.

Yet the moon doesn’t produce light; it only reflects it.

This was the role of John the Baptist.

And this is to be our role as well.

In our Gospel lesson, something extraordinary is happening.

God is coming to deliver, rescue, ransom, and redeem humankind.

To make Himself known to us.

To show us mercy and grace and to offer us eternal life.

John came to testify about this light, to witness to Christ’s light, to announce that the kingdom of heaven was near, that someone more significant than he was coming who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.