Come and See (Lamb of God) - A Sermon - A Sermon for Sunday January 15 2023
GOSPEL: John 1:29-42
The holy gospel according to John.
Glory to you, O Lord.
John the Baptist’s witness to Jesus initiates a chain of testimony as his disciples begin to share with others what they have found.
29[John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!30This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ 31I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
35The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” 37The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. 40One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). 42He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
The gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
These are Jesus’ first words:
What are you looking for?
What are you seeking or searching for?
What are you waiting for?
What do you long for?
Maybe it’s health or hope or happiness.
Maybe it’s more love, more faith.
Maybe you’re looking for answers,
or a more comfortable financial situation.
Our desires are many,
but what is it that you are really looking for?
These two young men hear their leader,
teacher, friend, John the baptizer say
“Look! Here is the Lamb of God!”
They leave John behind,
and they follow Jesus.
Jesus asks them, “What are you looking for?”
And they answer “Where are you staying?”
Their answer may seem odd to us;
“Where are you staying?”
If Jesus turns to me and asks me
“what are you looking for?”
I’m not interested in seeing Jesus’ hotel room,
or more accurately the basement cot
he’s crashing on this week.
Given the chance,
I’d like to come up with something deeper to ask Jesus.
This answer “Where are you staying?”
might just have been a turn of phrase,
but certainly it meant something deeper, like:
“What do you believe?”
or “Where do you stand on the issues of the day?”
or where do you abide?
These disciples of John the baptizer,
like the rest of us
are looking for something deeper.
They want to know,
they want to abide with Jesus,
the one John prepared the way for.
So when Jesus shows up,
these disciples of John are ready.
They repent - they change their direction,
and follow Jesus,
who John calls the Lamb of God.
When people hear “Lamb of God”, Some think of Jesus
Some think of the heavy metal band…
And some think of a sacrificial lamb…
This kind of thinking - the sacrificial lamb -
has lead some Christians
to a belief that Jesus had to die
because God demands sacrificial death
in order to make things right,
to atone for sin.
This kind of thinking, I believe, is dangerous.
I would also say that it is not exactly biblical.
A couple examples:
Although lamb is part of the Passover meal (Exodus 12:21-27)
the lamb was not sacrificed for sin.
Hosea 6:6 - For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings
Psalm 40:6 - Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
Psalm 51:16 - For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
Perhaps most poignant are the words of Jesus himself,
echoing Hosea 6:
“Go, learn the meaning of the words,
what I want is mercy, not sacrifice.”
Matthew 9:13 (and 12:7)
The Song “Lamb of God”
or Agnus Dei that we will sing later declares:
“O Lamb of God you bear the sin of all the world away.
you suffered death our lives to save.
you set us free from guilt and grave,
eternal peace with God you made.
Have mercy now we pray.
Give us your peace, we pray.”
The Lamb of God saves us from death.
The Lamb of God sets us free from captivity.
This is not an angry God image.
This is a passover image.
You might recall the story of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt.
As Moses commands, with deep Charlton Heston voice
“Let my people go!”
Or better, Moses’ brother Aaron speaking it for him!
You might recall the 10 plagues
that rained down on Egypt.
Water turned to blood, Frogs,
Lice, Wild animals & flies,
diseased livestock, Boils,
thunderstorms of hail, locusts,
Darkness for three days,
and, finally, the last plague
is a revisit of Pharaoh’s brutal treatment of Israel:
the firstborn are to die.
But, as this final plague happens,
the Israelites are told
to mark their doorposts with lamb’s blood,
as a sign that will allow the Spirit of the Lord
to allow death to pass over them.
They marked the lintel and two doorposts.
Perhaps they marked their doors with the Hebrew letter
that looks like an n, the chai;
the letter that signifies life.
You can imagine the Israelites
painting their doorposts with this letter of life -
a sign that looks up to God,
death passes over them
and new life comes down.
Passover isn’t really about death:
it is about freedom from captivity,
it is about new life!
So when John the Baptist calls Jesus the Lamb of God,
and when we say that
Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God,
we’re not talking about an angry God who punishes Jesus,
who requires sacrificial death for sin,
rather, we are talking about a new passover;
the gift of freedom and a new life,
from our life-giving God.
We will still die.
We all will die.
Death is even more certain than taxes.
But the sting of death is gone
because of God’s hopeful future.
With Jesus,
given new life,
we are invited to live our lives
without the fear of death.
I’m not saying it’s time for us all to
register in skydiving classes.
Seriously, you don’t even need to take a class
in order to skydive.
As a matter of fact,
you don’t even need a parachute to skydive.
It’s true.
You only need a parachute
if you want to skydive twice.
Bad joke, sorry, but the point stands;
As a passover people,
as a baptized people,
forever connected
- abiding - with the Lamb of God,
we are invited to live our lives
without the fear of death.
Fellow Christians:
Death has no hold on you.
Sin has no hold on you.
Christ holds you.
John the baptizer declares:
Jesus, the Lamb of God, takes away the sin of the world.
For John’s gospel,
sin isn’t so much about morality,
sin is about not being in relationship with God.
Jesus takes away any separation from God,
and just as Jesus abides in God the Father,
so may we abide with God.
Come and see,
Jesus says.
The two disciples came and they saw.
They remained with Jesus that day.
Andrew, Simon-Peter’s brother,
was convinced in that short amount of time that
“We have found the Messiah,
The Anointed One, the Christ.”
It only took a few hours,
being with Jesus,
talking with Jesus,
seeing where he is staying,
For Andrew to be convinced that Jesus is the Saviour
that Israel has been waiting for.
longing for,
seeking for,
looking for:
that Jesus is the God that we need.
Andrew is so sure of this
that he seeks out his brother late in the day.
At 4 O’clock in the afternoon,
he begins his trek to find his brother,
risking a loss of daylight
because this kind of good news simply cannot wait
until tomorrow.
Andrew was looking for something,
searching for something,
longing for something:
and it found him.
Andrew knew that his brother, Simon,
was also looking for something.
Simon, too, came and saw Jesus,
and it changed more than Simon’s name:
it changed their lives:
they received new life.
Whatever it is that you are looking for,
whatever it is you are seeking,
whatever it is that you need;
Jesus offers you the same invitation:
come and see.
With Jesus we will find hope,
love unmeasured,
the gifts of healing, wholeness,
freedom and new, abundant life.
In Jesus we find more
than we could ever ask or imagine.
But it wont be on our terms,
it wont be abundant life
in the way our world desires.
If we are looking for more money,
and happen to find it,
expect Jesus to invite us to be generous with it.
If we are looking for comfort,
expect to be called out of our comfort zone,
for Jesus comes to comfort the afflicted,
and to afflict the comfortable.
This Gospel is for you and your own benefit,
and for the good of the crowd,
for the many,
for all.
So following Jesus might mean leaving something behind.
John’s disciples had to leave John behind
in order to follow Jesus.
Perhaps we too have something
that we will need to leave behind
in order to follow.
Maybe it is the fear of death
that we need to leave behind.
Maybe it is our desire to let some people in our doors
and keep others out.
Maybe it is those things we trust in above God;
like our wealth or career,
that medication or that website
or that whole long list of things
we desire more than God.
Maybe we need to leave
our apprehensions and our assumptions behind,
and ask anew: “Jesus, where are you staying?”
Maybe like Andrew, we need to leave our insecurity behind
or leave comfort behind
and extend Jesus’ invitation to another,
to invite them to come and see.
Many of us have heard Jesus’ invitation before:
Come and see,
and maybe we are the ones
who need to come and see all over again.
The invitation is for you,
for your neighbours,
for your family,
for your friends:
What are you looking for?
Are you looking for some kind of
meaning or purpose in your life?
Come and see.
Are you looking for real faith, real hope, real love?
Come and see.
Are you looking for health or healing?
Come and see.
Are you looking for God?
God is in the flesh of Jesus;
come and see.
Are you longing for forgiveness, mercy,
Are you longing for happiness,
Are you longing for inspiration?
Whatever it is that you are looking for,
Come, and see.
Come and see.
Thanks be to God. Amen!
