Epiphany II Year A [John 1:29-42] (15-Jan-2017)

This sermon was preached at St Peter's Lutheran Church, Blackwood, 10am.

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Prayer: Lord God, our heavenly Father, enlighten our darkness with the light of your Holy Spirit, so that I may preach well and we all may hear well, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In the Book of Genesis, we read about the amazing event where God tested Abraham, and asked said to him: Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I tell you. Abraham and Isaac set off, but of course, Isaac doesn’t know what is going to happen. When Abraham and Isaac get to the place, Isaac says to his father: “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” It so turns out that just as Abraham is about to slaughter his son, the angel of God stops him at the last minute. Instead of offering his son, Abraham sees a ram caught in the thicket and he offers it instead.

Now, in our reading today, Jesus is called the Lamb of God.  We read: The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! God himself provides for the whole human race a lamb. He is not just any lamb, but he is God’s lamb, the lamb of God. And this lamb is also God’s son – Abraham does not need to offer his son Isaac, but God the Father offers his own Son, Jesus Christ. And this is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. As it says in John 3:16: God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.

But let’s talk about John the Baptist for a minute. If we read any of the four gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke or John—John the Baptist is there right at the beginning, and he baptises Jesus. And we read that there were many people coming to John from all over the place who were being baptised by him in the river Jordan and they were confessing their sins.

But then Jesus himself also comes to John, and it seems in our reading that he kept coming to John. And if Jesus wanted to come to John, it looks to us like he wanted to confess his sin too. In the gospel of Matthew, we read where John says to Jesus: I need to be baptised by you! It’s as if to say, “What are you doing coming to me?” But Jesus comes to John, not to confess his sins, because he has no sin.

Instead, John points to Jesus and says: Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus has no sin, but he takes away sin, and not just a sin here and there, or a few people’s sin, but the sin of the whole world.

This is amazing thing that John says. In this first chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus is called a few different things—he is called the Word of God, who became flesh. He is also called the light: the true light who enlightens everyone.

But here Jesus is called the Lamb of God. First of all, by calling him a lamb he testifies to the fact that he is pure and without sin. When God gave the commands to his people about the Passover when they were in Egypt, they also had to take a lamb. And God said: Your lamb shall be without blemish. Jesus is completely without blemish—he is completely sinless. Hebrews chapter 4 says that Jesus is someone who is every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. But also, the fact that Jesus is a lamb indicates that he is going to be killed and offered as an offering. John the Baptist is actually pointing forward to his death and his crucifixion. In Isaiah 53, we read about Jesus: Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. Once Jesus has been crucified and offered for the sin of the whole world, John calls him in the book of Revelation: the Lamb that was slain.

But let’s also go back to the Passover, where the people had to kill a lamb. What did they do with it? Well, first of all, they painted its blood on the doors and doorposts, so that when the angel of death passed over their houses, they would be protected from death. And the same goes for us—we don’t paint Jesus’ blood on our doorposts, but in the Lord’s Supper we are given his blood to drink. If the blood of a lamb was such a powerful witness that the angel of death passed over them, how much more powerful do you think it is when the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ himself, is painted within us?

But also, the people of Israel ate the lamb that they had sacrificed. The same thing for us—in the Lord’s Supper, Jesus says: Take and eat, this is my body which is given for you. Everything which Jesus has done on the cross and won for us there, he gives to us in the Lord’s Supper. He, as the Lamb of God, gives us his body and blood to eat and drink. In fact, every Sunday when we come to the Lord’s Supper, what do we sing before we go? We sing: Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us. We actually sing these very words of John the Baptist from our reading today.

But John doesn’t simply say that Jesus is the Lamb of God. But he also says that he is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This Lamb of God is no use to us, if we have no sin. Many people don’t want to recognise their own sin, and don’t think that they are sinners. But when the Lamb of God was sacrificed on the cross, it teaches us two things. First of all, it shows us the depth and the seriousness of our sin, that Jesus should have to suffer such a terrible death. But secondly, it also shows us the great love that Jesus has for us, that he doesn’t want one single little thing to be left unpaid for. He wants to show you that everything has been paid in full, that your sin has been completely taken away.

Sometimes, I’ve heard people say, “how we can we say that Jesus takes away our sin, when I know that I still sin? If I still struggle with sin, and I still find myself sinning, doesn’t that mean that Jesus hasn’t taken it away?” You will struggle against sin for your whole life, and the first time when you will be sinless is when you, as a Christian, die. But what this means is that Jesus takes your sin on his shoulders. He bears it. He shoulders the load. It is not your load anymore, it is his load. Also, it means that he takes it to the cross and he dies for it, he atones for it, he pays for it. All your sin has been dealt with. It’s as if you received a very expensive bill in the post, and you don’t know how you’re going to pay for it – but then a couple of days later, they send you a letter saying that someone else has paid it for you. Well, there’s no need for the old bill anymore—you can put it in the bin, or the shredder. The worry and the burden of it is completely taken away, and so it’s as someone came and physically took away the bill. And then finally, when we do reach the point of death, our life does not simply end there, but Jesus takes us to heaven with him, and in such away that all our sin is taken away and separated from us so that we are pure and perfect, just as he is pure and perfect.

So in the meantime, John the Baptist—and the whole Christian church—points us to Jesus, and says: Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

There is so much more we could say about this little verse by itself, but let’s leave it now and continue on to the rest of the reading.

Last Sunday, the reading was about Jesus’ baptism. And straight after that, we read about how Jesus went out into the wilderness for forty days to be tested by Satan. But now, Jesus has come back from the wilderness, and he comes back to see John. Now why does he do this? Well, Jesus takes over from John. John’s job is to point to Jesus. It is not John’s job to gather some disciples for himself. Jesus comes to John, so that John will point the people to him, and that they will follow him.

And so John says: Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! But then he says: 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 baptising with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.

John says: This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.” Now what is John talking about here? This is a very strange thing. If we read the Gospel of Luke, when the Angel Gabriel went to the Virgin Mary to tell her that she was pregnant, he also told her about Elizabeth, John’s mother, and says that she was six months pregnant. John the Baptist is six months older than Jesus. And yet, John says here that Jesus was before him, and that therefore he ranks before him. It’s as if John says, he is older than me, and so I owe him the greater respect.

You see—John is not simply talking about Jesus’ human existence, but he is talking about the fact that Jesus is true God, and that he took on a human body. Jesus was the one who created the world together with his Father and the Holy Spirit. At the beginning of the chapter, we read: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This is talking about Jesus. And so Jesus was before John, even though as men, John is six months older.

But then John says: I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptising with water, that he might be revealed to Israel. Actually, we read in the Gospel of Luke that Mary and Elizabeth, the mothers of Jesus and John, were related, but at the same time, they did not grow up together. Mary and Elizabeth met before the babies were born, when John leaped in his mother’s womb. Jesus and John actually grew up quite a long distance from each other—and who knows how early John went out into the wilderness. Maybe it was right from when he was a young boy. After all, he had elderly parents, who might not have lived very long, and when we are finally told about John as a grown man, he looks like his mother had not been looking after him for a very long time. There he was in the wilderness, eating locusts and wild honey!

And so, John did not know him, but he knew what would happen when he would finally meet him. He wasn’t going to get to know him because of their families being related, but God the Father was going to reveal him. God the Father was going to speak from heaven himself and declare him to be his own Son, and the Holy Spirit was going to come and rest upon him, so that everyone would know that this is Jesus, the Son of God, who will baptise not just with water, but with the Holy Spirit.

Do you know that the same thing happens today? We pastors baptise with water, but Jesus promises to be with us when we baptise and teach right to the end of the world, and so when we speak and teach his word, then it is him who comes to speak these things himself. And Jesus himself comes and baptises people with his Holy Spirit.

John says: 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 the baptise with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptises with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

Now, let me read the last part of our reading for today. 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?” 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. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andres, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “So you are Simon the Son of John? You shall be called Cephas (which means Peter).

In the first part of our reading, we heard about John’s preaching. It’s amazing how with so few words, John can say so much. And then we come to this second part, and everything that goes on is so ordinary. There were some disciples who listened to John and they followed Jesus. Then they stayed with him, and then they brought another one in too, Peter.

But this is exactly how it works with us. When God’s word is preached, just as John does in our reading, it affects and touches us right in the middle of our ordinary, everyday lives. The disciples simply listened to John, and they followed Jesus. They left the preacher and they followed the Messiah. Jesus recognised that they were following him, and so he says: What are you seeking? It’s as if Jesus is saying to them, “What do you want from me?” And Jesus sees us following along after him too, and perhaps a lot of the time, we don’t really have much of an idea as to what we’re doing, and Jesus says to us: What are you seeking?

And the disciples say something very simple and very ordinary: Rabbi (or Teacher), where are you staying? And Jesus says: Come and see. And in this simple little conversation we see an amazing thing. The disciples simply want to be with Jesus, and they want to stay with him, and they simply want to listen to what he has in store to teach. And Jesus is happy to have them, and he doesn’t turn them away, but invites them to come and see the place where he is staying. What a wonderful example for us!

And then they bring their brother Simon to meet Jesus too. And this is exactly how the church grows and expands—one person at a time, person to person.

And so we see in our reading, this wonderful Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. We read about him as being true God. We read about him being the one who baptises us with the Holy Spirit.

And then we read about our lives as Christians—we see simple everyday people, with all their sins and troubles and problems, just wanting to spend time with Jesus, and to listen to his words. Let this also be your desire too. This Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of world! Look to him and trust in him, and follow him wherever he leads you. Even today, he lets us come and see the place where he is staying: he stays in his word and in the forgiveness of sins, wherever it is spoken and preached, he stays in the waters of baptism so that he can baptise his people with the Holy Spirit, and he stays in the Lord’s Supper so that he, as the Lamb of God, can feed you with his body and blood, sacrificed for you on the cross. Come and see! And stay with him.

Amen.

Dear Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you that you are the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. You are our Saviour and our God, and you are the one who baptises with the Holy Spirit. Fill us with the Holy Spirit through your wonderful word, just as you have filled us in baptism. Dear Jesus, let us come and stay with you, and listen to you, and walk with you. Amen.