2nd Sunay after Epiphany 1/16/11 John 1:29-31

2nd Sunday after Epiphany
1/16/11
Text: John 1:29-31
Title: The Name Means Everything.

John the Baptist was a popular preacher. People went to the desert in droves to hear his preaching, and they responded to his message, by being baptized. He told them to repent, and they repented. He told them to be baptized, and they were baptized.

He was a big name, a rising star, so to speak, in the religious community. But John knew that God had not sent him to make a big name for himself, but to prepare the way for Jesus, the real star, the morning star that would give light to a dark sin filled world. John never became the star that he appeared destined to be, for as he had prophesied he decreased in popularity, as Jesus increased.

In our Gospel reading for today which takes place the day after John baptized Jesus John clearly tells us who Jesus is, as he calls out, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.”

While there is a lot to be learned from those verses I want to focus in on the name John called Jesus that day, “The Lamb of God." That name says a lot. The Jews that were there that day knew what that name meant! They remembered their history! They remembered when their people were enslaved in Egypt! Moses, speaking for God, said, "Let my people go!" to Pharaoh, but Pharaoh refused! God sent one plague after another to persuade Pharaoh to relent, but Pharaoh refused! The last plague was the death of the firstborn in every house. God told the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb and smear its blood on their door post so that the death angel would not stop at their homes. They did so, and their firstborn were spared. They remembered that the lamb was God's agent of salvation.

The Jews coming to John to receive the baptism of repentance knew that they had sinned. That is why they were there. They came in repentance to be baptized. They knew that they deserved punishment, but they also knew that God had made provision for them to be forgiven, the promise of the Messiah, the Lamb of God. That is why every day in the Temple lambs were sacrificed. They believed that the death of a lamb saved them from dying because of their sins. So when John said of Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” they, at least those that still believed in the coming Messiah, knew what he meant.
When I was young before I started studying the Word of God I thought “The Lamb of God” was an odd title for the Messiah the one who would take away the sins of the world. I would have given him a stronger name, for after all, especially in Bible times the name of a person told something about that person. I would have called Jesus instead of “The Lamb” the “Lion of God”, or maybe the “Eagle of God.” both of which are powerful names. After all, he is a powerful God and when you think of it, it is a huge undertaking to take away all the sins of the whole world. But John called him “The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

I think the Israelites too would also have preferred a more powerful name, for they like the Jews and so many Christians today were looking for God to come back to rule as a powerful king. People then and now want a powerful Savior that will make them healthy and wealthy. They want their Messiah to be a great warrior like King David, so that all those they don’t like can be put down once and for all. For the most part they have forgotten what the prophet Isaiah had prophesied about the Messiah Christ Jesus. That “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”

Isaiah was telling the people of Israel and people today that the Messiah would, by sacrificing himself redeem his people. That isn't the way we would have done it! Frankly, it isn't the way the Israelites would have done it! But God's ways are not our ways! So John said of Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!”

The, "Lamb of God," set to modern day standards might sound like a weak name, but God has invested it with his power, so in one of our worship services that we use during the year we pray to God, “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace.

Is there any among us today who does not need mercy? Is there any among us who does not need peace? Jesus the Lamb of God came into the world to take away our sins! Jesus the Lamb of God came into the world to grant us mercy! Jesus the Lamb of God came into the world to give us peace!

So what does all this mean for you, for all of us that make up the congregation of Saint John, for God’s entire Christian Church on earth? Let’s see. If the Son of God is really also the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and he is, then several things are true. For one thing, sin matters to God. Sin is a serious matter. All kinds of sin, not just the horrendous deeds of child abuse that horrify us, the senseless shootings like the one in Arizona, but also the petty arrogance and half-lies, the irritability, the unforgiving, self serving spirit that mark the days of so many people. All of these are sin that matter to God. They’re all serious, so serious in fact that God is involved in a remedy that we can barely comprehend. God sent a Lamb to die, so that the power of sin and death can be broken. He sent Jesus his own Son, the Lamb of God, to die in your place.

God doesn’t deal with sin by sending pronouncements for action by some type of heavenly senate or parliament, nor does God deal with sin by a lightning bolt of judgment, as he has done in the past. God moves into the muck of our lives by sending his Son to be the sacrificial Lamb who dies for sin.

This little illustration might help to clarify what I mean. The head doctor at a major university medical school was taking his student interns through a ward of welfare patients and street people. They came to the bed of a man with a horribly infected foot, the kind of sight from which most of us would turn away. The head doctor held the icky pus laden foot in his hand, as he talked at some length with the patient about his condition. As the students and the doctor walked down the hall to another ward, the doctor said simply, “Always touch the patient.”

That my dear brothers and sisters in Christ is what God did and continues to do. He comes into our sick-room by way of the Lamb of God his Son, Jesus Christ, and takes hold of our, icky, pus filled, ulcerated sin filled lives and touches them, as only he can, for unlike the doctor that day who could only reassure his patient and prescribe some medicine, God in his holy touch removes forever the spiritual consequences of our sin. We are totally healed.

This is the continuing good news of Christ’s birth; his coming into our lives that we are celebrating during the Epiphany season. Jesus did not come to condemn us, but to touch us with his healing forgiveness. The individual story we each have, of how Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world touched us in our sin filled life, is something we can share with our friend or neighbor who might be finding life hard to manage.

That is the good news John the Baptist proclaimed when he introduced Jesus to the world. It is still the good news today. Jesus the Lamb of God is your Savior. Amen.

2nd Sunay after Epiphany 1/16/11 John 1:29-31

2nd Sunday after Epiphany
1/16/11
Text: John 1:29-31
Title: The Name Means Everything.

John the Baptist was a popular preacher. People went to the desert in droves to hear his preaching, and they responded to his message, by being baptized. He told them to repent, and they repented. He told them to be baptized, and they were baptized.

He was a big name, a rising star, so to speak, in the religious community. But John knew that God had not sent him to make a big name for himself, but to prepare the way for Jesus, the real star, the morning star that would give light to a dark sin filled world. John never became the star that he appeared destined to be, for as he had prophesied he decreased in popularity, as Jesus increased.

In our Gospel reading for today which takes place the day after John baptized Jesus John clearly tells us who Jesus is, as he calls out, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.”

While there is a lot to be learned from those verses I want to focus in on the name John called Jesus that day, “The Lamb of God." That name says a lot. The Jews that were there that day knew what that name meant! They remembered their history! They remembered when their people were enslaved in Egypt! Moses, speaking for God, said, "Let my people go!" to Pharaoh, but Pharaoh refused! God sent one plague after another to persuade Pharaoh to relent, but Pharaoh refused! The last plague was the death of the firstborn in every house. God told the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb and smear its blood on their door post so that the death angel would not stop at their homes. They did so, and their firstborn were spared. They remembered that the lamb was God's agent of salvation.

The Jews coming to John to receive the baptism of repentance knew that they had sinned. That is why they were there. They came in repentance to be baptized. They knew that they deserved punishment, but they also knew that God had made provision for them to be forgiven, the promise of the Messiah, the Lamb of God. That is why every day in the Temple lambs were sacrificed. They believed that the death of a lamb saved them from dying because of their sins. So when John said of Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” they, at least those that still believed in the coming Messiah, knew what he meant.
When I was young before I started studying the Word of God I thought “The Lamb of God” was an odd title for the Messiah the one who would take away the sins of the world. I would have given him a stronger name, for after all, especially in Bible times the name of a person told something about that person. I would have called Jesus instead of “The Lamb” the “Lion of God”, or maybe the “Eagle of God.” both of which are powerful names. After all, he is a powerful God and when you think of it, it is a huge undertaking to take away all the sins of the whole world. But John called him “The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

I think the Israelites too would also have preferred a more powerful name, for they like the Jews and so many Christians today were looking for God to come back to rule as a powerful king. People then and now want a powerful Savior that will make them healthy and wealthy. They want their Messiah to be a great warrior like King David, so that all those they don’t like can be put down once and for all. For the most part they have forgotten what the prophet Isaiah had prophesied about the Messiah Christ Jesus. That “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”

Isaiah was telling the people of Israel and people today that the Messiah would, by sacrificing himself redeem his people. That isn't the way we would have done it! Frankly, it isn't the way the Israelites would have done it! But God's ways are not our ways! So John said of Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!”

The, "Lamb of God," set to modern day standards might sound like a weak name, but God has invested it with his power, so in one of our worship services that we use during the year we pray to God, “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace.

Is there any among us today who does not need mercy? Is there any among us who does not need peace? Jesus the Lamb of God came into the world to take away our sins! Jesus the Lamb of God came into the world to grant us mercy! Jesus the Lamb of God came into the world to give us peace!

So what does all this mean for you, for all of us that make up the congregation of Saint John, for God’s entire Christian Church on earth? Let’s see. If the Son of God is really also the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and he is, then several things are true. For one thing, sin matters to God. Sin is a serious matter. All kinds of sin, not just the horrendous deeds of child abuse that horrify us, the senseless shootings like the one in Arizona, but also the petty arrogance and half-lies, the irritability, the unforgiving, self serving spirit that mark the days of so many people. All of these are sin that matter to God. They’re all serious, so serious in fact that God is involved in a remedy that we can barely comprehend. God sent a Lamb to die, so that the power of sin and death can be broken. He sent Jesus his own Son, the Lamb of God, to die in your place.

God doesn’t deal with sin by sending pronouncements for action by some type of heavenly senate or parliament, nor does God deal with sin by a lightning bolt of judgment, as he has done in the past. God moves into the muck of our lives by sending his Son to be the sacrificial Lamb who dies for sin.

This little illustration might help to clarify what I mean. The head doctor at a major university medical school was taking his student interns through a ward of welfare patients and street people. They came to the bed of a man with a horribly infected foot, the kind of sight from which most of us would turn away. The head doctor held the icky pus laden foot in his hand, as he talked at some length with the patient about his condition. As the students and the doctor walked down the hall to another ward, the doctor said simply, “Always touch the patient.”

That my dear brothers and sisters in Christ is what God did and continues to do. He comes into our sick-room by way of the Lamb of God his Son, Jesus Christ, and takes hold of our, icky, pus filled, ulcerated sin filled lives and touches them, as only he can, for unlike the doctor that day who could only reassure his patient and prescribe some medicine, God in his holy touch removes forever the spiritual consequences of our sin. We are totally healed.

This is the continuing good news of Christ’s birth; his coming into our lives that we are celebrating during the Epiphany season. Jesus did not come to condemn us, but to touch us with his healing forgiveness. The individual story we each have, of how Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world touched us in our sin filled life, is something we can share with our friend or neighbor who might be finding life hard to manage.

That is the good news John the Baptist proclaimed when he introduced Jesus to the world. It is still the good news today. Jesus the Lamb of God is your Savior. Amen.