Scripture/Sermon of the Day.  January 15, 2023

John 1:29-42

The Lamb of God

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is 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 ahead of me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I 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.’ 34 And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Chosen One.”[a]

The First Disciples of Jesus

35 The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and as he watched Jesus walk by he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 When 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?” 39 He 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. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed[b]). 42 He brought Simon[c] to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas”[d] (which is translated Peter[e]).

Footnotes
1.34 Other ancient authorities read the Son of God
1.41 Or Christ
1.42 Gk him
1.42 Aramaic for rock
1.42 Greek for rock

Reflection/Sermon:

I.      In the gospel of Mark when Jesus began his ministry, he said:  “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”  For the next one - two years, Jesus tried to explain what that meant.
Because people heard him and said, “What time is FULFILLED?”  To fulfill means to finish, to complete, to satisfy.  What was completed?
And what does he mean, “THE KINGDOM OF GOD.”  Isn’t that where we go when we die?  But Jesus says it’s here.  Where?
And doesn’t REPENT mean that we’re bad but need to be good?

II.     It took Jesus two years to explain all this, and two thousand years later, tens of thousands of Christian denominations are still trying to understand.  Some Christians think God is a monster who will “SAVE” just a small percentage of humanity — and torture the rest of everyone in a burning hell.

III.    But here’s what I think — because this is when we start a new year and we need to take another look at our lives and our navigational equipment and make sure we’re moving in the right direction.  John the Baptist was talking about the direction we’re going.

He said: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”  What “SIN” does Jesus take away?  Sin is often misunderstood to mean something bad.  When someone drinks too much or fornicates or steals we say, “That person is a sinner.” But the meaning of the Hebrew and Greek words that have been translated “sin” don’t mean bad— they mean “to miss the mark.”  To sin is to program your GPS for Stop and Shop, but somehow you end up at Price Rite.  That doesn’t make you bad.  It means you misprogrammed your GPS or you need a new one or maybe ask someone for directions.

IV.     If Jesus takes away the sin of the world, it means he helps to get us where God wants us to be.  That’s all it is.

V.      There’s an article in a recent New Yorker magazine about the war in Ukraine.  I haven’t read it yet, but there’s a picture in the article, a closeup of a soldier that shows from his neck to the top of his head, he’s resting his gloved hand on the top of his gun barrel and the hand is also holding a cigarette.  The soldier is looking over the battlefield and he’s squinting.  Out of focus in the background is a big open field and the sky.  The caption under the picture says this soldier is an American, a former marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan — and he decided to fight in Ukraine after leaving a job at Google.

VI.     Why would he do that?  A good job, benefits, safety, big-screen tv, great cars, shopping for just about anything you could want on Amazon — why would he trade all this to fight in a foreign war where he could die any day?  He repented and did a major change of direction in the way his life was moving.  It’s not for us to say, but maybe that’s where God wants him.  HE REPENTED —

WHICH IS WHAT JESUS WANTS US TO DO —  But the change Jesus wants us to make RIGHT NOW is not about moving to a different house or fighting the Russians in Ukraine.  It’s not about  going to another state to live,   ALTHOUGH — ACTUALLY — IT IS ABOUT THE STATE WE’RE IN —  It’s about moving FROM FEAR to LOVE, and FROM ANXIETY TO TRUST.  IT’S MOVING FROM THE STATE OF COMPLAINING TO THANKING GOD FOR EVERYTHING — WHATEVER LIFE GIVES US.

AND HOW DO WE FIND THIS PLACE — THIS STATE THAT JESUS CALLS THE KINGDOM OF GOD? —  “I’ll show you,” Jesus says to us:  “Come and see.”