Year A

John 1:29-41

The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn

The Song of the Lamb

Tomorrow, on January 16, our nation will remember and commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King spent his rather short but powerful life reminding people that Jesus is the way and the one, not only of whites but also of blacks, who lived and died to take away sin. His message was clear: whoever you are, whatever your sin, wherever you find yourself, there is still one who can and will set you free from the wages of sin. It is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, Jew or Greek, male or female, rich or poor, black or white. Someone once said that when John the Baptist spoke the words in our gospel today, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” as Jesus was coming toward him, spoke the core of the gospel message, the whole gospel.

This image “the Lamb of God” has deep roots not only in the life of the Christian church but would have had tremendous power for the Jews that day who heard the Baptist. The lamb was a Hebrew symbol for purity and innocence, of sinlessness, and not only did lamb convey a sense of innocence and purity, but for the author of today’s gospel reading, John, it took on special meaning because Jesus came to be known as the sacrificial lamb who was crucified during the Passover time. Passover, as we know is the celebration of the Israelites’ escape to freedom from Egypt. The sacrificial lamb was a central symbol of the Israelites’ sacrifice and freedom. If you are not familiar with the Exodus story, you can read about it in the book of Exodus. Jesus then transforms the Passover meal at the last supper so that, through the sacrificial gift of his life, he frees us, not from Egypt, but from sin and death. 

Last Sunday, we heard the story of Jesus’ baptism recorded by Matthew. Today, John, records his version of Jesus’ baptism and the call of the first disciples. The Baptist’s words today not only serve as a record of the event, but even more as a testimony concerning its significance. John the Baptist, as we are well aware, is a rather interesting character. All of the gospels introduce the Baptist early in their gospels but John, the writer of today’s gospel, introduces him differently than the others. John skips over the part of the Baptist’s ministry of preaching and baptizing at the Jordan River. Instead, he goes straight to what the Baptist has come to do. He has come to identify Jesus and to point to him as the Messiah, and because he shared his epiphany of Jesus and what he had somehow come to understand and knew about Jesus that he was the Lamb who had come to change the world, Andrew and Peter meet Jesus.

Then, because Jesus said to them, “Come and see,” and they did, they later say to those they were with, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” and others came to know Jesus. This is the way it happens. John’s story today helps us to trace the steps of becoming a disciple of Jesus. The potential disciple is pointed to Jesus. The disciple comes to Jesus. He or she is recognized and named by Jesus. The disciple remains with him over time, until at last they come to “know” Jesus and finally, the disciple brings new prospects to Jesus. If we live out our Christian life but never utter a word about the love of Jesus Christ that keeps us going, our witness may be lost. To withhold the life changing love of God from those around us is contrary to the call of Christ. But to share, to witness, and to pass on the story is to be faithful to God and to give a precious gift to those we love.

Isaiah’s message today reaffirms that God has chosen us and called us and we need to respond accordingly. Isaiah personally feels uniquely called by God, so he speaks to Israel out of his own experience of being a called person. He talks about himself as the servant of God and in the chapters leading up to the verses in today’s text, the first of Isaiah’s Servant Songs or poem, he has switched from only talking about himself as the servant who was formed in the womb to also talking about Israel as being God’s servant. The prophet becomes God’s vessel of witness which gives shape to his life and this same witnessing and shaping God desires for the people of Israel.

The mission of the servant is the mission of that community, to bring justice to the nations even in the face of adversity. Isaiah acknowledges that Israel is in exile, in a foreign land. He understands their struggle. Yet, God has formed and called him and them in the face of this struggle, to be “a light to the nations, that God’s salvation may reach to the end of the earth. Surely, this is the song God sings to each one of us that all of our work, no matter how small, must have the good of the whole world as its aim. No small task, but one we must answer with all our mind, heart, soul, and strength.

As the late archbishop Desmond Tutu put it in his and the Dalai Lama’s book titled: The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World, “It is clear, he said that the only way to truly change our world is through teaching compassion. When you show compassion, when you show caring, when you show love to others, do things for others, in a wonderful way you have a deep joy that you can get in no other way.” Isaiah knew this as it was his call. It was Paul’s many centuries later. The year is 55 A.D. Paul is living in Ephesus when he hears of the conflict in the Church of God in Corinth in Roman Greece.

Other teachers have come into the city and divisions have grown in the church. The faithful are being influenced by the culture and trying to incorporate Gnostic philosophy into the faith. There are questions as to how to live as Christians in their pluralistic world. Paul writes his letter to address the tensions and questions. In today’s text, he proclaims and explores themes he will take up in his letter as to what it is to be a follower of Christ, lived through the church. He gives thanks for the church, for all the good things happening among the people and for the gifts and the promises that God has given them.

He gives thanks for the faithfulness of God who called them into fellowship with him which, he is sure, will lead them through to the fulfillment of his promise. The church is the fellowship of those set apart for the service of God and commissioned to do the work of God in communities and throughout the world. Paul’s readers then and those of us today are to commit ourselves to helping the church become what God wants it to be, which is always pointing to Jesus the Lamb of God and giving thanks for God’s faithfulness shown through our commitment and call. Jesus depends on our voice, our words of witness. The disciples of the Baptist become the disciples of Jesus in the moment they begin to speak of him and draw others to him. They called others to come and see and epiphanies took place and it continued and must continue if the world is to know the hope, peace and joy of the saving Lamb of God.