Epiphany II - A

January 19, 2020

“Look!”

St. John 1:29-42

“Look, here is the Lamb of God…Come and see…they remained with him…”

A joke that gets passed around by clergy goes like this:

“Excellent sermon,” said the parishioner, as she pumped the hand of the preacher.  “Everything you said applies to someone or other I know!”

How often do we listen and do not hear what applies to us?  How often do we look and do not see because we do not remain long enough to get a clear vision?

Look…see…remain… three words from the Gospel reading from today. 

Look, here is the Lamb of God ---

John the Baptizer did not get it as he admits:  “I myself did not know him…” until the Spirit descended on Christ at his baptism.  He looked but he did not see.  He had to remain long enough to get a clear vision.

This past week I shoveled snow – used my snow blower and then touched up the driveway with a shovel.  It was sunny and I did not have my sun glasses on.  When I entered the house I could hardly see – sort of snow blind.  It took time –I had to remain inside and slowly my vision returned.

Oftentimes we do not see Christ for who Christ really is!  Snow-blinded by our culture and even the church we need to remain with the vision long enough – maybe our whole life – to get it!

There is a sense of entitlement in our culture and even in our churches.  That sense of entitlement skews our vision. We look for churches that best meet our needs and the needs of our families.  Rather than looking for a church that calls us into shared sacrifice and service.  Or if the church we are in asks too much of us we turn a deaf ear.

John the Baptizer starts to get it when he says:  “Behold [Look!]’ the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” 

That title ‘Lamb of God’ says a lot in three words.  Jews knew what it meant.  They remembered their history when God liberated God’s people Israel from slavery in Egypt.  Time after time the tyrannical Pharaoh would not let God’s people go.  So the Israelites smeared the blood of a sacrificial lamb and marked their doorposts so that the angel of death would not stop in their homes.  They were spared and freed.

So ‘Lamb of God’ is about liberation and freedom from sin.  Notice the word is singular – sin - .  We tend to be so self-referenced that we assume JB is talking about sins – our individual acts of brokenness. 

However, in the context of the Gospel of John – sin is not our individual wrong acts – but rather ‘the sin of the world’ is creation’s alienation from God - its inability to overcome the darkness – our distraction from looking to God and seeing God as our center.  Sin of the world is living life that is disoriented and has lost its center – spinning off in its own direction.

Look!  Behold the Lamb of God – the liberator – the one who sets us free from all our slavery.

We look, but do we see? 

Christ invites us:  “Come and see!”

A story: 

A young man became obsessed with a passion for Truth so he took leave of his family and friends and set out in search of it.  He traveled over many lands, sailed across many oceans, climbed many mountains, and all in all, went through a great deal of hardship and suffering.

One day he awoke to find he was seventy-five years old and had still not found the Truth he had been searching for.  So he decided, sadly, to give up the search and go back home.

It took him months to return to his home for he was an old man now.  Once home, he opened the door of his house—and there he found that Truth had been patiently waiting for him all those years.

Question:  Did his journey help him to find Truth?

Answer:  No, but it prepared him to recognize it.

[Source: The Enlightened Heart by Anthony DeMello, S.J., pages 178-179]

Gloria Dei – your pastor, your leadership –we have been on such a quest.  Is the Truth right in front of us and we do not see it?  Today’s Gospel invites us back into the house to come and see the Truth about who we are and where God is taking us.  That Truth has been patiently waiting for us all these years.

Come and see:

We are God’s people here are Gloria Dei.  Of course, we are not the only ones who are God’s people.  That is not an exclusive statement – just a matter of fact.  We are people in ministry. 

Do you see it?  We are people who have been liberated in Holy Baptism God liberates from sin and death by joining us to Christ.  Notice again the word ‘sin’ (singular) –that is our alienation from God and each other that leads to death.

So we are free – free to be God’s people.  Free to center our lives in God.  And we do and we have – generous gifts to our food pantry to free others from hunger, letters sent to congress to create legislations that liberates others from poverty.  We set the minds and hearts of students at Luther Academy free as they use our campus facility.

We are a vital congregation –doing God’s work and using our hands.  Several members do God’s work with their hands as they go down to the Carpenter’s Place Homeless Shelter – helping with breakfast, giving devotions and sitting and chatting with the guests. Gentle hands share the Sacrament with our home-bound as we send them out each month.

In Sunday School in Bible Classes in the Enrichment hour we converse and fellowship and deepen our faith.  We sometimes just don’t see it. 

When things get tough there is a temptation to up and leave.  And let’s not deny it.  Things are looking a little tough for the coming year.  That is what we will be talking about after this service.

Remain is the third word in the Gospel reading this morning.  Remain – yes, we want you to remain after worship for the discussion.  John’s Gospel, however, uses the word to abide. John talks about the disciples and all of us here abiding in Christ – remaining in him.

Jesus invites the first disciples to remain or abide with him.  And maybe this is where we miss the vision of Christ.  It does not end when you leave this sanctuary.  Christians do no segregate their faith from where they live and work and play.  The church is not a place for spiritual consumption, or a feel good session.  We are not a spiritual Wal-Mart dispensing the latest spiritual products. 

No, the Church is Christ embodied in us.  We remain in Christ and Christ remains in us.

I remember Dr. George Wittmer – the pastor of my church in St. Louis.  Pastor Wittmer used this illustration more than once:  Imagine a charcoal fire.  The coals are burning – red and white hot.  Now take one of the coals out of the fire and by itself it burns out. 

So it is with the church – so it is with worship – so it is with God’s people.  Worship once a month and your coal is going to grow dim and your vision of the church becomes worn down, dimmed and distorted by the world.  Worship regularly and you are a hot coal.  Hardly worship and we lose our fervor become lukewarm or burn dimly.

Lyrics of a hymn from the New Century Hymnal of the United Church of Christ: it is entitled I See a Church:

I see a church with a vision;

I see a church on a mission.

I see a church with its doors open wide,

·         and the poor and the rich worship God side by side,

·         and the young and the old have both put down their pride,

·         and yes, we who seem different don't have to hide,

·         and there all of God's children can sweetly abide,

·         and there all of God's children can sweetly abide.

 I see a church who has made her mind up,

     and she's building her hopes on things eternal.

She's holding to God's unchanging hand,

     holding to God's unchanging hand!

Being a faithful community means abiding in that vision so it lives and grows in us.

Amen