“Following the
Lamb” (John 1:29 -42a)
A few years ago, Julie and I
vacationed on Orcas Island. We stayed at
a quaint old farmhouse that had been turned into a bed and breakfast. The owners of the inn also raised sheep to
supply wool for some of the weavers who plied their trade on the island.
On the front porch of the inn was an array
of rubber boots of various sizes and colors.
We were informed that we could use them to go exploring around the
farm. So, one afternoon, I decided to do
just that. I pulled on a pair of boots
that looked like they might fit and headed out to the pasture.
About 15 sheep were contently grazing on
the far side of the pasture. I wanted to
see how close they would let me get to them without running away. They looked like they were pretty tame,
although I had been warned to beware of the big ram. He had been known to guard his territory with
a swift butt of his head.
Softly and slowly, I stepped across the
damp grass. When I approached the tiny
flock, they actually let me get to within about eight feet of them. They kept munching on grass, but kept a wary
eye on me. They would take a bite of
grass and quickly raise their head and look suspiciously at me. But eight feet seemed to be their comfort
zone. As soon as I took one more step,
they would skitter away in tandem to another section of the pasture.
It kind of became a little game for
me. I wanted to see if they would get
comfortable with me out there, realizing I didn’t mean them any harm. So for about a half an hour, I followed them
around the pasture in a similar fashion.
I would step inside their eight foot comfort zone, they would scoot off
a bit beyond me, and I would follow them, stepping through the grass, over
rocks, and around assorted aromatic obstacles.
Our little journey around the pasture
would have continued indefinitely. And
what a pointless journey it would have been.
Around and around the pasture. No
end in sight. No destination. And eventually I would have stepped into
something unpleasant, or finally raised the ire of the big ram and landed on my
backside … bruised, battered, and embarrassed.
Does it seem at times as if you are on a
pointless journey through life? Are you
following after people and possessions or fads and philosophies which lead you
nowhere? Does there seem to be no end in
sight to your problems? Have you “stepped
into something unpleasant” – some sinful behavior or situation – which has
filled your life with the stench of guilt and shame? Has something come up against you so that you
have been left bruised and battered?
Listen to John the Baptist’s words this
morning. He points us to another sheep
to follow … a Lamb. This Lamb leads us
on a meaningful journey. Don’t let this
Lamb pass you by without paying any attention to him.
John saw Jesus approaching and said, “Behold,
the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” This Lamb is not just any lamb. This is THE Lamb. This is the Lamb of God.
There were many lambs before his
day. There was the lamb that God
provided for Abraham in place of his son Isaac, whom God had told Abraham to
sacrifice (Gen. 22). There were the unblemished
lambs that each Israelite household in Egypt was to kill and eat and whose
blood was to be placed on the doorposts of their homes so that death would pass
over them (Ex. 12). After the people of Israel
Yes, there were a lot of lambs used under
the old covenant. But THE Lamb of God
takes the place of all those lambs which pointed to him. He is the fulfillment of all those
lambs. The death of THE Lamb of God
means there is no longer any need for the death of any more lambs (Heb. 10).
The blood of the Lamb of God was poured
out at the cross. Like the Passover
Lambs, this final Passover Lamb was also unblemished. He was without sin so that he could be our
perfect substitute. His blood was placed
– not on the wood of doorposts – but on the wood of the cross, and God’s anger
over sin passes over us. Like Isaac, you
and I get to live and the Lamb takes our place in death. Like the lambs offered in the tabernacle, who
bore the sins of those who offered them and whose blood was poured out at the
base of the altar, Jesus bore our sin and his blood was poured out at the foot
of the cross … and now into our chalice for us to drink from this altar. And just as the lambs offered were completely
burned up on the altar at the tabernacle, through the death of Jesus the guilt
and shame of our sin is completely removed once and for all.
And when you begin to think to yourself,
this Lamb is not MY lamb … His death was not enough for what I have done … then
listen one more time to John: “Behold,
the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the WORLD.” Listen to the Lord in today’s OT lesson,
where he says to his servant, the Messiah, “I will make you as a light for the
nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Is. 49:6). And later on, in Isaiah 53, the prophet says
of the Messiah, “the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us ALL” (Is. 53:6). He takes away ALL sin … not SOME sin … not the
sins of others … but ALL, the sin of the WORLD … from the sin of Adam to the
last baby to ever be born before Jesus returns … and in between are you and me.
Here’s what Luther had to say in a sermon
on this same text: “It is extremely important that we know where our sins have
been disposed of. The Law deposits them
on our conscience and shoves them into our bosom. But God takes them from us and places them on
the shoulders of the Lamb. If sin rested
on me and on the world, we would be lost; for it is too strong and burdensome. God says: ‘I know that your sin is unbearable
for you; therefore behold, I will lay it upon My Lamb and relieve you of it.
Believe this! If you do, you are delivered of sin.’ There are only two abodes for sin: it either
resides with you, weighing you down; or it lies on Christ, the Lamb of God. If it is loaded on your back, you are lost;
but if it rests on Christ, you are free and saved. Now make your choice! According to the Law, to
be sure, sin should remain on you; but by grace sin was cast on Christ, the
Lamb.” [1]
The Lamb of God has forgiven you. And now he calls you to follow him. And he starts you on a journey … or calls you
to continue on a journey … a journey that is joyful, hopeful, and meaningful.
John the Baptist pointed two of his
disciples to the Lamb of God. One of
them was Andrew, and when he and the other disciple encountered Christ, their
lives were forever altered. No longer
would they be learning from John in preparation for the coming of the Messiah . They
had met God’s Chosen One in person. They
would now hear and see things that they had never heard nor seen before.
But first, Jesus challenges their
motives, and he challenges us, too, when he asks: “What are you seeking?” “What do you want?” What do YOU expect to get out of Jesus? Why have you come here today? Ask yourself, “Am I following Jesus out of
idle curiosity, just to see what he can do for me, to see if all these promises
of ‘fullness of life’ is really true? Or do I have a real desire to know him,
to worship him, and to receive from him all of his gifts of grace?”
Andrew and the other disciples then
ask Jesus, “Where are you staying?”
Jesus replies, “Come and you will see.” They did come, and they did
see. But they saw more than where Jesus
was staying. Among other miracles, they
saw blind people receive their sight.
But for those whose eyes already worked, they “saw” because the eyes of
their hearts were enlightened. They came
to know the true meaning of his Messiah -ship. Jesus was not a political messiah, come to
set up an earthly kingdom. He made that
clear when he said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Jesus is a Savior, a redeemer, a lamb, THE
Lamb.
When you and I were baptized, we were
started on a journey of faith, and our lives were forever altered. We have met the Savior in person through His
Holy Word, and we eat and drink of his very own body and blood in his Holy
Supper. But when we hear readings such
as our Gospel lesson today, we are reminded about the meaning of our journey. It is not a pointless journey, around and
around the pasture, following a lamb who never gets us anywhere.
The church in which I grew up had a motto
which I will never forget. It was:
“Come, journey with God and friends towards fullness of life.” That is the meaning of our journey of
faith. God sets us on this journey when
he calls us to faith. Then, he puts us
in a community of friends, where we share each others joys and sorrows, where
we lift one another up in prayer and help each other carry our own particular
burdens. Our destination is the
“fullness of life.” We share in that
fullness now, as we experience Christ’s love and forgiveness in Word and
Sacrament. And we will one day
experience that fullness in all its glory on the Day of Resurrection.
The Lamb of God calls us through His
Word and sets us on a joyful, hopeful, and meaningful journey of faith. And then he uses people like you and me as
vehicles through which His Word goes out to others and calls people to faith. It’s as simple as what Andrew did. He found his brother Simon Peter and said,
“We have found the Messiah ,” and as
the last line of today’s text says, “He brought him to Jesus.”
May the Holy Spirit, who was poured
out on the Son of God when he was baptized … and who was poured out upon us
when we were baptized, making us children of God … may He strengthen our faith
and empower us to bring others to Jesus as we journey with God and friends
towards fullness of life … the life of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world.
Amen.
[1]Luther,
M. (1999, c1957). Vol. 22: Luther's works, vol. 22 : Sermons on the
Gospel of St. John 1:30 ). Saint Louis
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