John 1:29-41 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
Epiphany 2 Sunday, January 19, 2019 “Look! The Lamb of God!”
Have you ever thought about the fact that we have the same job that John the Baptist did? Obviously, I don’t mean that we were called to be the forerunners of Jesus or to baptize those who were awaiting the arrival of the Messiah. I clearly am not suggesting that any of us here will ever have the opportunity to baptize Jesus himself or to see the Holy Spirit descend on him like a dove and hear a thundering voice from heaven describe him to us. There are a lot of quite obvious ways that the job of John the Baptist was unique. But in another way, we have a job that is identical to his. We see this aspect of his job very clearly in the account from John chapter 1 that serves as today’s Gospel and the basis for our sermon. The essence of the job that he did, as unique as it was, comes down to this: he pointed at Jesus and said, “Look! The Lamb of God!” All of us who are called to be Christians are called to do the same thing. We are called to first listen to the message and then to share it with others that Jesus is the Lamb of God. That means that we are called to understand what it means and then to pass it along. “Look! The Lamb of God!” Just last week, those who were here at Grace for worship heard about the time that Jesus came to be baptized by John. John had already been baptizing many. He told them to repent of their sins and to trust, not in John—not in him, but in someone else who was going to be on the scene soon after he preached. The Gospel of John—that’s a different John whom God called to write about the life of Jesus— his Gospel doesn’t tell the whole account of what happened when Jesus was baptized. John’s Gospel was written after Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John rightly expected that many of his readers would have already been familiar with the events recorded in the other Gospels. But John’s Gospel does focus on the message that John the Baptist preached. It records a time when priests and Levites came to see the Baptist and to learn why he was doing what he was doing. They asked him if he was the Messiah, the one that God had promised to send as a gift for the whole world. And John said that he was not. He said that there was someone else coming, someone more worthy and more wonderful. And the very next day, Jesus came in the vicinity of John. That’s how our account begins. That’s the “the next day” with which our text begins. Right in the very timeframe of John once again very specifically telling others about Jesus, there was Jesus. And John pointed to him and said, “There he is!” He said, “Look! The Lamb of God!” He explained that this person, Jesus, was the one John had been speaking about and preaching about all along, one who outranked him and who existed before him. John knew who he was, and John was convinced of who he was because God had carefully revealed it to John without a doubt. And John wanted everyone else to know, too. And we have that same message to know and to believe as well. This is the one. Jesus is the one individual to whom every promise and every prophesy of God had pointed, the one about whom all of the Scriptures testify. He is the one that God promised to Adam and Eve, the one God guaranteed to Abraham and his descendants, the one about whom so much had been revealed through so many prophets. He is the Messiah, the Christ. And the reason that is such an important truth is that we need him. John didn’t just say “Look! The Lamb of God!” He said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” That’s what we need, and that’s why we need him so much! People from all sorts of different occupations and walks of life came to John as he worked in the wilderness. And for all of them he told them how things were wrong in their lives. He told them about the ways that they had offended God who created them, just as every generation of people before them had. And many listened. Many understood that they had indeed fallen short of God’s expectations. They were not perfect. They were sinners, and that meant that they needed a Savior. That’s what you and I need, too. We can each look at our own lives and our own vocations and realize how far short of perfect we have fallen. We haven’t been the parents, or the children, or the friends, or the neighbors that we should have been. We haven’t been the employers or employees that the people around
us deserved. We haven’t been the pastors or doctors or lawyers or accountants or members of any other profession who always had the best interest of others at heart, who always served our customers and clients and members, who always loved others even more than we loved ourselves. No, we have consistently and persistently done the exact opposite. We can and ought to look at ourselves and say, “It’s hopeless. I am worthless. God have mercy on me, a sinner.” And then we need to be pointed away from ourselves and toward someone else. Look! There he is! It’s Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! You’ve seen why you need him, now see him. God revealed him through John the Baptist, and he revealed him to John the Baptist. John saw the Holy Spirit land on him and remain on him in the form of a dove. John confessed about him that he is God from eternity, outranking John and existing before John. But he had come into this world to be the Lamb, the sacrifice. The ears of the Israelites and Jews of Johns day would have immediately thought of all the sacrifices, all the lambs that had been offered up on God’s altar at God’s Temple. They would have imagined the blood that had been shed and sprinkled so often in order to deal with the sins and uncleanness of the people for generation after generation. But Jesus was not A lamb of God, he was and is The Lamb of God. His one, once-and-for all sacrifice of himself on the cross, his perfect life and innocent death, his holy precious blood, that sacrifice would give meaning to all the other sacrifices. Because his would do exactly as John said, it would take away all the sins of the whole world. What you needed most you have in Jesus: the forgiveness of sins, and along with forgiveness, life and salvation. And understand also the implications. When you are troubled, you don’t need to look at yourself and wonder “What can I do better? How can I work harder?” No, you can look to Jesus and remember that he is the Lamb of God and that he loves you and will see you through. And so even though there is still a part of you, just like there is a part of me, that doesn’t want to look to or rely on Jesus, even though so many of our problems we bring upon ourselves, even though we live in a world that will be full of troubles and trials, we can have absolute confidence. We can point at Jesus and say, “Look! The Lamb of God who has taken away my sin!” And, consider this: if he has taken away my sin, if he has given me salvation, I can certainly rely on him for everything else that I need right now! And that is news worth sharing. John the Baptist received from God what he shared with others. A couple disciples of John heard his message and went to follow Jesus, which seems to be exactly what John hoped that they would do. And those disciples, when they learned more about Jesus, went and told others. You are here today, you know the Lamb of God, because that message has been passed along by many others. And each of us has the opportunity to pass it along to others. Isn’t that what you want to do with good news? Don’t you want to tell others, celebrate it together, and be happy together? Why would we not want to do that with the best news of all? Why would we not want to say to others, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”? And it makes sense that we would first share with those closest to us who don’t yet know. When Andrew knew, he shared it with his brother, Simon. When John had the news to share, he shared it with his close associates, his disciples. Parents, friends, neighbors, coworkers—point them to Jesus. Invite them to see him the way that you do. Encourage them to learn more, to study along with you, to read the Bible, to attend church. And there are other ways to do the same thing. With your offerings you support others who go and do the work of pointing to Jesus on our behalf. With your prayers you ask God’s blessing on all who point to Jesus and say, “Look! The Lamb of God!” So join with me today in thanking God for John the Baptist and for his pointing people to Jesus. Join with me in admiring Andrew and the other disciple who listened and followed Jesus and invited others to do the same. Join me in thanking God for all who have shared the good news with us. And moved by that amazing news, let us do the same job they once did. Let us point to Jesus for our own sake and for the sake of others and say, “Look the Lamb of God, who takes away your sin and mine, who takes away the sin of the world.”
The Text: John 1:29-41 (EHV) The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘The one coming after me outranks me because he existed before me.’ 31 I myself did not know who he was, but I came baptizing with water so that he would be revealed to Israel.” 32
John also testified, “I saw the Spirit descend like a dove from heaven and remain on him. 33 I myself did not recognize him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I saw this myself and have testified that this is the Son of God.” 35
The next day, John was standing there again with two of his disciples. 36 When John saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look! The Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38
When Jesus turned around and saw them following him, he asked, “What are you looking for?”
They said to him, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” 39 He
told them, “Come, and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying. They stayed with him that day. It was about the tenth hour. 40
Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his own brother Simon and say to him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which is translated “the Christ”).