Point to, Name the, Proclaim the, Encounter with & Changed by: The Lamb of God
Thirteen words. That’s how many words were used to preach the first documented sermon about the person and mission of Jesus Christ, and humanity’s need for him. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Thirteen words--that’s all that John the Baptist needed to preach a great sermon, now tell me, when’s the last time you heard a Baptist, or a Lutheran, or any kind of pastor for that matter, preach a sermon with only a baker’s dozen vocabulary? Can’t think of any? Me neither. And let me tell ya, it’s not going to happen today either since my word count is already at one-hundred-nine and I haven’t even really started yet!
Thirteen words for John’s sermon, and it’s going to take me about 13 minutes to explain it in my sermon. But I’m going to break down this thirteen-word-sermon and the continuing effects of that sermon using five words: Point. Name. Proclaim. Encounter. Changed.
Write them down if you’d like. Point. Name. Proclaim. Encounter. Changed.
[POINTS]
First, John the preacher points. This is an epiphany action paired with an epiphany word—Behold! Look! [clap-clap] yoo-hoo! Listen up, people! I’m about to say something important! John the preacher yells to us with the same urgency and intensity as one would yell if a frozen hockey puck ricocheted off the boards and into the stands! Heads up! Hey! Look out! John the preacher grabs our attention and points his long bony finger away from himself and then names the subject of his sermon.
[NAMES]
Behold! Here is Jesus the Lamb of God Like the image of the bald eagle is to America, so is the lamb the quintessential symbol of God’s people, Israel. Jewish law specified that many different animals could be used for certain ritual sacrifices--rams, goats, bulls, birds, and such--but lambs, were indicated more than any other animal. A sacrificial lamb, killed on the altar, atoned for the sins of the individual and the entire community.
Lamb imagery also hearkens back to the Exodus, the story of the Passover, when lamb’s blood was painted on the doors, protecting the Israelites from the angel of death and paving a path to freedom. The image of a lamb represented the continual act of God rescuing God’s people from oppression.
Jesus as the Lamb of God, however, is significant beyond the confines of Hebrew history and law. Naming Jesus the Lamb of God symbolizes the juxtaposition of God’s might and power. A symbol of God showing up in unexpected, surprising and yet familiar ways. Jesus, the Lamb of God, the embodiment of God, shows up not like a fierce and feared conqueror, but like a lamb--meek, innocent, vulnerable, disarming, inviting.
[PROCLAIMS]
He got our attention, he named the subject, so now with the final eight words John tells us why he’s interrupted our-regularly-scheduled-programmed-lives: to proclaim why this world consumed by sin so desperately needs this Lamb of God to take that sin away.
Sin is such a loaded word, sometimes Often, I think we either over-complicate it or just try to ignore it all together. So let me put the use a different term: sin is brokenness, and this world is overwhelmed with brokenness. Brokenness within ourselves, brokenness in our relationships with others, and brokenness in our relationship with God. John, in this little sermon, diagnoses sin and as the problem of our broken world. This is the first part of proclamation--the part that leaves you feeling discouraged and deflated.
It’s important to acknowledge our sin, see our limitations, admit what we are not, that we cannot save ourselves from this broken condition. When we understand our own helplessness, only then can we finally hear the second part of proclamation, the freeing words of the gospel fully proclaimed: Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin and brokenness of the world—the whole world! This was good news for John’s followers along the Jordan, and it continues to be good news for you and me and for all the world and everything in it. Behold the Lamb of God who restores relationship and wholeness in this broken world.
The Greek translation proclaims not only what the Lamb of God does, but also how he does it. The word airo (ah-ee-ro) is one word in Greek, and it means “to take away,” “remove”; and it also means “to lift up,” “to bear,” “to raise.”[1] The Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world as he is lifted up upon the cross, bearing the sin of the world, and raising us up to new life.
Point. Name. Proclaim. Thirteen words to preach the gospel. But the sermon doesn’t end there. The preached Word of God is a living and active Word. It’s a Word that sends you out to seek the Lamb of God who invites you to “come and see.” And when you encounter the Lamb of God, when Jesus pulls you into relationship with Him, you are forever changed.
[Encounter, Changed-Disciples]
For the two disciples, the preached Word sent them away from their “home congregation” to follow Jesus down a dusty road. “What are you seeking?,” Jesus asks them [v. 38]. All they know is that they are seeking HIM. So they ask him as much--“Rabbi, where are you staying or where are you abiding[2]?” Jesus invites them to “Come and See” [v. 39]. So they went and saw where Jesus was abiding and they spent the day abiding with him.
This encounter with the living Christ changed them forever-- it changed them into preachers and it changed their identities. Verse 40 tells us that the first thing the disciple Andrew did was find his brother Simon so he could tell him “we have found the Messiah/Christ/Anointed One.” But it wasn’t enough just to tell him, Andrew also had to show him. Andrew brought his brother to Jesus so that he too could encounter and be changed by the Lamb of God.
For Simon, encountering the living Christ changed his whole identity. No longer was he named Simon, Son of John. No longer was he identified by his heritage or family relationships, but his identity was transformed, changed from Simon to Peter, The Rock—he’s given a new name reflecting his new calling after his encounter with Christ.
[ENCOUNTER and CHANGED-US]
John’s sermon and the effects of this sermon didn’t end with those first disciples. Point. Name. Proclaim. Encounter. Changed. These five words, the form and effect of the preached Word of God that has been cycled and repeated far beyond the banks of the river Jordan, spreading the message of Jesus to every corner of the earth, through every time and age for thousands of years. This is the ripple effect of the preached word which points, names, and proclaims, leading to encounters with Christ that leave you changed--this sermon, this living and active Word of God is still alive today. You and me—we too, are changed by our encounters with the living Christ.
The disciples encountered Jesus on the road, we encounter Jesus in the word, water, wine, and bread. Hearing God’s Word changes you into a preacher--maybe not from a pulpit or by the banks of a river, but a preacher nonetheless. When you hear the Word, it doesn’t stay entombed in your body. It’s living and breathing and active and you are changed, transformed into a mouthpiece, your voice speaks the Word—You, like John the Baptist, like Andrew the disciple, you are changed into a person who cannot help but sharing the transformative, relational love of God through Christ Jesus.
Along with the Word, we also encounter Jesus in the sacramental elements. Come and see, Jesus says. Come and splash in the waters of fountain! In baptism we encounter the living, crucified, and resurrected Christ and we become inheritors of his death and his resurrection. As the water pours over your head you are forever changed—renamed and claimed as a beloved child of God.
We encounter Christ at the sacrament at the altar. Come and see, come and taste, Jesus says—come and taste the goodness of the Lord in the wine and the bread. Come to the table and be nourished by my body and blood, taste the forgiveness of sins, taste the restoration of the brokenness within you, gather at the table as a beloved family of God.
In the Word, water, wine, and bread we encounter—again and again the living Christ, the Lamb of God—and through this encounter we are forever changed. This new identity does not stay hidden, but bursts forth from our bodies, this new identity is a new calling—calling us to point, to name, to proclaim, to encounter and be changed by the Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Behold the Lamb of God—given for you.
Amen.
Vicar Rebecca Holland
2nd Sunday After Epiphany
Year A, John 1:29-42
Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church
Robbinsdale, MN
[1] Strong’s Greek 142;αιρω (ah’-ee-ro) https://biblehub.com/greek/142.htm
[2] Strong’s Greek 3306; μενω (men-oh): stay, abide, remain, await https://biblehub.com/greek/3306.htm