John 1:29-42
The next day [John] saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, "Here is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, after me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me. I myself did not know him, but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel." And John testified, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptized with the Holy Spirit. And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.
The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples! and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, "Look! Here is the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi, (which translated means teacher) where are you staying?" He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah (which translated is Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas" (which translated is Peter).
Children's focus:
Do you have nicknames? Where do they come from? One of my nicknames is "Feet," because I have big feet. Sometimes our nicknames describe what we look like or how we act, or even what we might be interested in or want to be when we grow up. Jesus has lots of names and nicknames in today's Gospel story. Lamb of God, Messiah, Rabbi. And did you hear at the end, where Jesus gave Simon a new name? Jesus named Simon Peter, which is sort of like Evan, but in a different language. It means 'Rock.' Names and nicknames help us know who people are and what they're like. Jesus gave Simon Peter his new name right away, because Jesus already knew Peter before Peter knew Jesus. We prayed in the Psalm this morning that God knows us before we are even born, and God gives all of us a new name, too. Can you remember what your new name is? I'll give you a hint: right here at the baptism font is where you're told your new name. And everybody gets that new name, because no matter what anybody else calls us, no matter where we come from or what other nicknames we have, God loves us and makes us God's own, no matter what.
Sermon from the Pulpit:
In what looks like the end, even Pilate gives Jesus a name: king of the Jews. He hangs it above Jesus when he hangs Jesus up to die. The religious leaders get angry that it's up there as a title rather than a crime, but Pilate puts it out there for the world to see, there in line with all the other criminals.
All throughout the Gospel of John we get new names for Jesus: lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Rabbi. Messiah. And Jesus himself uses metaphor after metaphor to try to communicate with us who he is: I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. I am the gate for the sheep.
And being the word made flesh, he doesn't just tell us who he is, he shows us, of course. With that invitation to 'come and see,' Jesus takes his followers on the trip of a lifetime. Changing water into wine, feeding five thousand men plus women and children, healing the sick, even raising dead Lazarus after his body had begun to decay. I wonder if this is what they were looking for when they first set off to follow him. When Andrew and the other of John's disciples first heard the baptizer say, 'look, here is the lamb of God!' what were they looking for when they left to follow Jesus? What is so special about that particular name - lamb of God?
Jesus and his community grew up in a time of occupation, colonization, when the Romans had invaded their homeland with taxes and weapons and a foreign culture which might have erased them completely if not for the traditions and stories which set them apart and reminded the. Of their history and their identity. To survive as a particular people they had to be strict about keeping the Sabbath, about worship in the temple, about keeping the laws and knowing their Torah. Or at least the strictness felt necessary. In some ways, the strictness took over the heart of their religious practice, but that may be a series of stories for another time.
In any case, the stories of the Exodus were, and still are, very important to remembering who they were and where they came from. Moses and pharaoh, plagues and the promise of their own land, wandering in the wilderness and being fed manna from heaven, these were the images and defining stories which surrounded them day in and day out, year after year. So for a people under occupation to hear about one called the lamb of God, those familiar stories stirred in their memories, and the person with that name must have stirred their curiosity.
The lamb was very important in the exodus story. At the end of their slavery, after all of the plagues -but one- had made a mess of Egypt, God prepared for them an escape from the final plague - the shadow of death, which would take from every Egyptian household the life of the firstborn. The people's escape came through a lamb. Every household would take an unblemished lamb, kill it at twilight, brush the bloom of the lamb over their doorpost, and eat as much of that lamb as possible before morning, ready to be on the move, with their belts fastened, sandals on, and walking sticks in hand.
In other words, John the baptizer is pointing to Jesus as the one who would lead God's people out of the shadow of death and on toward freedom.
That freedom can sometimes feel like a wilderness. Sometimes it seems we cycle through times of growth and times of wandering where we cannot see the growth. Even when we know what we want, and have our plans laid out for reaching our goals, it can get discouraging, we can get distracted, we fail and flounder so often in our freedom that we might at times even forget we are free. In the wilderness of exodus the people grumbled and complained, they wished to return to Egypt where at least they knew the routine and knew where their next meal was coming from. They yelled at Moses, Moses yelled at God, God did a bit of yelling... But God also fed them in that wilderness. God's good earth breathed a fine mist which became like bread for the people. God's good creation swarmed ravens onto the camp when the people needed meat. God even brought forth water from the rock so that the people would not die of thirst.
And now Jesus is that bread and meat and water for us. Not only the lamb who saves us from the shadow of death and leads us into freedom, but also the bread of life who feeds us in our wilderness wandering. John's Gospel is overflowing with a beautiful word for this: MENO. It means something like remaining, setting up shop. When the disciples are invited to 'come and see,' that journey Jesus takes them on is more than a seven second sound clip or an inspirational poster. God in Jesus doesn't give folks the answer and then fly back to heaven to let us fight it out until we've gotten good and lost again (although we tend to be really good at that). God in Jesus remains with the people, stays on the earth, sticks around for the long haul, to live a natural human life with all of its foibles and fierceness. The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world is also the one who guided the people in the wilderness with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
There is a reason Jesus has so many nicknames, a reason there are so many ways we talk about God, so many images we use for the Holy Spirit. Each name, every title, connects with experience, personal or historical or communal. Every time we call upon God in whichever way we do, we call to mind the multitude of ways God is with us, remains with us, goes before us, beside us, within us. So many ways in which God has brought us resurrection, saved us from ourselves, given us new life and new purpose, guided us in the wide-open wilderness of freedom.
What are some of your names for God? How have you known God present and active among you? We are going to celebrate the Eucharist here shortly. I know at least one of our elementary-age kids is excited for Communion, she and her mom told me last night how important it is to her. I'm pretty excited for it, too. Because, for all of these names we have for God, this table is where we receive God into our hands and into our bellies. This table is where, whatever name we give to God, God gives God's own Self to us. Given and shed for you. No matter what names you carry. No matter where in the wilderness you are right now. God is here, at this table, for you. The lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Thanks be to God.
