It’s Him! The Lamb of God -- Lectionary Reflection for Epiphany 2A
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 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 baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
35 The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 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?” 39 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 o’clock in the afternoon. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed. 42He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
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Back
in my college days, Campus Crusade for Christ (now called Cru), launched an
evangelistic effort utilizing the “I Found it!” slogan. The campaign featured bumper stickers with
the slogan and a telephone number. You
can imagine how this went – bumper stickers appeared in all manner of places,
most having nothing to do with finding Jesus or salvation. The campaign tried to appeal to our human
search for spiritual peace, for as Augustine so cogently pointed out, “our
hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.” As we continue this journey of discovery
called Epiphany, we hear voices bearing witness that they have found the one
they’ve been looking for.
The
lectionary takes back to the baptismal ministry of John. Unlike in Matthew (last week’s reading was
from Matthew 3:13-17), the Gospel of John doesn’t record the baptism of Jesus. Should we assume a baptism took place or not? Whatever the case, in this scene Jesus is simply in the vicinity, walking toward
and past John, but never really seeming to interact with him. As for John, we see him involved in a
ministry of witness. He has made it
clear that he isn’t the one the people are looking for. Another is coming; one who will outrank him,
the one he calls here the Lamb of God and the Son of God. The one who is coming will baptize not with
water but with the Holy Spirit. The one
who is coming, and is now here, is the one on whom John has seen the Spirit
descend. Did this occur in the context
of baptism as Matthew suggests? John’s
Gospel doesn’t say. But John the
Baptist declares that his baptism is preparatory for the one who is
coming.
He
who is coming is declared to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the
world. The question the passage raises,
without offering answers concerns the way in which the Lamb takes away the sins
of the World. It is easy for us to read
in atonement theory, but is this John’s intention? John does make great use of the Lamb imagery,
including noting that Jesus dies at the moment of the sacrifice of the Passover
lamb. And while the sacrifice of the
lamb at Passover doesn’t directly connect to atonement for sins, the imagery of
sacrifice is in the air. In context, we
should see this moniker as a symbol of Jesus’ messianic calling. He is the chosen one, the anointed by the
Holy Spirit. And so as Jesus walks by,
John points him out and tells even his own disciples that this is the one they’ve
been looking for. He is the chosen one. At that moment two of these disciples, one of
whom is Andrew, leave John and attach themselves to Jesus.
Before
we move to the next scene it would be good to stop for a moment and take in
this scene. John, according to this
Gospel, has been given a ministry of preparation. He seems to know this and understand it. But surely the rapidity with which his own
disciples abandon him for Jesus must hurt.
After all, he had committed his entire life to the service of God. He had been that voice crying in the
wilderness. He had drawn crowds, but now
all of that was slipping away. He was
but a witness pointing to another. He
had to decrease so that another might increase.
At the very least, you’d think that Jesus could stop by and have a chat,
thanking John for all the preliminary work he’d done. But we see none of that here. Jesus moves into the forefront of the story,
and John retreats into the shadows.
What
is clear in this reading is that John is expecting the Messiah to appear, and
his disciples are looking for him as well.
They seem to believe that John will know when the chosen one appears, so
why not stick close to him until the time comes when they can embrace the one
they’ve been looking for.
As they approach
Jesus, he asks them: “What are you
looking for?” And they respond by asking
him – where are you staying? In other
words – we’re looking for you. And Jesus
answers come with me, and they follow.
And reading between the lines, it doesn’t appear that they looked
back.
If the reference
to four o’clock in the afternoon suggests that when the end of the day had
come, then the next scene occurs the day following. After Andrew spends the night with Jesus,
perhaps having a deep conversation about his message and ministry, he goes and
gets his brother – Simon, whom Jesus will rename Cephas (Peter).
The
message that Andrew delivers to Peter is key.
Andrew tells his brother that he had found the Messiah. For the first time in John’s Gospel, Jesus is
directly identified as the Messiah. For
Andrew the one Israel longed to see was in their midst. The time of Israel’s renewal was at
hand. While Mark is rather coy about
Jesus’ messianic identity, from the very beginning John wants us to know that
Jesus isn’t just a prophet (he is that as well), he is the Messiah. He is
the one who will bring renewal to Israel.
But
what is that we hear? Do we hear a voice
telling us to focus our attention on Jesus – the Lamb of God, the Chosen
One, the one who brings to us the Holy Spirit?
Do we hear the call to attach ourselves to this one who restores not
just a nation but all of creation to right relationship with God? Do we hear a call to join Andrew in
sharing the word with our neighbors – I’ve found the one we’ve been looking
for, the one in whom our restless hearts will find their rest?
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