Year A Epiphany II John 1:29-42

Most people, it seems, enjoy puzzles. There are crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, scientific puzzles, crime solving puzzles – the list goes on. There is a challenge to them, and we enjoy the opportunity to unravel and solve them. Did you notice there is a puzzle of sorts in our Gospel reading today?

John saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

“Lamb of God” is a familiar title to us, so much so we probably don’t try to unpick it. But here is the puzzle, or one of them. In today’s Gospel we are hearing from two speakers at once. One is John the Baptist, who is being described and quoted in this passage. The other is John the Apostle, who has written this passage. So, we have two different Johns speaking, in ways that are distinct, that are not identical, but which do ultimately harmonize with each other rather than clash. So, who is telling us what? What does that title mean?

“Behold the Lamb of God.”

When we hear those words, it is not unusual to think of the Lamb of God as a symbol of sacrifice. But John the Baptist is speaking at the beginning of Jesus’s ministry. And there is no indication so far that John the Baptist expects the Messiah to be a sacrificial figure.

It turns out that in first-century Judaism there was a meaning in the title “the Lamb of God” that helps us make sense of what John the Baptist likely means here. In first-century Jewish apocalyptic literature, literature which describes the complete destruction of the world, the end of time, “The Lamb of God” was an apocalyptic figure, a “warrior lamb” a “conquering lamb” who will destroy evil in the world. Now … that might seem an odd image to us … the idea of a conquering warrior lamb … but it wasn’t an odd image to the Jews of Jesus’ day. It comes up in several Jewish apocalyptic texts that were around in the first century.

John continues: This is the one I meant when I said, “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’

By birth, John the Baptist was older than Jesus, we know this from Luke’s Gospel. But he’s speaking about more than a simple age difference. John the Baptist is pointing back to the fact that Jesus existed even before His, Jesus’, birth. He was not merely born into the battle with sin in this world, but He was there from before the beginning of time, and so He is in a unique way equipped to eliminate sin, because He is preeminent, because He is powerful, and because He is not Himself subject to sin.

When John the Baptist identified Jesus as the “Lamb of God”, what he probably had in mind was the image of the Messianic apocalyptic warrior king that was to come. The warrior King who, like a great physician, will come and cure the world of sin. He will eradicate from the world rebellion against God, and with it, all the ways that human beings harm and fail to love their neighbors. John the Baptist points to Jesus as the warrior king who will eliminate all the selfishness, all the human rejection of God, all the ways people neglect, use, and abuse each other – He will eliminate them all from the world.

Jesus can do all this because He is the pure Lamb of God, He is the pre-existent One over whom sin has no power, and He is empowered by the Holy Spirit to wage war against all that sets itself against God. This is who Jesus is and what he has come to do according to John the Baptist.

But there is a second voice in our Gospel this morning – John the Apostle. John the Apostle has a different perspective from John the Baptist in part because, he, the Apostle, is writing later in time. He has been one of Jesus’ disciples, and has he lived through and past Jesus mortal life on earth. He does not contradict the Baptist, but in the Apostle’s view Jesus will not only take away the sin of the world, eradicating it as the Apocalyptic Lamb, but He will take away the sin of the world by bearing the penalty for the sin of His people, in His body, on the cross, so that all who call on His name, all who trust in Him, might be forgiven and restored to right relationship with God.

John the Apostle sees Jesus as the Apocalyptic Lamb and also as the Pascal Lamb and, as spoken of in Isaiah, as the Suffering Servant of the Lord.

And then, there is a third person or persons involved in today’s reading – the listeners.

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.

John the Baptist’s two disciples probably heard the title “Lamb of God” and interpreted it in the same way the Baptist meant it. They eagerly followed this new Rabbi. The man who would become one of Jesus close friends and disciples, Andrew, was so excited by this news, he ran to find his brother Simon, (who Jesus would rename Peter) and when he caught up with him he said, “We have found the Messiah”

How does all this apply to us? We, too, are listeners, and we believe we have found the Messiah, or we would not be here today. Our souls are bound for all eternity in an intimate relationship with God, a relationship initiated and sealed by our baptism. We have an even greater perspective, a longer stretch of time, than did the Apostle, between us and John the Baptist. But still we ask who is this Jesus and what does He do? Do we like the strong lamb John the Baptist believed in? How do we feel about being followers of the sacrificial lamb? Who, for us, is The Lamb of God?

Having a relationship with Jesus is something like opening a box that clearly states on the label, “assembly required”. We tend to shudder at that label, because we anticipate that what awaits us is a complicated and not always well defined puzzle. But that is how we are called to live.

We open that box in baptism, and the pieces that are our life in Christ tumble out. Each piece fits into the next one, but the pieces seem to go on forever, and we get distracted. We look aside at tempting, already assembled lives that assure us they will be much more pleasurable and far simpler to live than the one to which we are called. The Lamb stands by us, if we let Him, defending us from temptation, from straying, from sin.

We may find ourselves called into difficult times, hard work, moments of pain or sorrow, but the Lamb is there when we need Him, there for strength and comfort. The Lamb understands our struggles. He is the one who lovingly helps us assemble the puzzle that is our life in Him. He helps us to listen not just with our ears but with our hearts. He helps us fight against the temptations that lead us away from God and into sin, and He surrounds us with His support and fills us with the joy of His salvation. He teaches us how to love.

Who is The Lamb of God? What does this title mean to you? This is the Epiphany season in the Church, the season of discovery. We are called to discover the Lamb, to, like the men in our Gospel this morning, find Him where He is staying. All we need do to receive the fullness of grace and blessings bestowed by Him, to know Him, is to open our hearts and souls, for that is where He resides. This we can do simply, quietly in prayer, with confidence in His strength to support us, His love to sustain us, and His promise of forgiveness and salvation.

Make time each day for Jesus, time to “Behold the Lamb of God,’ He who died for us and rose again, “who takes away the sins of the world.”

Let us pray:

Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank You for the spotless Lamb of God who is without blemish or defect. Though it is we who deserve to die for our sins, Jesus, Your Son, died in our place. You have washed us and now we are whiter than snow. Keep us faithful and ever grateful for the blessing of having our sins forgiven, our lives guided and supported, and our hearts filled with Your joy and love. In Jesus Name, Amen.