John 1:29-42 "Come and See"

         The author of the Gospel of John makes the encounter seem so casual.  Just the day before apparently, John the Baptist had baptized Jesus – and we know from last week’s sermon that it was no ordinary baptism.  After all, the heavens were torn apart, and the sky cracked to unleash the Holy Spirit in the guise of a dove that alighted on Jesus’ shoulder and the voice of God itself proclaimed Jesus as a Beloved Son.

         In contrast to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, however, where Jesus hightails it to the wilderness for forty days following his holy dunking in the Jordan River, in Gospel of John, Jesus hangs around for a while, content to be just one of the crowd.  In fact, our story today picks up at the point when John the Baptist practically bumps into Jesus on the street corner.  

         “Hey, look, if it isn’t the Lamb of God, the one who takes away the sins of the world.  Folks, he is the one I have been talking about, you know, the one who would come after me and be greater than I could ever be.  Remember?  And I baptized him – me!  And all I can say is, you should have been here for it.  You should have been here yesterday. He is the Lamb of God, all right.”

         Lamb of God?  Now what is that supposed to mean?  It is a question we might ask ourselves, but it is definitely a question that the folks who heard John’s declaration would have asked.  Lamb of God might be a pretty familiar term in our religious vocabulary, but it certainly was not for anyone within earshot of John.  After all, this is the one and only instance in all of the Bible where this particular phrase appears.

         Reformed Church pastor Scott Hoezee has this to say about the encounter: “John calls Jesus ‘a lamb,’ which could have been perceived a couple of different ways. Lambs are often a symbol of gentleness, meekness, and vulnerability. In this sense, calling Jesus a lamb could have been a nice thing to say, but it would hardly be the type of description that would fit the Messiah. Certainly the average politician wouldn't be very successful in getting elected if the main way people thought about him was that he was a real lamb of a guy!

         But, of course, in Jesus' day, because there was that long history in Israel of using lambs as sacrifices, there was another sense in which hearing Jesus called "a lamb" might have struck some people as cruel. Maybe it would be like today calling someone a "turkey" or a "dumb bunny." Calling Jesus a lamb may have sounded like the equivalent of accusing Jesus of being a little dumb, someone easy to gang up on.

         But whether this title meant Jesus was very meek or that he was destined for the chopping block, either way it didn't seem to indicate Jesus would be very effective in the long run. Nice guys finish last and sacrificial lambs are just finished eventually.

         Yet John adds the kicker line that somehow this particular lamb-like Jesus would ‘take away the sin of the world.’ So now we have the image of a lamb and the concept of sin in the same sentence. But since the only traditional connection between lambs and sin had always involved the death of the hapless lamb, John is clearly introducing a very dark theme. This isn't the kind of thing you'd say about someone who was on his way to the top of this world's heap. This isn't how you'd describe a celebrity on a red carpet or a politician on his way to the platform where he had just been nominated for president.

         John could just as easily have said, ‘Behold, the one who is going down the tubes! Behold the loser, the victim, the dead man walking.’ How odd it must have sounded.”

         However, odd sounding or not, John repeated his proclamation the very next day – at four in the afternoon, to be precise.  You have got to love this Gospel writer, for he often includes these impossible, implausible, tiny details – like the hour of the day or the number of fish caught in a net - in his narrative.  Crazy!

         Anyway, Jesus shuffles by, just hanging out, and John announces again, “Hey, would you look at that?  It’s the Lamb of God.”  Hey, would you look at that?  It’s Katniss Everdeen.  Hey, would you look at that?  It’s Luke Skywalker.  Hey, would you look at that?  It’s Harry Potter.

         And this is where the story gets really interesting!  You see, two of John the Baptist’s followers – Andrew and some other guy (we do not know his name) – apparently are intrigued.  Katniss Everdeen?  Luke Skywalker?  Harry Potter?  The Lamb of God?  And so they begin to follow Jesus – literally, down the street.

         Papparazzi – or first disciples?  Jesus clears up that question pretty quickly when he suddenly turns to face them. 

         “What are you looking for?” he asks them.

         “Where do you live?” they respond with a second question, which is perhaps another way of saying, “We are looking for you.  We want to be with you – wherever you live, wherever you go.”

         “Come and see.”  Jesus answers simply. 

         And they do.  And Andrew must have liked what he saw because he proclaimed to his brother, Simon, whom Jesus will rename Peter, Peter the Rock. “We have found the Messiah!” he said.

         In that brief exchange, Jesus asks one straightforward question that begins to change everything.  As Scott Hoezee writes, "What are you looking for? What are you seeking? What do you want," Jesus asks. A simple question, unless the one asking it is…the Lamb of God.”  And then it becomes one of those ultimate questions.

         And so the question is posed for us as well.  What are you looking for - from your church?  What are you seeking - in your life?  What do you want in your life – and is this church – the one we call the small church with the big heart – in any way helping you figure that out?  I as your pastor may ask those questions, but, trust me, I am like John, only a follower.  There is one far greater than I who asks the same questions of you and of his church. 

         What do you want?  And what role does this church play in your seeking?  Those are critical questions to wrestle with – as individuals but also as a church family.  And this is the formal day we set aside each year to do just that.

         You see, if this church is anything more than a purely social gathering place for you, if the spiritual seeking you do in your life intersects at all with the ministries of this church, if this church enhances your spiritual seeking even one iota through experiences you have here or faith-deepening questions that are raised for you here, then, folks, you need to be at the Annual Meeting today. 

         Maybe, in the end, our answer to that question – what do you want – is as simple as the answer voiced by Andrew and the other disciple:  We want you, Jesus.  We want to be where you are and stay where you stay. But what does that really mean?  As a church, that is what we wrestle with.

         Your Council – and your pastor – and your Messiah - need your support, your suggestions, your opinions, and your voice in carving out a vision, a path we can walk down together in our collective wanting of Jesus. 

         This place is not my church – or the Council’s church – or even your church.  It is Christ’s church.  We are the Body of Christ, and we need each part of that body making Christ’s church in Raymond, Maine all that Jesus envisioned it to be.  Even if you were not planning on staying for the Annual Meeting, I invite you to stay.

         Now in the conversation with Andrew and the other unnamed follower, Jesus makes a statement as well.  In answer to their question about where Jesus is staying, Jesus responds, “Come and see.”

         There you have it - the first lesson – and perhaps the only workable lesson – in evangelizing, in witnessing, in sharing the Good News.  Now I know those words make our collective skin crawl, but if we are a church committed to growing (and that is what I keep hearing), then everyone outside these doors needs to know what is going on inside these walls.  They need to know that if they are seeking something spiritually, they might just find it here.  We – each one of us – owe those outsiders an invitation to come and see. 

         You know, virtually every study ever done on church growth finds that the churches that successfully grow do so by embracing the fact that the responsibility for growth does not lie in the pastor’s job description, but rather is a congregational challenge. 

         Lutheran pastor David Lose writes this about evangelism:  “If you really want to understand why the church is declining in North America, you need to recognize how frightened most of our people are by the word “evangelism.” For some, it comes from being on the receiving end of someone else’s evangelism. Whether asked “Have you accepted Jesus?” by a domineering brother-in-law or “Do you know where you’re going when you die?” by a well-meaning but intense co-worker, too many folks have experienced evangelism as coercive, even threatening.

         For others, the explanation isn’t nearly as sinister. It may be a conviction that religion isn’t something polite people talk about; or that one’s faith is private; or simply the desire not to be perceived as one of those people (you know, the kind we just described).

         Whatever the reason, most of our people not only have little experience in evangelism but are downright frightened of it. And that, of course, cripples our ability to reach out with the good news.

         “Come and see.”  Jesus even gives us the words to say. 

         Maybe we start small, really small (a baby step actually) – by simply noticing times where we see God working in our lives and in the world.  That way our secular and religious lives begin to intertwine again – as they should.

         But we cannot get stuck there.  The next step is learning to share.  It is not a big deal.  In fact, let’s try it.  Right now - turn to someone near you and share one reason you like this church, one reason you choose to come.

         But we cannot stop there either.  The final step is inviting – using those words of Jesus – “Come and see.”

         As David Lose continues, “This may at first seem the hardest of all. It can feel so intrusive, and of course it puts demands on us to follow through. And yet … think about it: we invite people to things all the time. To join a book club or play tennis, to go to an after-school event or to come over for dinner, to attend a sporting event or to go shopping.

         We’re actually quite good about inviting folks to come to things … just not to church. And, of course, we invite people to those things we really like, those things we’ve enjoyed and think others would, too. We need to ask ourselves first, what elements of our church life do we most value? That is, we’re not just going because we have to but because we enjoy it…Then, our task is simply to think about who might also enjoy this event or activity and invite them. Framed this way, it’s probably not as hard as it seems.” 

         The invitation does not have to extend to worship either.  How about a youth group movie?  How about the next concert – or the next mission effort?  And if you are uncomfortable with those ideas, how about organizing something that you would feel comfortable inviting a friend or neighbor to?  Come and see.

         Hey, look, it’s the Lamb of God.  Hey, look, we are trying to figure out just what that Lamb of God means for our lives.  Come and see.  Hey, look, it’s the one who embodies God’s dream of a world defined by justice and love. Hey, look, we try to follow him here.  Come and see.  Hey, look at all we do for the community of Raymond. Hey, look, we do not have all the answers, but we can maybe figure some of them out together, here, in this small church with a big heart.  Hey, look, come and see.  Just come and see.

by Rev.Nancy Foran, Raymond Village Community Church UCC, Raymond, Maine