Redeeming Love

Robert E. Hall
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

January 20, 2008

Text: John 1: 29-42

Of all of the titles Jesus is given in the New Testament, “Lamb of God” is one of the most confusing. It is confusing because we do not know the background of the term. The term is one of the principal images in Jewish religion----not necessarily as it is observed today, but in ancient times. Here are a few of the meanings that were current in the first century AD.

When the Hebrew people were escaping slavery under the Pharaoh in Egypt, they were told to take lamb’s blood and smear it on the frames of their doors, so that the bad things that were going to happen to the Egyptians wouldn’t happen to them. So, innocent lambs were slaughtered for the sake of their deliverance. Jesus’ last supper with his disciples was during the annual observance of this deliverance, called Passover.

In the sacrificial system that developed around the temple in Jerusalem, sacrifices were offered to God. “The sinner seeking reconciliation [with God] laid his hand on the head of the sacrificial animal, signifying his own identification with it. In the shedding of the blood, the sinner symbolized the giving up of his own life.” (Van Harvey, “Atonement,”
A Handbook of Theological Terms, 1964)

Another image of the Lamb of God is found in Isaiah and Jeremiah, where the messiah or the people of God would suffer like a lamb led to the slaughter. In this suffering, the people of God would be liberated.

In apocalyptic literature of the time, the Lamb of God was imagined as a future conquering sovereign, the one who would bring God’s kingdom to fruition on earth as it was in heaven by defeating the forces of evil once for all time.

Which meaning did John the Baptist have in mind when, upon seeing Jesus he shouted, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world?” We can’t be sure. But we can see that naming someone “Lamb of God” in that setting would be powerful indeed! John identifies Jesus as the “Son of God” who will free them, and the whole world, from the oppression of sin and death through a sacrifice of his own life. Look at it this way: God would choose someone of apparently no power to confront and conquer the power of evil.

(Van Harvey contends that, “in calling Jesus the lamb of God…. the early Christians expressed their understanding that the sinner must become identified with the life and death of Jesus Christ…..It is doubtful if the idea that the victim was paying a penalty on behalf of the sinner was at all important.” )

In time, theologians tried to make sense of Jesus as the sacrificial lamb in at least three ways:

We are captive to evil. God in Christ defeats the powers of sins and death through enduring their worst. The Lamb is the victor over evil.

We are hopelessly guilty. Christ paid the penalty for humankind’s disobedience of a just God. Christ takes upon himself the punishment due all of us.

We are afraid of God. Christ, in his servant life and death is the “embodiment of God’s sacrificial love….” When we behold this love of God, our hearts are moved and we are drawn into a relationship based on trust instead of fear. (Van Harvey)

I have never known anyone to be converted by a theory of the atonement. I agree with C.S. Lewis and others that ‘theories about Christ’s death are not Christianity: they are explanations about how it works.” And not all Christians will agree about how it is that it works. It is like eating a good dinner. I know that it nourishes me, but I do not know exactly how it works to do that. So it is for the belief that Christ died for the sins of the world. I find it fascinating to try to think through how his suffering and death accomplished my liberation from sin and death. But belief in and abiding in Christ Jesus does this for me. And I can live without a final explanation. (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, pages 58-59)

This is quite a diversion from the simple story of John the Baptist naming Jesus! But it is important to see what a revolutionary name he was giving Jesus. The sin, the separation between us and God----the distance which we cannot get across---has been bridged by God through the gift of Jesus. And, in his life of self-giving, his suffering and death for our sakes, our sins----and the sin of the world ---have been taken away and dumped, buried in the deepest ocean. Paul says it this way, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting our trespasses against us….” (II Corinthians) John names Jesus as the one through whom God has and will save the world. In response, we discover that we are not just “imperfect creatures who need improvements: [we]are rebels who must lay down our arms.” (Lewis, p. 59) And “there’s always more mercy in God than any sin we commit.” (William Sloane Coffin, source unknown))

Following

When John the Baptist, who is a credible witness, calls Jesus Lamb of God and Son of God, his students listen---and respond. Two of them heard him say this and began to follow Jesus.

Discipleship begins with a single step in the right direction.  It still happens today. Why? “Because we believe in a Christ who was dead and is now alive, not in a Christ who was live and now is dead.” (William Placher, at Austin Presbyterian Seminary, February 25, 2002) How did you begin to follow Jesus? It may have been through the witness of a credible friend. And the more you followed, the more you were hooked.

The news that Christ died for us is the point at which many are transformed. We say: “The very death of such a good man for me?! He would step in front and take the bullet intended for me? He would stand his ground and die rather than to give in to the powers of oppression and viciousness----for me?! He would be tortured as a prisoner because he was standing up for me?! He took on the evil of this world and conquered it for my sake, and the sake of the whole world?” Lamb of God language touches us deep within, even if we can’t make rational sense of it.

Van Harvey, a former professor at SMU, expresses for me the essence of what is happening:

“Those who decide to follow [Christ]….find their existence altered and transformed in strange ways. They see things differently. What they once ignored they now find most important, and what once seemed important pales into insignificance….Everything the unbeliever points to as a sign of the utter indifference of life and therefore a sanction for getting for oneself what one can, in this short brutish life, the Christian regards as a sign of the Hidden One who glories in the richness and diversity of all things and who calls him to a life in freedom with the neighbor…..All he can say for sure is that….Christ made this difference for him and he believes it can make a difference for others.” (“The Role of Church and Ministry in a Rapidly Changing Society,” Perkins School of Theology Journal, Spring, 1968, pages 29-30)

Staying with Jesus

The two disciples who followed Jesus were asked by him, “What do you seek?” They reply, oddly it seems, by asking him, “Where are you staying?” Staying is a rich term in John’s portrait of Jesus. It can be translated “abiding.”  Remember Jesus’ words to his disciples? “If you abide in me and I in you, you will have life.” They are asking where he abides, or who he really is connected with.

Jesus replies in the simple invitation, “Come and see.”

We begin to follow Jesus because of an initial attraction, or out of desperation or curiosity or out of boredom with the rut we are in. And then we learn, by walking with Jesus, what it means for him to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

I asked myself, “What was it about Jesus that hooked me, that got me to be a disciple?”
 
My earliest memories of Jesus are of pictures of him in Sunday School curriculum. Jesus with the children; Jesus confronting Zacchaeus; Jesus teaching from a boat on the lake. Then there were the stories, which were told to me: especially the story of the Last Supper and the lost sheep. I remember memorizing the beatitudes and loving the beauty of the phrases. I remember singing the little songs of the time, “Jesus loves me,” Jesus loves the little children,” “Jesus wants me for a sunbeam.” I did not know much more than these images and stories. And I began to follow.

I am persuaded that people are drawn to Jesus by the aspects of his life and teaching which stick with them because of their need or temperament or circumstances.

Jesus in the wilderness speaks to people who know what it means to wrestle with evil and the misuse of their gifts.

Jesus calling the disciples and their dropping of nets to become fishers of people----touches those who are looking for adventure where they may have “no place to lay their heads.”

Jesus the teacher, who often said, “You have heard it said……. but I say to you….”---this Jesus touches us in our quest for a new word instead of the old, boring way that everything has always worked.

Intuitive types love to use their imaginations in response to Jesus parables.

Justice-seekers are moved by the stories of the Last Judgment in Matthew 24 and Jesus’ scorching words to the religious hypocrites who “strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.”

Those who need team spirit can be rallied by Jesus’ words in Matthew 10 about the dangers and challenges of discipleship and how to not be afraid.

People trapped in affluence and anxiety about riches get their hearts changed when they listen to the story of the rich ruler and his teaching about the lilies of the field.

And if miracles (special effects!) are what attracts you, the stories of Jesus walking on water and changing water to wine will draw you closer.

Those with the weight of leadership find themselves hearing wise advice in Jesus’ words about not lording it over others, but being a servant leader.

Children are touched by Jesus kindness to them; youth by the impertinence of the teenage Jesus teaching his parents about this true identity!

We come and see who Jesus is and we begin the process of being transformed by the grace of God.

Sooner or later, if we continue following Jesus, we end up at the cross of Jesus. And, perhaps like the centurion in Mark’s passion account, we find ourselves saying, “Truly, this man was God’s Son!”

Inviting

What happens next? We are told that the next day, Andrew, who followed Jesus, brought his brother, Simon, to Jesus. And Simon gets his new name, Cephas, or Peter (the Rock).
Then Phillip is called by Jesus and he follows. They are all from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. (This networking at its best!) Then Phillip tells his friend Nathanael that he has met Jesus. Nathanael is skeptical: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” And Phillip’s response is the same as Jesus’ to Andrew: “Come and see.”

“Seeing” is believing----is this what is being said? If you just see this man, you will be persuaded? Not exactly. There are no accounts of Jesus being charismatic in the usual meaning of that term. To “see” in John’s gospel meant to discern, to regard someone, to meet them and learn who they are. The attraction to Jesus was not superficial----Cecil De Mille movies notwithstanding!

The invited responders become the inviters. The invite persons into the fellowship of the way of Christ and let the truth do its own work.

Philipp Brooks said that the words “Come and see,” ‘invite inquiry. They proclaim a religion which is to have its own clear tests, which it invites everyone to use. It is an open faith.’” “Discipleship is not a secondhand experience. It is not a matter of authority….” but an “invitation to investigate and see for oneself. Faith is not a matter of argument and is rarely the result of clever debate, as bull sessions on the existence of God have illustrated to generations of college undergraduates….” Phillip Brooks puts it this way, ‘But a man honors me if he takes me back to the source where he found the truth, and bids me drink where he drank. I cannot take another man’s truth, but he can show me where he got his, and I will get my own and thank him.’”(Peter Gomes, “John 1:45-51,” in Interpretation, July, 1989, page 283)

The Gospel of John introduces us to a new/old form of evangelism: invitation. “It is low key, respectful and non-intrusive. It’s an overture, not a demand,  that says, ‘My church has made a difference in my life, a difference for which I am grateful. If you do not attend a church, you are welcome to come with me to see what I have found.’” In other words, “‘I have a faith by which I live; I am a part of a community of faith; I am proud of my community of faith and believe that you could benefit from being a part of it.’” This is a “gentle sharing of one’s faith commitment and its promise of hope and transformation.” (Bishop Claude E. Payne and Hamilton Beazley, Reclaiming the Great Commission, 2001, page 131)

Our invitation is to Jesus Christ and the body of Christ. When we invite people to “come and see,” it is an invitation borne out of love for God and neighbor, not for our own survival as an institution, but for the “glorious transformation of lives” and the redemption of the world. This is why it is crucial for the church to shape its life around the character of Jesus Christ, who lived to serve others for God’s sake.

Have you been introduced to Jesus Christ? Have you begun to follow him and to learn from him? Will you come and see who he is and why people like John the Baptist were blown away by the gift that he was?

Will you invite others to come and see? Will you do your level best to be sure that, when your invitees show up, they find Jesus Christ alive in us?