Second Sunday after the Epiphany
January 20, 2008
Text: John 1:29-42a
What are you looking for? To be more grammatically correct, I should ask, for what are you looking? What are we seeking?
We are seeking many things. If we are thinking about the necessities of life: we are looking for affordable housing, good-paying jobs, reasonable prices at the grocery store, stable fuel oil prices and adequate health care. Sounds like lead-ins to stump speeches by political candidates.
However, it is not only material things we want, we also look for the soul-satisfying things of life. We want the richness, the beauty and the good things of life. Therefore, we are also looking for love from our spouses, parents and children. We are looking for success in our careers, satisfaction in what we have accomplished in life and what are the meaning and purpose of our lives. We are looking for acceptance, respect and compassion from others. We are looking for forgiveness, empathy, and support. We are looking for the fullness of life. We are looking for a future that will be better than the past. There is much for which we are looking.
What are you looking for? Jesus asked this question of two of John’s disciples who were following him. We cannot know exactly what they were looking for, but when they addressed Jesus as Teacher, we could assume that they are looking for a teacher. Now, obviously they were not looking for a schoolteacher, who would teach them English, history, math, science and a foreign language. They were looking for a teacher who would teach them about life. They wanted to learn how to live life successfully, how to get along with others, how to deal with stress and the crises of life, and how to manage one’s life in good times as well as in bad. They were looking for a way that their past could be forgiven, that their present could be renewed and that their future would be bright. Jesus then invites them to “Come and see.” They went to where Jesus was staying.
Very seldom do the Scriptures give us the specific hour an event occurs. However, in our text this morning, we are told that the two disciples of John met Jesus as about four o’clock. One of the things the 4:00 time indicates is that the disciples probably stayed overnight with Jesus. In other words, Jesus had a good number of hours during which to teach the disciples.
What did he teach them? Did he give them self-help courses on how to succeed in one’s career, in one’s marriage and in one’s personal life? Did Jesus have the latest edition of a Dale Carnegie course? Maybe Jesus had the first century edition of the Purpose Driven life, or videos of Dr. Phil’s programs, or maybe videos of Ophra Winfrey Shows.
We are not told what Jesus, their designated Rabbi taught them. However, what we do notice from this text is that when the disciples left the place where Jesus was staying, they has a different title for Jesus. They no longer called him Rabbi, but now they called him the Messiah.
Andrew was one of those disciples who called Jesus Rabbi. However, when he went to find his brother Simon, he told him, “We have found the Messiah.” Andrew did not tell his brother that they had found the Great Rabbi, or for that matter a great self-help guru. He told him they had found the Messiah.
While staying and learning from Jesus, Andrew and the other disciple had found what God had given them to look for – the Messiah.
What we have in our Gospel reading his morning is what God has given us to look for. In the opening verse of our reading, John says, “Here is the Lamb of God.” Throughout this text, God is saying to us, “Here is what you are looking for.”
Here is the Lamb of God. This title John uses for Jesus points us to his sacrifice on the cross. There by the sacrifice of his precious body and blood Jesus frees us from our bondage to sin and death, just as the blood of the paschal lamb of God freed the people of Israel from Egypt. Here is what we are looking for.
Here is the Son of God. This second title John uses for Jesus proclaims to us that Jesus is God’s Chosen One. He is equal to God in authority, power and glory. Jesus, being the Son of God, he intercedes for us, making us right with God, and making us to be inheritors of God’s unending love. Here is what we are looking for.
Here is the one who takes away the sin of the world. Of no one else could John make this statement. Jesus, being the Lamb of God, takes away the guilt of our wrongful deeds, the sorrow of our failures and the fear of our separation from God. Here is what we are looking for.
Here is Jesus the one on whom the Holy Spirit descended and remained. Jesus will baptize us with the Holy Spirit so that He can be one with us and, we with Him, and the heavenly Father. Here is what we are looking for.
The disciples of John found this Jesus not to be just another Teacher they had been looking for. Rather Jesus was more than they were looking for. Jesus was the Messiah, the Lamb of God, who would take away the sin of the world.
Jesus is our Lamb of God, our Messiah, who for us and the world will take away our sin and will free us from our deaths. God has given us His Son, the Lamb of God that we might find the Messiah, the one we truly need in our lives.
Jesus is the one for whom we are looking.