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“The
Lamb of God”
a sermon by
Thomas L. Jenkins
Text: John 1:29-42
Here
is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
DEAR SISTERS AND BROTHERS what I would love for us all to hear (myself
included) is that God leads us in certain ways, through new desires in
our hearts and circumstances in our lives, to see Christ approaching us
in ways which the Holy Spirit has encouraged us to notice, maybe for the
first time. Of course, we
often misunderstand and misinterpret issues in our lives.
And what we may very well believe is that our wrong perceptions
are aspects of the sin of the world that the Lamb of God has, is, and
will take away from our world, for our blessing.
There was a British soldier in WWII who had been wounded by enemy
bombing in such a way that he was lying down in a field, unable to move
himself; but he was conscious. A
chaplain from his military institution, who was also a Church of
Scotland Minister, saw him lying down in the field; and had a sense and
feeling that the soldier was still alive.
Therefore he took the risk of running out into the middle of the
field which had just been attacked.
When he reached the wounded soldier, he turned him over on his
back and then sat him up. They looked each other in their eyes, and then the soldier
asked the chaplain a question: “Is there a God behind the back of
Jesus?” For the chaplain
this was a question he had never heard, exactly like this before.
But the faith of Christ that the Holy Spirit had laid within him
did answer through him: “No! There is not a God behind the back of
Jesus.”
Obviously, this soldier, experiencing a life threatening time, and moved
by pain, anxiety, and fear, believed in Jesus. However, the influence of
the sin of the world was causing him to question whether there was a God
behind the back of Jesus who did not love him, care for him, and give of
God’s self for him, as he believed Jesus had.
And because of God’s ministry to him, the soldier now saw Jesus
coming toward him in a totally new and life giving faith and
understanding.
For the chaplain, T.F. Torrance, this experience lead him to put a lot
of his brilliant theological gifts to teaching the church more about the
personal oneness and unity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Spirit. Thomas Forsyth
Torrance died on this past December 2, 2007.
He was 94 years old. He
was one of the most influential British theologians.
He gave his life to the truth that there is not a God behind the
back of Jesus. His name and
his work will live on and inspire certain Christians of future
generations to see Jesus coming to them in a new way.
About 10 or twelve years ago, some friends of mine and I had lunch with
T.F. Torrance. Knowing what
a scholar he was, one of us asked him what he was reading in those days.
His answer was “The Bible.”
Maybe we are seeing Jesus coming toward us right now showing us
that he is more interested in personal faith, hope, and LOVE than even
in intellectualism.
God will continually lead us to where we may see Christ approaching us
in new ways.
Isaiah 49:1 reads (about Isaiah): “Listen
to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away! The Lord
called me before I was born…”
In a similar fashion John the Baptist was the one called by God
to have to proper voice, even in the wilderness, to proclaim, “Make
straight the way of the Lord.”
In the passage we read form the Gospel of John, John the Baptist
testifies that even when God called him to this specific style of
revelation to Israel, he did not know Jesus. However, the Holy Spirit had already put in John’s mind and
heart, “He on whom you see the
Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.”
And so, this very day that John the Baptist saw Jesus coming
toward him declared, “Here is
the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world…this is the Son of
God.”
Later In John the Baptist’s life he was arrested and put in jail
because of the religious and political persecutions against all of this
new kind of faith in Jesus, among so many people.
Because of his own trial and sufferings, he was certainly
questioning God, based on temptations to misinterpret this whole
situation.
John sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus if he was really the one
sent from God, or are we to wait for someone else.
Jesus answered them with these words, “Go
and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their
sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead
are raised, the poor have good news brought to them.
And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.” (Luke
7:22-23)
John heard his disciples tell him all that they had seen and heard about
what was happening through Jesus’ ministry in this world.
And, I believe Jesus knew that this would speak to him in his
heart, based on what kind of faith had been given to John. And also,
John was going to experience Christ coming to him in a new way, through
his disciples teaching him, AND BLESSED IS ANYONE WHO TAKES NO OFFENCE AT ME.
In the midst of John going through his suffering, and asking
questions of God that very well are effects of the influence of the sin
of the world, the Word of God came to him in a manner that erased this
particular aspect of sin in him, and gave him a question where the
answer would reveal to him how blessed he is by God. He, like the soldier in WWII, was asking questions about
Jesus, but they both knew that they take no offence in Jesus.
Do we take offence at Jesus? No, of course not, we are baptized in
Jesus. We are blessed in
God!
Do we ask questions of God that come out of fear, distress, anger at
pain, and disappointment when we are in times of suffering?
Yes, of course we do. But,
God knows the affect that sin has on us, and God knows and will send us
the right answer to real question being asked in the Holy Spirit.
When we are in peace and in joy, and the faith that God has given us is
seeking understanding, it is very good then to ask real questions:
“Who is Jesus? What
became of him? What does that have to do with us?
You know I love the quote of Karl Barth: “The answer is in the
question.” What he means
is that we as human beings in the world of sin are the question.
We are the question. God is the answer. The answer is in the
question. God is in you.
At the end of our Gospel of John reading, when Simon met Jesus, before
we even know what kind of questions he is asking, Jesus still gives him
an answer. Your real name
is rock. In other words, you Simon are a rock.
Friends, no matter where we are in our lives God is revealing to us new
ways to see and understand Christ coming to us, not from the outside,
but from him being deeper within us than we are within ourselves.
The Lamb of God is in us!
Let us pray……… AMEN!
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