Look to the Lamb

 Jesu Juva

St. John 1:29-42a                                                          

January 15, 2023

Epiphany 2A                                       

Dear saints of our Savior~

          Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.  It’s the gospel in a nutshell.  In one, simple sentence John the Baptizer perfectly summarizes the mission of Jesus Christ and the entire Christian faith.  Everything else you can say about Jesus or Christianity is really just an expansion of this one singular sentence:  Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

          To behold is to look—to fix your eyes on one person in particular.  Jesus is, therefore, a “beholdable,” visible person.  The Word has become flesh and dwells among us.  People saw Him, touched Him, heard Him, ate with Him.  You cannot behold a myth or a legend or a fictional character.  But John could point His finger at a man and say, “Look at Him.  He’s the Lamb of God.”  Jesus is a real historic figure—a man who left His footprints in the dust of history—whose death and resurrection is the pivot point of all human history.  Jesus is God in the flesh—God with a human face.

          Notice what John is doing when he says, “Behold.”  John is turning the attention away from himself to Jesus.  Jesus must increase.  John must decrease. 

John had disciples who followed him.  But he pointed those disciples to Jesus.  Andrew had been one of John’s disciples, but he followed John’s pointing finger and looked to the Lamb.  Andrew then found his brother, Simon Peter, and brought him to Jesus.  That’s how the Christian faith grew and spread—that’s how the Christian faith still grows and spreads:  people pointing other people to Jesus and saying, “Look to the Lamb!”  Don’t look at me.  Don’t direct people to look at you and your life and how blessed you are.  Lead them to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

          And by the way, when you hear “lamb,” think “sacrificial lamb.”  Today we think of lambs as cute little wooly white animals, bounding around the barnyard—something for the kids to play with at the petting zoo.  But in the Bible, “lamb” means but one thing—sacrifice.  That’s what lambs were good for.  Their throats were slit, their blood was poured out on the altar.  Their bodies were roasted and consumed. 

          Remember when Abraham was taking his little boy, Isaac, to sacrifice him?  Remember Isaac’s question as they were walking along?  “Where’s the Lamb?  Where’s the Lamb for the sacrifice?”  And remember how Abraham said, “The Lord will provide the Lamb?”  Jesus is the Lamb of the Lord’s providing. 

          And remember when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, and how the angel of death came calling for the all the firstborn on one dark and terrifying night?  Remember how it was only the blood of a lamb on the doorposts of the Hebrew homes that meant that death “passed over?”  Jesus is our Passover Lamb.  He’s our substitute, our stand-in, His life given in exchange for your life.  His blood now marks our door.

          The idea of a blood sacrifice seems almost barbaric to modern ears.  The notion that an animal had to be bled to death in order for a person to be right with God is downright offensive to many people.  You certainly can’t say that no animals were harmed in the making of the Old Testament.  Why do people object to the idea of a blood sacrifice?  Because it shows us our sin.  It shows how deeply flawed we are.  It shows how, by nature, we are so corrupt, that only the shedding of blood can make things right between us and God.  And the only reason that blood sacrifice doesn’t continue today is because of Jesus, the Lamb of God, whose blood cleanses us from all sin.

          This is why Christians more and more are looking to the crucifix instead of just a plain cross.  There’s nothing wrong with a plain cross—a cross without a Christ.  But a plain cross is no longer a distinctly Christian symbol.  Disaster relief comes from the “red cross.”  Makeshift crosses are used to mark scenes of car accidents and other tragedies.  Pop stars wear crosses as part of their bling.  Even in our polluted culture, it’s still cool to wear a cross, especially if there’s some celebrity cleavage to go with it.  But put a corpus on the cross—add the Christ to the cross—and it immediately and unmistakably becomes the highest symbol of Christianity.  Behold the Lamb of God.  See Him on the cross and contemplate that in those wounds you are healed.  The Lamb of God comes with a cross because that’s what lambs are for—they die for the sins of others.

          Notice that this Lamb dies for the sin of the world.  It’s “sin” in the singular; not “sins” in the plural.  In the church we tend to focus a lot on our sins (plural)—all the thoughts, words and deeds of ours that are contrary to the Law of God.  But all those sins (plural) are only symptoms of our sin (singular).  Sin is the condition; sins are the symptoms.  We Christians often focus on symptom management—trying to overcome specific besetting sins that really trouble us.  But the bigger problem is the underlying condition—the original sin in which our mothers conceived us. 

          Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  Not sins.  Sin.  Jesus deals with the underlying condition.  He goes for the source of the problem.  Jesus doesn’t simply take up our sins, He Himself becomes the Sinner.  Jesus becomes sin for us.  This innocent, spotless, sinless Lamb of God takes up our sin.  And He bears it all away. 

          Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  Not only our sin, but the sin of the world.  Not potentially, not theoretically, but actually.  Not just for some, but for all.  Christ didn’t come as God’s Lamb only to save the religious few, but to save the world.  He didn’t simply come for Israel, or for the church, or for you if you choose to believe in Him.  He is God’s Lamb for the whole world.  This means that every sinner is included in this Lamb.  Every person you meet has been died for by Jesus.  There’s no room for talk of how Christ died for you if you do this or that.  No, Christ died for you.  Period.  It is finished.  Believe it.  Receive it.

          God’s Lamb is for the world.  God wants the world to know about His Lamb—to trust in Him.  For in this Lamb exclusively is forgiveness and resurrection life.  You have all that in Jesus.  And what Jesus does for you, He wants to do for all.  We are called to be like John the Baptizer, pointing and proclaiming to the world that Jesus is the Lamb of God. 

          That’s our purpose here at Our Savior—to tell the good news about Jesus just like Andrew did for Simon, like John did for his disciples.  The world needs to hear it—is literally dying to hear it.  The world needs to know that there’s no person so bad that the Lamb of God did not die for them.  And there’s no one so good that they can do without the Lamb of God.  Who do you know who needs to hear that?  Who do you know who needs the Lamb of God?  Who has God placed in your path so that you can invite them here—so that they can look to the Lamb in faith?

          You can get no closer to the Lamb of God than when you come to this altar for the Lord’s Supper.  The liturgy teaches us to recognize the body and the blood of the Lamb.  For centuries, Christians have sung to the Lamb of God (the Agnus Dei) right before the distribution.  Why then and there?  Because the Lamb of God is here in bread and wine to take away your sin—to have mercy on you—to give you peace.  The altar recalls Christ’s sacrifice—when He gave His life for yours—when He took your sin and made it His.  The body of the Lamb and the blood of the Lamb are here for you.

          Behold the Lamb of God who takes away your sin.  And if He takes it away, it’s no longer yours, but His.  In the Lamb, your sin is no longer your sin.  Jesus has owned up to all of it.   He has taken that sin away.  The blood-free, shrink-wrapped, nicey-nice religion of this world is no remedy for your sin.  Only the real blood of sacrifice, shed at the cross and poured out at this altar will do for you.  Sin and sacrifice are messy business, but thank God you have perfect cleansing in Jesus—the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 

          In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.