SECOND SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY Year A January 15, 2023
Our readings
today start like a spruiker selling a newspaper… “extra, extra read all about
it…” Isaiah says, “Listen to me, O
coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away!”
He goes on
to talk about himself and his calling from God, but there is a very strong
sense that this is bigger than just Isaiah… and Isaiah confirms this by saying,
"You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified."
If you had
the sense that Isaiah’s proclamation is some profound prophecy, you are
right. It is bigger than Isaiah, and even
bigger than Israel… Although, in typical prophetic style, this IS about Isaiah
and IS about Israel, but this is also and especially about the Messiah. What’s more, we learn right back here in this
ancient prophecy that the Messiah is the light of the nations… for all. This anointed one, the saviour, is for all –
both near and far.
Last week we
celebrated the feast of the Epiphany- the
fact that it was revealed that Jesus was born as saviour for all. This week we continue to see the evidence of
that revelation.
Extra,
extra, read all about it; God gives his servant as a light to the nations, that
His salvation may reach to the end of the earth.
In our
Gospel reading we see this revelation about the Messiah continue, and we get a
sense of how it must have felt for those people who were following John the
Baptist. I imagine that, to begin with,
they may have been a little bewildered.
John had
been baptizing and preaching a message of repentance and then this mysterious
thing happened where Jesus was baptized.
John the Baptist makes a declaration, “Behold the Lamb of God”.
The Gospel
of John is the only Gospel that actually doesn’t talk about the baptism of
Jesus, but instead quotes John the Baptist as referring to Jesus as the “lamb
of God” on two separate times. On the second
occasion these particular followers of John, then begin to follow Jesus.
In those
days, if you wanted to be a disciple – which is basically a learner, or student,
you would decide on a teacher to follow.
When you did this, you would not just listen to the teachings of your
Rabbi, but you would stay with them so that you could learn to be like them in
every way. It seems that John was encouraging
these disciples to follow Jesus, but it wasn’t until the second declaration
that this was the “Lamb of God” that the two disciples then followed Jesus.
“Lamb of God”. What was John saying?
The lamb of
God was a term known to the Jewish people as that sacrificial lamb which was
offered at the feast of Passover. It was
a memorial feast from the time when the Israelites were in Egypt and God sent
many plagues to convince Pharoah that he needed to let the Israelites go free. The final plague was death, where every first
born was taken. The Israelites were told
that they needed to sacrifice a perfect lamb with no blemish and paint its
blood on the door way. The blood of the
lamb, would cause the Angel of death to pass over that house hold and they
would be saved from this plague of death.
They were saved by the blood of the Lamb.
Every Jewish
person was familiar with this story because they celebrated the feast each
year. They also knew that God had
promised to send a Messiah… With this understanding
of the minds of the people who listened to John the Baptist, what do you imagine
was happening in the minds of those people as they heard John declare, “Behold
the Lamb of God.”?
The Lamb of
God was destined to be sacrificed. Those
early followers of Jesus needed to do some calculations about becoming a
follower of Jesus. The “Lamb of God”
terminology was not… “Ah lets follow this gentle lamb”… It was a promise of God’s deliverance, a sign
of the fulfillment of prophecy, but it was also a warning.
Following
the Messiah would mean following the “Lamb of God”… someone who would save us
all, but his journey would be a tough one, ultimately ending in the ultimate sacrifice.
Now do you remember
what I said about being a disciple? It
meant being a student of the person you were following and you did this by
staying where they stayed, listening to every word… and imitating all their
ways.
To follow
the lamb of God means to be a disciple of the one who gave his life for us
all. There is an implication in this,
that all disciples live a life, like Jesus.
A life of complete submission to God and a life of giving their lives
for others.
To be a disciple of Jesus is what every
Christian is. We are all called to follow
in the ways of Jesus.
It is very
important to know that not every part of Jesus life was hard. There were many parties and dinners and
joyful gatherings, so much so that the Pharisees accused him of being a glutton
and friend of sinners. They expected
Jesus, as a holy Rabbi, to live a life of prayer, abstinence and poverty. Jesus lived a life that was full…full of all
those things and also full of going to fancy dinners with sinners. He called those sinners to follow God. Others he healed from disease… and everyone
celebrated. They travelled from town to
town and had such adventures and witnessed so many miracles, and they never
went hungry!
There was
much joy from the disciples of Jesus… Following this Rabbi, was good and must
have been so different from following John the Baptist, who lived in the desert
and ate wild locusts and honey. Remember,
as a disciple, you did exactly what your Rabbi did.
The fact the
John the Baptist had to tell the disciples twice, that this was the Lamb of
God, makes me feel that John was encouraging them to go and follow Jesus, but
he was not wanting them to get the wrong idea about this Messiah… that term the
“Lamb of God”, being spoken of twice, also gives me the sense that these
disciples hesitated. They weighed up
the cost of following one who would become the Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world.
We are
disciples of Christ, but have we weighed up the cost? Have we understood that this is the way to abundant
life and yet to walk in the way of Christ is to also take on ALL of his
values. We are called to love God and
love our neighbour. It is easy to be
kind and loving when we are only surrounded by those we love, but Jesus went
out of the temple and he went to dinner with those rejected by the “Nice”
people of his time. He loved and
accepted those his people had rejected.
He even died for those people… and those people, by the way, are you and
me.
I don’t know
about you, but I know that I’m much better at talking the talk then I am at
walking the walk. But those times when
we step out of our comfort zone to do the work of God are the most invigoratingly
exciting.
It is common
to us all, that we might be scared to reach out, or we mean to do well, but
often get it wrong. We not only need to
read scriptures and learn about the priorities and ways of Jesus, but we need the
divine power of the Holy Spirit to actually walk in this way as a disciple.
In fact Saint
Paul talks bout this in his letter to the Corinthians, “the testimony of Christ
has been strengthened among you so that you are not lacking in any spiritual
gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We need the testimony of Christ… to know the
ways of Christ.
Before Andrew
went to follow Jesus, we read that he went and found his brother, Simon. When Jesus saw Simon, Jesus gave him a new
name. Jesus looked at him and said,
"You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas" (which is
translated Peter).
In the Bible
are a number of name changes and each time God changes their name there is an
implication that it signifies a change in mission and destiny. If we were Jewish and understood the culture,
however, we might understand that there is a little bit more to this.
Apparently
there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet and each letter refers to the 22 different forms of God’s
life-giving energy. When God changed
someone’s name it was also God giving his life-giving energy into that person,
empowering them for this new mission.
The Holy
Spirit is God IN us – Therefore God’s life that he freely bestows on us, so
that we are empowered to be his disciple.
We can not do this in our own strength – we need God with us… Emmanuel. And with the Holy Spirit we trust that while
following God, walking in his ways, he will empower us for the journey.
Extra,
extra, read all about it; God gives his servant (YOU and Me) as a light to the
nations, that His salvation may reach to the end of the earth.
We are
called to follow and also be a light to the nations so that God’s salvation may
reach to the end of the earth. And so,
we hear the words of John the Baptist, with all that it implies – the victorious
and the challenge, and we hear; “Behold the Lamb of God….” Will you follow him?
