Behold! :: John 1:29-42a

What are ... YOU ... looking at? What ARE you looking at? Whatcha looking at? Boy, that’s one loaded question, is it not? Same words all producing different questions and even more answers. 

If someone asks that question emphasizing YOU ... it’s a challenge. Maybe it’s even a prelude to a fight! But if I pose the question as: “What ARE you looking at?” ,,, or WHAT are you looking at? I’ve changed the emphasis. You’re still challenged, but no longer to a fight. You’re challenged to give account ... Challenged perhaps by a teacher, a parent who has caught you daydreaming. Challenged by someone who wants to know what has stolen your attention. 

Then, there’s this question: The question I want all of you to hear. The question I want all of you to answer. Pastor, Whatcha looking at? And why?

Someone who is searching ... maybe someone like the Apostle Andrew in our Gospel reading ... maybe someone like your brother or sister ... or your friend who stopped coming to Trinity Lutheran Church ... maybe even you ... should or might ask that question. Whatcha looking at? And why are you looking there? 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, I don’t know about you, but I am looking toward the Lamb! The Only Lamb of God. Behold! Here he is. Behold! There he is. Behold, he has come to you in the water, word, and meal. Behold! ... the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. 

Now ... what are ALL of you looking at?

The Baptizer we encountered last week is back again today, once again shifting attention away from himself, and yourselves, and yes, even me. Don’t follow me, he says today ... Stop following me. ... Don’t look at me. And don’t look inward for the answers, either. 

Behold ... The Lamb! The only one who takes away the sin of the world. 

This is the point. This is the what and why.

Why is it that everyone else wants to look elsewhere for their salvation? 

I have some sisters in this congregation who already know the answer to this question. They know, and I know you do too, but it deserves to be reiterated, that we don't like gifts. We insist on having a hand in everything we do. We get worried that free isn’t really free. We despise the idea that God does all the work. So we are constantly trying to find our own way. We are constantly looking for a better way. A more perfect way. 

At least that’s what we like to tell ourselves. 

So today, John is back, reminding us to knock it off. Brothers and sisters in Christ, in this epiphany season, today John sees the light. And he’s pointing us to it. 

BEHOLD! LOOK TO THE LAMB!

Before Jesus even showed up last week to fulfill all righteousness by submitting to a baptism of repentance in the river, literally standing in the place of sinners, John knew Jesus was coming. Just like you and me, he didn’t know what he looked like. After me comes a man who was before me, because he is more important than me, he tells us.

But as I am sure you remember, John is a man with real purpose. He was called to stand in the river, to stand in this place ... to call all of us back to our baptisms, back into true repentance. More than that, John was called to baptize Jesus so that this Messiah would be manifested for us. Behold the Lamb, John declares

That doesn’t keep the Baptizer from gaining a great crowd of disciples. I bet he had a lot more than we do here at Trinity Lutheran Church. Like the prophets of old, disciples flocked to John. They want to be like John, calling people to repentance. Turn away from your sin, they cry out. His message rings true. When we turn away from sin, it makes us feel good about ourselves.

That’s the way we are wired this side of Genesis 3. You remember what happened in Genesis 3, don’t you? That’s the account of the day Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, discovered shame, darkness, and the eternal death brought on by their sin ... the sin you wrestle with. Ever since then, we have all been mired in the darkness of this sin, trying to say we have no sin, trying to convince ourselves that pornography and adultery and sexual immorality are OK ... If it’s OK, we don’t have to turn away, we reason with ourselves.

Sin is, after all, abject self-centeredness. ... If it feels good, do it, we tell ourselves. If it makes me happy, then I should do it, we say ... More than that, sin always has us pointing fingers at others ... away from ourselves. We don’t want to debash ourselves, we like to say. She made me do it, he made me, the devil made me. Sin is always turning ourselves inward to me, myself, and I. ... I am the only one who can look out for me, we tell ourselves. ... I can protect this church from financial ruin. ... I can. I can. I can. ... No one else is going to give a hoot about me. ... I have to pick myself up. I have to shape my future. These are the things we say. 

So here is John crying out. Behold! Look to the Lamb!

Why is this message so important? 

Sin must be paid for. And God has specified very specifically how that will be done. With a lamb. A Spotless Lamb. We could spend hours on this in Leviticus 16. 

The thing is, you can’t find the Lamb on your own. So God has sent John to us. Behold, the Lamb.

Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of self-centeredness and the sin of the world. There is no other lamb. There are no other ways. You aren’t going to erase your sins. You aren’t going to pay for your sins. No matter how hard you try. 

But behold, look to the Lamb! This is the whole mission of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the sinless Son of God. And he can and will and does pay for your sins. 

John knew that we must start here. His ministry isn’t as abrupt as the proverbial slap on a baby’s bottom to force a cry that draws the breath of life into an infant’s lungs. Still, that is the impact of his words. Once you have recognized your need for a lamb, that is because you are a sinner in need of repentance, then and only then can you Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. 

In hearing that, in believing that ... because as we learned last week in Bible study ... hearing and believing are in fact one and the same thing ... we draw the breath of life ... real life ... eternal life .... with this good news about Jesus that produces faith and brings the forgiveness of sins.

This is the entire purpose for John the Baptizer. His ministry is not really about baptizing people with water. John’s purpose ... his entire life ... is one focused on showing the world who Christ really is. The reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed ... manifested ... highlighted ... epiphanied ... to Israel. Behold! Look to the Lamb! 

Do you see his epiphany light?

Today here he is! He is here in your hearing. Here in you returning to your baptism. Here in the supper to come. 

The world will do everything to get you to look the other way, luring you away with eye candy for the human spirit. The world will try to convince you that your baptism doesn’t save you. That the Lord’s Supper isn’t what Jesus said it is ... his body and blood given and shed for the forgiveness of sins now ... as if you don’t need it now. 

The world is bent on self-improvement.

Did you know the self-improvement market, which includes things as simple as audio tapes, as big as home gyms, as savvy as apps for your phone, as daunting as weight-loss programs, and as thoughtful as guidance counselors ... was a $10 billion industry in 2016. In the next year, it is expected to grow to $13 billion. We love to love ourselves.

All the while our world floods your eyes with the false nirvana of drugs, alcohol, and sex. Look within yourselves, they say. If you don’t like what you see, or feel, then numb yourselves, they say. Politicians have an even bigger racket, promoting a health care system under the guise that you will never die. 

So today’s Gospel reading is especially timely.  Don’t pay attention to any of that over there anymore, he says. Behold! Look to the Lamb. Come back from wherever your eyes have wandered and ... Look to Jesus. 

I have seen and I testify to you today that Jesus is the Lamb of God, John says. Last week, I saw the spirit descend from heaven like a dove and it remained on him! That means he’s the One who washing us clean. He is the one who forgives us with his body given to us and blood agreed for us for the forgiveness of sins. 

I couldn’t have known him any other way, John says. I am just like you, blind, and deaf, and sick with sin. But he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And that man is Jesus. I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God.

That’s why all of you are here, isn’t it? You’ve heard John calling out, haven’t you? Like Paul, I give thanks to my God always concerning you because of the grace he has given you. Today, you can look to Christ of the cross and the empty tomb and recognize the Lamb. Jesus is the lamb in the fullest sense. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. With his wounds we have been healed. .... He was oppressed. He was afflicted. yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 

Brothers and sisters, he was sacrificed for you on the cross on your behalf to forgive you and the whole world. And so you are. Through the blood of the only lamb of God, you are forgiven. 

Look to him with all your heart, with all your strength, with all you mind, with all your soul. And listen to Andrew. Behold, he says, We have found the One Who Saves us from ourselves. Now join Andrew in bringing your brothers and sisters to Christ. Behold, the Lamb. Here is the forgiveness of sins.

He is here in the font. He is there on the altar. He is in the Word of God that we hear, believe, and confess. Why do we look for Jesus somewhere else? Behold the spotless and pure Lamb of God, has become our scapegoat. He who knew no sin took all of your sins upon him and was led out of the city gates and crucified on the cross at Calvary. Jesus has lived for you, died for you, risen from the dead for you, so that you will be forgiven and free. In Jesus’ Name.