Sermon on John 1:29-42
Pastor Jennifer Garcia
If I were John, pointing out the savior of the world, the figure of God on earth, I might have picked a metaphor at least a little more impressive and intimidating than a “lamb.”
Lambs are small, wobbly, and adorable—not exactly attributes you want your rescuer to have.
And yet, here comes John pointing out Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
John is giving his hearers and us an epiphany—as Pastor Greg put it last week, not an “aha moment,” but a deep question to wrestle with. What does it mean to be the Lamb of God?”
The part about “tak[ing] away the sin of the world” might make us think of Jesus as a sacrifice for our sins, which is something that’s definitely in the churchy language we hear all the time, not just in church, but on billboards and shouted from megaphones on the side of the road.
But lambs weren’t used as sin offerings. Bulls, goats, and adult sheep were used for sin offerings.
No, lambs were used in one of the most significant events in Jewish history: the Exodus. The Israelites enslaved in Egypt were instructed to mark their doorways with the blood of lambs to protect them from the 10th plague.
That had nothing to do with their sins.
It had everything to do with their liberation.
The Gospel of John uses references like this to describe Jesus’ role on earth as bringing about a new Passover.
John introduces Jesus as the Lamb of God in the very first chapter, and toward the end, this Gospel makes sure we know that none of Jesus’ bones were broken in the crucifixion, “so that the scripture might be fulfilled.”[1]
Which scripture is that? In Exodus,[2]the Israelites are instructed not to break the bones of the lambin preparation for the first Passover, and in Numbers,[3]God elaborates in the Law how to continue honoring the Passover, and again, they are told not to break the bones of the lamb.
The Gospel of John helps us understand Jesus as the Passover lamb who brings liberation to the world.
Soin the first chapter, when John points to Jesus and says, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” he is saying, “Here is your liberation! Here is your freedom from what is holding you captive!”
And the word that’s translated here as “take away” means “to raise, to lift up, to take away, to remove.”[4]Instead of interpreting “taking away the sins of the world” as Jesus dying to wipe clean our sins, we can understand this as Jesus, the Passover lamb, lifting up the injustices of our world and the ways we hurt each other so that everyone can see them and make things right.
Jesus frees us from the ways we ignore and sweep injustices under the rug or shrug our shoulders and think we can’t do anything about them.
Sometimes sins and injustices have to be lifted up and acknowledged before they can be taken away or made right. Jesus brings truth and justice and liberation.
Tomorrow, we’ll be celebrating someone else who worked for truth and justice and liberation: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Like John in this story, Dr. Kingpointed people to liberation.
Like John when he called out King Herod’s immoral relationship, Dr. King called for bringing injustice to light.
Like John, Dr. King was assassinated for speaking truth to power.
John and Dr. King both saw a vision of a freer, more just and equitable society and rallied people to work to get closer to it.
John said, “Look, there’s the Passover lamb who will bring new freedom.”
Dr. King said, “It is normalcy all over our country which leaves the Negro perishing on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of vast ocean of material prosperity. It is normalcy all over Alabama that prevents the Negro from becoming a registered voter. No, we will not allow Alabama to return to normalcy. [This speech took place in Montgomery, AL. The vision he was pointing to, of course, was not just for Alabama, but for the whole nation. He continued:]
“The only normalcy that we will settle for is the normalcy that recognizes the dignity and worth of all of God’s children. The only normalcy that we will settle for is the normalcy that allows judgment to run down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. The only normalcy that we will settle for is the normalcy of brotherhood, the normalcy of true peace, the normalcy of justice.”[5]
John in our Gospel reading today might just as well have said, “It is normalcy all over Israel that leaves Jewish people perishing on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of the vast ocean of the Roman Empire. The only normalcy that we will settle for is the normalcy that recognizes the dignity and worth of all of God’s children. And Jesus over there, he’s the one to follow to get to that glorious Reign of God.”
And when John points his disciples to the Lamb of God, they chase Jesus down, asking him where he is staying, essentially asking, “we want to follow you—where are you going?”
And Jesus says, “Come and see.” He’s inviting them along for the journey. It’s not enough to see the vision of the Reign of God; it takes a journey to get there.
The vision of the Reign of God that we hear from prophets like John and Dr. King is so important, and it’s not enough to stay there. We have to see that vision and follow where the prophets are pointing.
That’s when Jesus invites us on the journey to the Reign of God and says, “Come and see!”
Come and see what injustices have been covered up that need repair.
Come and see what God’s justice looks like.
Come and see the freedom you were meant for.
Come and be liberated.
[1]John 19:36
[2]Exodus 12:46
[3]Numbers 9:12
[4]https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2020/1/4/lamb-of-god-salts-lectionary-commentary-for-epiphany-2
[5] “Our God is Marching On,” Montgomery, AL, 25 March 1965https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/our-god-marching