Jan 16, 2011 from Richard Waldschmidt on Vimeo.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.” 35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” 37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour. 40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).
TWO LOOKS, ONE LAMB
I. One Look Telling Everyone Who Jesus Is
II. One Look shows Jesus Beginning His Work
In the name of Jesus the Lamb of God, dear fellow redeemed children of God,
“To Be Continued”. In the old Batman show just when Batman and Robin were being daggled by an arch super criminal over a bubbling cauldron that would surely bring an “end to the “caped crusaders” the words “to be continued” would scroll across the screen and you would hear the words encouraging everyone to join us next time “same bat time same bat channel.” The Bible has a number of very real ‘to be continued’ episodes. Think of the episode where the “ark of the covenant” was captured by the Philistine army and paraded like a trophy into the temple of their idol god. Things looked bleak. But the next morning idol knocked to the floor on its face. That episode was repeated several times until God brought the Philistines to see that it would be in their best interest to return the ark to the place it belonged. Or think of the ultimate “to be continued” episode at the Tomb on Good Friday. Today we hear of another “to be continued” episode that happened right at the beginning of Jesus ministry. It doesn’t have the high drama of some of the other accounts in the Bible but it gives comfort and peace none the less. It’s just covering the first two days of Jesus’ public ministry. In it we see two days, two looks, one Lamb. The first look tells everyone who Jesus is. The second look shows Jesus beginning His work.
The first look at the Lamb starts off with the religious establishment’s questioning the plan God was now revealing more and more. It had been almost 30 years since Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The religious leaders were awakened ount of their self righteous spiritual sleep by a voice calling in the wilderness. Near the Jordan River, John, the son of Zachariah and Elizabeth was preaching and baptizing. The temple leaders sent some of the low level priests and Levites and then some middle management Pharisees to find out about this guy. “Who are you?” they asked.” They wondered if he was the Christ or maybe Elijah come back to earth after being taken to heaven in a whirlwind of made by horses and a chariot of fire. John make it clear that he was not the Christ. But soon they would get a look at the one who was the promised Messiah.
“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb have of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” My mom and dad have a picture on the wall of their home where a second picture is hidden within the most obvious picture. The most obvious picture is of a stream and forest but hidden in the picture is a picture of Jesus. Once someone points that out to you it is easy to see, in fact it seems it’s all you see when you look at the picture. The Lamb of God was easy to see, too, once God pointed Him out to hearts. Jesus looked like any other human being. He didn’t have a tattoo on his arm that told everyone that he was THE Lamb of God sent to take away the sins of the world. God had a different way of making him known. The fact that Jesus was the promised lamb had to be revealed even to John the Baptist himself, who was sent to reveal the Lamb of God to the world! John later explained, “I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.” John was Jesus’ cousin, but without the Holy Spirit making things clear to him, he could not have understand the full scope and significance of Jesus’ work for the world. The Lord would reveal that to John when Jesus came to be baptized as our Substitute.
John had been watching for this one on whom he would see “the Spirit come down and remain.” Now the moment was here. You can hear the excitement in John’s voice. “This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.” Epiphany is a word that means that Jesus was “made known” as the Savior. That’s the word John uses as he talks about his job of making Jesus known as the Messiah. In this age where so many people ache for their 15 minutes of fame in reality shows, isn’t it neat to hear about one who humbly recognized where he fit into the picture. John could have tried to hold the center stage and ridden the fame train until it was out of steam. John recognized that he was only an arrow pointing people to their Savior. Right from the opening frames, John says “a man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.” With the God given glasses of faith, John recognized Jesus as the God who made the heavens and earth who took on flesh and blood. When John looked at Jesus he saw “Immanuel-God with us.”
God used John to let everyone know that Jesus was the Messiah. You can see the thoroughness of God as John goes over again what the ells us again how the Spirit made it clear, “Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.” Recently we had a new governor take the oath of office in Madison. That oath of office is a part of the inauguration process we use to let everyone know who has the power of that office. In the Old Testament God had a different way of letting everyone know who was in the office of priest or king. Kings like David and prophets like Elisha were anointed with a special anointing oil. That ceremony let everyone know who the king was or who God’s spokesman was. Jesus would not be anointed with a special oil. Instead the Holy Spirit “came down in the form of a dove and remained” on him. John lets everyone know that Jesus is the Messiah. “I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”
Sometimes we know things with our heads, but our hearts have trouble with it. We know in our head that God says that if he takes care of the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, he surely is going to take care of us. We know that with our heads. But our hearts have trouble with that. We know in our heads that God says, “as far as the east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions from us” yet sometimes guilt still terrorizes our hearts. We know that Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life…whoever believeth in me will live even though he dies” yet our hearts tremble a little at the thought of our death. That weakness shows our sinfulness. It also shows how our sin has left us powerless to know and believe the truths of what God has done to save us. How comforting for us to see God work in John’s heart and take the knowledge John had in his head about what his mom and dad had said about his relative Jesus and plant as faith inside his heart that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah. If you feel that struggle of head and heart, take comfort. Isaiah points us to the Lamb of God whose punishment brought us peace- whose wounds heal us. Isaiah wrote about the Messiah John was pointing to “a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.”
With John’s testimony the words flash across the screen “to be continued.” Don’t worry we get another look at Jesus the Lamb of God the next day- a look that shows the Messiah beginning His work.
“The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” As Americans we are happy to see our newly elected government officials get right to work after their inauguration doing the work we elected them to do. We don’t want to see them go on vacation for a couple of weeks. Jesus gets right to the work of being our Messiah. After God made it clear to everyone that Jesus was the promised Lamb he begins gathering his twelve disciples. Jesus first 6 disciples were from the area around the Sea of Galilee. That core group included two sets of brothers, Andrew and Peter and James and John, and two of their friends.
Two of Jesus disciples were followers of John. Andrew is named here and we assume that the disciple not named is John, since John in humility doesn’t name himself the Gospel he wrote. Rather than try to hold those disciples in his ring of followers, John pointed them to the Lamb. “When the two disciples heard him his, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”
Jesus knew why they were following him, even better than Peter and John knew. Yet again we see the Messiah going about his work of being our perfect substitute. Remember as part of God’s plan Jesus set aside the full use of his knowledge as true God and took on a human brain and a human body who would ask questions that he as true God already knew the answers to. That makes our heads hurt but it makes our hearts glow with gratitude toward the one who did all that for us.
You can see faith and gratitude growing in the hearts of these disciples. “They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).” The look at the Lamb made a difference in Andrew’s life. The Lamb was here and had begun His work. Andrew had to tell his brother!
A new year lies before us for us to do what Andrew and John did- to search the Scriptures to learn more about the Lamb of God we see in God’s Word. To keep on asking him to be our guest at our dinner tables and watch over us as we sleep at night. In thankfulness, let’s stay away from places and situations where Jesus teaches us not to stay in. Like Andrew, let’s not let other things crowd Jesus out of our conversations with our loved ones and friends. Like Andrew may it be said of us, that we just cannot keep this news about the Lamb to ourselves.
Batman and Robin had high drama in their lives every episode. The truth is that most of our lives do not have high drama. There are very few “to be continued” kind of moments. When those moments come, so often they throw us for a loop. We rarely find ourselves being dangled over a giant cup of steaming hot coffee by a super arch criminal villain. But we have a Savior, Jesus. He began His work of being the Messiah and in love and faithfulness he finished it for us. Amen.
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