“Look At The Lamb” John
1:29-43a
Intro.:
What are you looking at? I gotcha
didn’t I? It’s kind of funny how, when
you stare at something intently, others will look to see what has captured your
attention. In today’s Gospel we learn
from John the baptizer and his disciples to live our lives in such a way that
people will stop, take notice, and perhaps ask us, “What are you looking
at? So that we may respond, “Oh, I am
looking at the Lamb!
I. People Are Looking For
Something.
A.
One of the reasons that we can make people look where we stare is that
everyone is looking for something, but like those who try to follow our eyes
upward to some unknown object, they don’t always know what they are looking for. When Jesus saw the two disciples of John
following and asked them “What are you seeking?” (v.38) it
was because He recognized this. Ever
since the terrible fall of Adam which resulted in the loss of paradise and a satisfying
relationship with God people have been looking for what was lost. Sharing in our first parent’s loss of purpose
and fulfillment fallen humanity has been seeking something, anything, to fill
the emptiness of our souls. Like those
disciples all people are seekers.
B. Unfortunately
like clueless victims of a prank many don’t’ know what they are supposed to be
looking at. The eyes of their soul play
tricks on them as they are duped into looking at empty philosophies or great
people. Even John’s disciples may have
once believed that they could find everything they were looking for in the
baptizing prophet. From crystals in New
Age shops to the growing popularity of eastern and pop-culture spirituality to
the glory theology of heretical preachers there is evidence all around us that
people are seeking spiritual meaning and looking for what is missing in their
lives.
Some of us may
have been caught up in that same disappointing search. We may have been among those who have tried
to fill up that God-sized hole with philosophies, activities, relationships, or
just plain stuff that in the end leaves feeling that something is still
missing. That is why we are here today. We are seekers also, but while others seek
what they do not know we here seeking that which knows us, loves us and
restores to us all that was lost. We are here seeking the one thing needful and
the one thing that offers us an eternal and abundant life. We have come to look at the Lamb!
II. John Teaches Us To Look At The Lamb.
(vv. 29-35)
A.
In our Gospel John teaches us to look away from Him, away from
ourselves, and away from everything else and to look only at the Lamb.
John’s ministry was always to lead others to
the Lamb. So often we want the
spotlight. Even when we feign humility,
we can enjoy the attention that gives us the opportunity to be humble. That’s the way we are wired since sin entered
the world. After all, from the beginning
sin is self-centeredness. But here we
have John saying, don’t look at me, “look
at the Lamb!” (v.29) He is the
one who “out ranks me”, because he “was before me.” (v.30) John confessed that his life and ministry was
not about himself, it was all about Jesus the Christ. He said, “for this purpose I
came baptizing with water, the he might be revealed to Isreal.” (v.31)
John revealed
Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Like
the lamb of the temple sacrifice, Jesus shed his blood on the cross and died to
pay for the sins of all people. Only Jesus
can give back to us everything that sin has stolen. He is the one who through Water and the Word “..baptize[s] [us] with the Holy Spirit.” (v.33) so that our God-sized hole is
finally filled. He
is the Son of God who has come so that we could become the children of God and
live abundant lives. Only the Lamb of
God who takes away the sins of the world can say to us today your will be with
me in paradise, again!
B.
Right now, today, we are all being invited to look at the Lamb.
The world is full of “eye candy for the human
spirit.” Bogus spirits speaking through
ghost-whisperers, the false nirvana of drugs, alcohol and sex, the endless
line-up of self-help books, waifs on the cover of women’s magazines, or
athletic heroes on boxes of Wheaties are all offered
as the things we should be looking at, and to which we should be devoting our
energies, minds and souls. But all of
them are empty. They cannot give us
abundant life now, nor lead us into eternal life. John’s voice continues to call out to us
today, “Look at the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
And like the
disciples of John we are here to follow Jesus.
We may not know or understand everything, but we want to know where
Jesus is so that we can be with Him and look at Him. So, Jesus answers us, as He did His disciples
saying, “Come, and you will see!” (v.39) Like the disciples we come to this place
where Jesus promises to be with us, in the water of the font, in the word of
the pulpit, and beneath the bread and wine of the altar. We come to spend the day with Him and to look
at the Lamb, and according to His promise we see!
We look at Jesus,
the Lamb, and we see and find what everyone else seeks. In this place of worship, in the House of the
Lord, our eyes are turned away from all those things to which they have
wandered. And we look at Christ, the
cross where He saved us and the empty tomb where He gave us the victory. We look at Jesus who forgives us and gives us
a real, satisfying and meaningful life.
Like John we are now able to turn away from ourselves, and confess that
God has a glorious purpose for us. We
are those whom God sends so that Christ may be revealed to others who are lost
in their looking. As we look upon Jesus
with all our heart, soul, strength and mind, people are watching, and who knows
maybe they will ask, “What are you looking at?”
And we can say to them, “I am looking at the Lamb of God!”
III. We Brings Others To Look At The Lamb. (vv. 40-42a)
A.
In our Gospel this exactly what Andrew, one of those two disciples did. After spending
time with Jesus, as we have today, he immediately went out to find his brother
Simon and told him that they had found what they had been looking for, the
promised Messiah. And then He brought
Him to Jesus, so that he could likewise find everything he was looking
for. Andrew brought his brother so that
He could look at the Lamb and live!
B.
Like Andrew we have been blessed this morning/evening to look at the
Lamb of God. We know that when we look
at Him, we are never the same. Once we
have been invited by Jesus to follow him everything changes. We are no longer seeking something we don’t
know, because the one who has known us from before the creation of the world
has found and saved us. Our search is
over, but others are still looking for what they don’t know.
We like Andrew have
the joy of going to our brothers and sisters, our friends and neighbors, yes to
all the people of the world so that we may let them know that we have found
what we are all looking for. We can
bring them here to see Jesus, so that together, forever. We can, “Look at the Lamb of God!” Amen.