Would you bow your heads with me, please?
Father in heaven, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts, be pleasing and acceptable in your sight, for the sake of your son.
Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Amen.
Brothers and sisters in Christ.
It was just last week, we heard about the events and happenings surrounding the baptism of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, from the 3rd chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.
If you remember, Jesus approached John the Baptist, who was reluctant to baptize Jesus, feeling instead that John should be baptized by him.
John relented and baptized Jesus.
And the spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him.
And behold, a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.
That was the father speaking during Jesus’ baptism.
Now this week, John the Baptist sees Jesus, proclaims who Jesus is.
Recounts the events of his baptism, and Jesus goes on to call the 1st of his disciples.
In today’s gospel passage, we hear from John the Baptist, behold, the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
While we as good Lutherans are tempted to say, have mercy on us.
John continues on with an explanation of why he, John, came baptizing in the wilderness.
This is he of whom I said, after me comes a man who ranks before me.
Because he was before me.
I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water.
That he might be revealed to Israel.
John the Baptist understood who he was as a prophet and why he came baptizing with water.
He understood his proper place of rank in relation to Jesus Christ.
He, John, understood the reason Jesus came into the world.
And that was to come as the lamb of God.
The perfect lamb. Who will be sacrificed on the cross as that unblemished offering. In place of each and every sinner of the world.
Which includes all of humanity, which includes you and me.
The day of atonement held at the temple every year by the priests and the Jewish faithful is not necessary any longer with the coming and sacrifice of the perfect lamb.
Once and for all for the payment of all sins.
Each one of us contributed to the sinful acts that have been paid by Jesus on the cross.
And he came so that all who believe and have faith may have that forgiveness that takes away our sin and gives us the promise of eternal life as we inherit his righteousness.
As St.
Paul tells the church in Corinth in Greece in today’s epistle, I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus.
That in every way, you are enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge.
Even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you.
So that you are not lacking in any gift.
As you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end.
Guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful, by whom you are called into the fellowship of a son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
We will be sustained until the end, and be guiltless because of the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
John bore witness to this Jesus who came to take away the world’s sin by the happenings of the day that Jesus was baptized.
John recounts, I saw the spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.
I myself did not know him, 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 I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.
Without a doubt.
This is a pivotal moment in the history of the world.
When unequivocally, God announced that the one baptized by John the Baptist was indeed the Son of God.
The servant that has been prophesied by God through the prophet Isaiah, roughly 730 years earlier.
We hear about the servant of the Lord in today’s Old Testament passage from that book of Isaiah.
It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to bring back the preserved of Israel.
I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.
Thus says the Lord, the redeemer of Israel, and his holy one.
To one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers, king shall see and arise. Princes, and they shall prostrate themselves, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the holy one of Israel, who has chosen you.
That suffering servant, certainly was to come to raise up the tribes of Israel, and bring back the preserved Israel.
But that was still too little of a thing.
He was to be also a light to all nations, all over the world.
So that the salvation promised by God would be available to the ends of the earth.
Not just in the area that we now call the Middle East.
The suffering servant in the book of Isaiah could be no other. Than our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Who matched each and every description, and prophecy revolving around the suffering servant in the book of Isaiah.
John the Baptist announced the arrival of and gave witness to the coming of that suffering servant, in fulfillment of ancient prophecy, and called him the lamb of God.
The perfect one, who will be sacrificed to pay the price of all sin around the world. Yours and mine included.
Of course, the cross is still 3 years away in Jesus’ life.
As he had just been baptized by John at the beginning of his ministry.
He now undertook the process of calling the 1st disciples to him.
The disciples who would be with him for 3 years.
Being taught by him, who proclaimed their undying devotion to him, but who turned their backs when the going got tough.
Jesus chose disciples, it came from all walks of life.
Fishermen, collector, tax collectors and the like.
They were certainly not the types of people that conventional human wisdom would pick for such an endeavor.
The day after John’s proclamation and witness of Jesus is the Lamb of God, and the events leading to the Father’s calling, Jesus, the Son of God, John again saw Jesus and proclaimed him the Son of God, and 2 of John’s disciples began to follow Jesus, as our gospel lesson further tells us.
The 2 disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.
Jesus churned and saw them following, said to them, what are you seeking?
Wonder what we would say to Jesus’ question.
And they said to him, rabbi.
Which means teacher.
Where are you staying?
He said to them, come, and you will see.
So they came and saw where he was staying and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the 10th hour.
One of the 2 who heard Jesus speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.
He 1st found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, we have found the Messiah, which means the Christ.
He brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said, you are Simon, the son of John.
You shall be called Cephas, which means Peter.
After John’s proclamation on the 2nd day, The apostles that, I’m sorry, they weren’t apostles yet.
The disciples decided to follow Jesus and spent the day with him.
Andrew, one of the disciples, found his own brother, Simon Peter, and said these astounding words.
For them, these were astounding words.
We have found the Messiah.
In other words, we have found the Christ.
We have found the anointed one.
Quite a statement to be made by someone who had only spent a day with Jesus, and had heard John proclaim him as being the lamb of God.
Only God could have opened the eyes and ears of Andrew. To the point of him understanding who Jesus of Nazareth really was and is.
I wonder how many of us would have recognized Jesus as the Messiah after only such a short period of time.
This was a time in the history of Israel, when several false messiahs had made themselves known, proclaiming themselves as such, had attracted a devoted group of followers, and then were exposed and were put to death, as something other than the messiahs that they were proclaiming themselves to be.
However, Andrew was so convinced about Jesus, that he proclaimed to his brother, Simon Peter, Jesus is true title.
Andrew brought Simon Peter to Jesus.
And Jesus bestowed the name of Cephas on him.
The names Cephas and Peter both come from the same word of meaning rock. In Aramaic and Greek respectively.
Andrew and Peter were the beginning of Jesus’ disciples in the beginning of his ministry.
Peter proved himself to be quite brave until he wasn’t.
And after Pentecost, proved himself to be that faithful and brave apostle.
Jesus chose the rock well.
So on the 2nd Sunday after the epiphany, we remember the gift of frankincense that the magi gave to the Christ child when they came to pay homage to him after his birth.
That particular scent was very rare in those times, and reflects the rarity.
And we could say never before seen coming of an infant king, especially this infant king, who years later, will have a prophet of God, John the Baptist, proclaim him as the Lamb of God.
He came in fulfillment of the prophecies in Isaiah regarding the servant, who had raised the tribes of Israel, and the whole world with the promised gift of salvation.
He came as the one who St.
Paul told us, will sustain you to the end.
Guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He came to teach and organize a group of seemingly ragtag men. To be the nucleus of the spread of the good news of salvation.
For all people, all over the world.
Jesus.
The lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
And who is the son of God, is much more rare than that gift of frankincense.
He is a one of a kind, and given as a gift to us by God, our Father.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all over human understanding, guard our hearts and minds with Christ Jesus.
Amen.