(John 1:29-42)
29The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, "Here is the Lamb of
God who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is he of whom I said, 'After me
comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.' 31I myself did not
know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be
revealed to Israel." 32And John testified, "I saw the Spirit descending from
heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33I myself did not know him, but the
one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit
descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' 34And I myself
have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God."
35The next day John again was
standing with two of his disciples, 36and as he watched Jesus walk by, he
exclaimed, "Look, here is the Lamb of God!" 37The two disciples heard him say
this, and they followed Jesus. 38When Jesus turned and saw them following, he
said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which
translated means Teacher), "where are you staying?" 39He said to them, "Come and
see." They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that
day. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. 40One of the two who heard John
speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41He first found his
brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated
Anointed). 42He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, "You are
Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter).
Following Jesus
+ In nomine Domini. Amen.
Many things are happening today in our community of faith.
First of all, it is the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, and on this Sunday we depart from our reading of Matthew’s Gospel and turn to John’s Gospel for a moment where we find ourselves with John the Baptist in two episodes:
(1) the first episode taking place the day after he had baptized Jesus in the River Jordan where he proclaims a sentence that we hear frequently in our liturgy after the Eucharistic prayer as the bread and wine are held up for all to see, as the celebrant says, “This is the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the world”; and
(2) the second episode a rather complicated one, taking place the day after that: when John in the company of two of his own followers sees Jesus walk by and says again, “Here is the Lamb of God” whereupon his two followers take off and follow Jesus and Jesus asks them what they want and they ask him where he is staying and he says to them, “Come and see” and they do, spending the whole day with the Teacher. We are then told that one of the two was Andrew the brother of Simon Peter, and he goes to find his brother and brings him to Jesus and Jesus looks at Simon and declares him not only to be Simon son of John but now also “Cephas”.
So in summary of this first thing that we have today, we have a story from John’s Gospel that does more than just tell us about Jesus’ baptism and what took place the next two days … it is there to tell us something more, and that is that what happens when you come into contact with Jesus is that you follow him, you see him as Teacher, you become a “follower of Jesus” just like Andrew and Peter and the others who will, in John’s Gospel, show up and do the same thing.
The story is there to teach those who read this particular Gospel that following Jesus is what happens, or is what is supposed to happen, when you meet Jesus … that’s the point of the whole Gospel of John and we find it appearing in many different episodes throughout the book as the life of Jesus unfolds in this telling of the Story … the marriage at Cana, the encounter with Nicodemus, the feeding of the five thousand, the encounter with the woman caught in adultery, the raising of Lazarus, the Last Supper, the trial and crucifixion, the meeting of Mary in the Garden after the resurrection, the appearance to the disciples and especially to Doubting Thomas, and the fish breakfast on the lakeshore of the sea of Tiberias … in each of these episodes the point is being made over and over again, “meet Jesus, you follow him, you learn from his teachings, you try to do what he did … love God, love your neighbor.”
Well that in itself would be enough to keep us busy today, working to understand what all that means and trying to put it into action in our own lives and in the ministry of our parish, but there is more …
Because today is also the day before Martin Luther King Day (tomorrow). And this year, 2008, marks the 40th year of his death, when he was assassinated, martyred … and tomorrow is the day when we can gather in the rotunda of our State Capitol at noontime to remember what King strived for, the equality of all people, the acceptance of all people as brothers and sisters, the rights that all people have as human beings, and not only the proclaiming of these things, but the enactment of laws in our society to ensure these things.
And, that in itself would be enough to keep us busy today, as we put into action all that it means to strive for human rights and the equality of human rights and the caring of each other as human beings, but there is more …
Because today also falls within the Octave [8 days] of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, a week that began last Friday with the Feast of St. Peter and concludes this coming Friday with the Feast of St. Paul. And more than that, this is now the 100th anniversary of the celebration of this week, begun by an Episcopal Priest, Fr. Paul Wattson in 1908. It all took place at Garrison, NY (located across the Hudson River from West Point) in a retreat center called Graymoor; there the Franciscan Brothers and Sisters of the Atonement held the first “Church Unity Octave” and have prayed “without ceasing” for Christian Unity ever since.
It’s a week that calls us to work with other followers of Jesus, I believe … not to be identical with each other, holding the same thoughts and ideas and act the same way … that seems to be impossible … just look at the fragmentation of the Body of Christ into so many expressions, so many diversities, often at great odds with each other, each trying to dominate the scene with its own understanding of the truth, the real Gospel, the real Presence, the real Bible, the real Church. No, that is not what this week is about … this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity; rather, it is about how we live together and work together and follow Jesus together as we love God and love our neighbor. Do you need an immediate example of that? … we have taken our part with other congregations in sheltering the overflow of women from St. Elizabeth’s Shelter this winter, and we will take our part again … need more? … last evening some of us prepared a meal for the folks at St. E’s as we do once a month, and not only prepared it, but ate it together with our brothers and sisters gathered there, listening to their stories, receiving their thanks, making our hearts full of the care of others. You see we do not ask, “Now before we share this food, are you a Christian? Are you a Lutheran?” … because to do that is not to follow Jesus, but something else and the something else is not the Gospel.
And, that in itself would be enough to keep us busy today, as we contemplate what it means to be united in our love of others and how that can work out in our community and in the world, but there is more …
Because today is also Tu B’Shevat (well actually it begins tomorrow evening) in the Jewish Calendar, the 15th of the Month of Shevat. And we know it as Jewish Arbor Day, the day for planting of trees. But for our congregation it means that we share a tradition with our brothers and sisters at Temple Beth Shalom. It began a long time ago actually as this congregation and the synagogue began to do things together … first just doing them, and then more officially and more often; it began when we took seriously this loving of God and loving of neighbor to mean taking the time to understand each other, for us to see our ancestral religious roots in Judaism and for our Jewish brothers and sisters to find ways of understanding how we grew apart in many ways, but how we share the same roots, and most importantly the same love, the same compassion, and … the same God.
It began with a Christmas Wreath four years ago … that the Temple gave to us to hang above our altar on the wall during the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus; then when Tu B’Shevat came about a month later, we gave a tree and planted it together on the Temple grounds. The next year, the Wreath came again, and a month later a tree was given to us and together we planted it on the Church grounds.
And so it has continued, Wreathes and Trees, and people doing things together, small but signs (one might say) but powerful sings (one might say) of the reign of God come near to all of us.
This year, frozen as we are, we will meet in the area of the Labyrinth outside and together we will plant an Apple tree, a gift from Beth Shalom, a sign of the hope of not only Christianity Unity among ourselves, but the unity of God’s people where understanding and caring and compassion and above all … love, presides. I hope that you will stay a bit longer today until Noon when we will plant this tree and share our love with each other.
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, through your care and compassion we learn to love one another as we love you. Be in our hearts and minds and bodies this day as we work together to bring to one another and our community what it means to follow the one we call the Lamb of God. Amen.
Deo Gratia
The Rev. Benjamin Larzelere III