Second Sunday after the Divine Service with Video and Sermon Text
Second Sunday after the Epiphany
Isaiah 49:1-7 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 John 1:29-42a
The Lord Provides
O Lord, Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer.
It is not unusual for people to make comments about people that they serendipitously encounter. “There’s the mayor.” “There’s the chief of police.” One might choose to share an opinion with those you are with, quietly or to be overheard, about decisions made, appearance, or the scandal that you recently heard about. I imagine celebrities get this all the time. What is it like to be in NY city or LA and to regularly see or walk by Alec Baldwin, Jennifer Larence, or other actors? Folks always have an opinion, positive or negative, and are often not reticent about sharing it. But I doubt there has ever been a repeat of what happened to Jesus as he was walking toward his cousin John the Baptizer. “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
We are in the season of Epiphany where the Church has us reflect on the different ways in which Christ is revealed. Each revelation brings another layer of awareness of who Jesus is and why He dwells among us. The season of Epiphany begins 12 days after Christmas on January 6th with the Gospel story of the Magi from the East visiting and worshiping the infant Jesus. The Magi are gentiles and underscore the point that Jesus is for all people, not a certain segment of humanity. Last Sunday, we observed Jesus’ baptism. Immediately after Jesus came out of the water, the Father declared, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him.” Jesus is the Son of our Heavenly Father. And, the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus thus anointing Him for His ministry. After His baptism, Jesus is immediately compelled by the Spirit to enter the wilderness and his time of temptation.
Today, we hear the announcement from John the baptizer that explains more about Jesus’ reason for being among us. John does not say, “Behold! My cousin!” He does not say, “Behold! The son of the blessed virgin Mary!” He does not say, “Behold! A right, fine, carpenter! He builds things to last! Joseph taught Him well!” Instead, John reveals, that the man he recently baptized is the Lamb of God. And, mind you, not just any lamb, but THE LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD.
Hearing that announcement without context would make us wonder about John’s mind and his ability to perceive what is before him. Without additional information, we would be puzzled. But we do have context. So do the people that originally heard John’s proclamation and confession of faith. The context, the additional information, comes from the Old Testament. There are three biblical narratives that inform our reception of John’s declaration. There are others, but I am going to focus on these three.
The first occurs in Genesis 22. Abraham and Sarah finally have their long-promised baby in old age. When Isaac was a boy, old enough to be useful and carry things, but not old enough to be on his own, God told Abraham to go to the mountain and sacrifice Isaac. After the third day of travel, Abraham instructed the men who accompanied them to stay behind while he and Isaac went up the mountain. They carried with them the wood, the fire, and the knife. At some point in their journey, Isaac says, “My father! Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering my son.”
The Holy Spirit moved a crestfallen man to utter that remarkable statement of faith. Yes, Isaac was supposed to be the lamb. But surely, he hoped beyond hope, the Lord will provide the lamb. Not his son, Isaac, but a real lamb.
Any of us who read or hear Genesis 22 are relieved and let out the breath we did not realize we were holding when God stops Abraham as he is about to do what he is commanded to do. After God finished commending Abraham for his faith and obedience, Abraham saw the ram caught in the thicket. The ram was sacrificed in place of Isaac. The Bible tells us, “So Abraham called the name of that place, ‘The Lord will provide’; as it is said to this day, ‘On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.’ (Genesis 22:14)
The Lord will provide. While the Ram that was caught in the thicket was old enough to have horns, we need to be aware that a young ram is called a lamb. The awareness, and the confidence, grows amongst God’s people that the Lord provides. He provides what is needed for his people’s salvation.
Another biblical narrative that informs the understanding of the faithful that the Lord provides a lamb to save the people comes from Exodus 12. This chapter describes the tenth and final plague that God afflicted upon the Egyptians to convince Pharoah to release Israel from bondage. The Lord instructed the people through Moses that every household was to slaughter a lamb, prepare it in a certain way, and then take some of the blood from the lamb and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which the families gathered to eat. The Lord went through the land on that terrible night. Any home that had the blood of the lamb on it, the Lord passed over. Those without the blood, the firstborn of every family died that night.
Even Pharoah was affected. The Lord provided. The lamb saved God’s people. They were set free from slavery.
A third biblical narrative that informs our understanding of John’s declaration that Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world comes from the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah’s many prophetic sayings are four servant songs. The servant suffers in behalf of the people. The text that most directly informs us about why Jesus is with us is from Isaiah 52-53. These verses in particular, 53:7-8, drive home the point:
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
The Lord provides. The Lord Jesus is the Lamb who is stricken and dies for the sake of the world. On the cross Jesus dies for the sin of the whole world. He alone, his death alone, his sacrificed body alone, his blood alone, can remove the stain, the damnation, and the hurt of our sin. Jesus takes away the sin of the world by being the slaughtered lamb. In his death, our heavenly Father’s righteous wrath is appeased. In place of our sin is Christ’s forgiveness.
John the Baptizer reveals that Jesus is the manifestation of God’s promise. Jesus is the one that the Lord provides for us. Where Abraham did not have to sacrifice his son, our heavenly Father provides His only begotten Son for the necessary sacrifice. The Lord provides His son to take away the world’s sin of choosing not to believe, not completely trusting, not having complete faith in, the one true God. Only the Lord can effectively take away the eternal consequence of Adam’s disobedience. Only the God-Man Jesus can take away, remove the stain of the sin and sins that we continue to commit in imitation of Adam and Eve.
In the entrance rite of our liturgy, we begin with our own confession, we say the same words together, recognizing that while all of our details are different, we are sinners before God and one another who need help. We are unworthy before the Lord. We are unworthy of God’s grace and love because we have “sinned in thought, word, and deed, and that we cannot free ourselves from our sinful condition.” Setting 3 spells it out even more plainly, “I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto You all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended You…” Iniquities?!
We cannot free ourselves from our sinful condition, but Jesus can and he does. Jesus is the one that God the Father provides. On the cross, Jesus takes our place. He receives God’s righteous wrath for our iniquities, our sins in thought, word, and deed. On account of his cross, we receive the gift of Christ’s forgiveness through faith. Jesus is Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. The Lord provides His Son for us.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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