Look, The Lamb of God!

2nd Sunday after Epiphany, 1/16/11
John 1:29-41


Look, the Lamb of God!
I. Trust who he is.
II. Listen to what he says.
III. Share what you know.


I imagine you have taken a sight-seeing trip at least once in your life. Maybe it was just for a day to see something local. Maybe it was for a week or more to see all sorts of interesting things far away, perhaps even in a foreign country. Whatever it was, you went there to see as many things as you could.

But is that all you did? Did you just take in the sights? Did you only use your eyes but none of your other senses? Of course not. That would be foolish. You used your sense of hearing to take in the sounds as well—rushing water, pounding waves, the noise of city streets, the chirping of bids in a dense forest, the absolute quiet of an internationally known museum. You used your sense of smell to reinforce what you were seeing and hearing so that you’d never forget the experience. Perhaps you even reached out and touched what you were seeing. And in doing so, you took it all in. Your sight-seeing trip became a multi-sensory experience.

Today John the Baptist invites you on a sight-seeing tour. He does so with the words, “Look, the Lamb of God.” He spoke these words originally to his disciples as he pointed them to Jesus. Obviously he wanted them to do more than just look at Jesus. He wanted them to take in everything they could about him. He knew that when they did so, they would be blessed eternally, not just momentarily. And he invites us to do the same with our eyes of faith this morning. So let’s do what he invites us to do. Let’s look. Look, the Lamb of God! May the Holy Spirit enlighten us about our amazing Savior, Jesus Christ, through his word.

Part I.

You don’t have to be a psychologist to know that there are some basic, important questions that every person faces. Those questions are: Who am I? What am I doing here? Where am I going? Some people spend years and even decades trying to find the answers. Others spend quite of bit of time and money seeking help finding the answers. Still others are only sure of one thing: they can’t be sure they’ll ever know the answers. And some people give up and no longer ask the questions.

But there is a question far more important than all of those three combined. The reason it’s so important is that it has implications not just for your lifetime, but for eternity. And that question is: Who is Jesus Christ? In other words, what do you think about Jesus?

John the Baptist reveals some stunning information about his efforts to answer that question. He says, “I myself did not know him.” It wasn’t that John didn’t know Jesus from Nazareth; John was related to him. But as John grew up with Jesus, being just a few months older than Jesus, John didn’t notice anything different about Jesus.

It took God himself to reveal that to him. God the Father told him to watch for the One on whom the Holy Spirit would come down and remain on him. John saw that with his own eyes after he baptized Jesus with water. We heard about that event last Sunday. That made John uniquely qualified to let others know who Jesus was.

And he did that the very next day after Jesus’ baptism. Our text says, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” That’s a phrase that’s familiar to us. We’ll use it later today just before we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. And it’s a phrase that’s full of meaning. Recall all the sacrifices God prescribed in the Old Testament. They went on day after day, many of them involving a lamb. In celebrating the Passover, the Jews sacrificed a lamb. God used his prophet Isaiah to show how all these sacrifices of lambs pointed forward to the one great sacrifice of the Lamb of God. We know that Jesus made that sacrifice for sin on Calvary’s cross. John was calling the people of his day and of ours to put their faith in Jesus to make that sacrifice for them. That’s who Jesus is. The Lamb of God.

But why would his death be any different than another person’s death? Again, John invites us to look at him as he tells us, “I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.” There you have it. This truth is what sets Jesus apart from every other person in the world. He’s the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. As we confessed in the Nicene Creed, he’s true God from true God. He’s of one being with the Father. He created all things. That means he’s not just a stunning prophet or a pious preacher. He’s the almighty, eternal God.

And that makes him your Savior, the only Savior you’ll ever have. Look, the Lamb of God! Trust who he is.

The world is full of people who can take or leave Jesus. They have no time or use for him. Sad to say, it happens even with those who once considered themselves to be Christian. At one point they gladly confessed him as the Lamb of God, their Savior, but over time, they decided that they can take or leave him.

I realize that hasn’t happened to you. I realize that when John tells you to look at the Lamb of God and to trust in him as the Son of God and your only Savior from sin, you are doing just that. But don’t take this blessed spiritual sight-seeing trip for granted! No matter what, it’s always a timely and needed encouragement for us to hold to Christ by faith because that’s the one thing Satan most wants to pry from us. I know you’ve seen him already countless times as your Savior, but it’s something we need to see every day. So look! Look, the Lamb of God and trust who he is!

Part II.

Have you ever met a service counter employee whose opening sentence to you was, “What do you want?” If so, that may have been the last time you ever did business with that particular outfit. Why put up with someone so rude?

And yet that’s exactly what Jesus said. When two of John’s disciples began following Jesus he said to them, “What do you want?” That sounds rude, doesn’t it? But surely that can’t be the case.

And it isn’t. So what was going on here? These former followers of John the Baptist who were now followers or disciples of Jesus asked to have a private meeting with him. And that only makes sense. After all, if you had the opportunity to follow Jesus, wouldn’t you have a few questions for him? Surely they wanted to know about how he was going to do the work of being the Messiah, the Savior of the world.

Jesus was only too happy to grant their request. He led them to the home where he was staying and our text says, “They spent that day with him.” Imagine that! Spending the day talking with the Son of God! It must have been a conversation unlike any they had ever had.

In fact it was so memorable that John, the one who wrote these words and was one of those disciples talking with Jesus that day, recalled it vividly. He writes, “It was about the tenth hour.” Decades later when he wrote these words he saw that day in his mind’s eye as if it were yesterday. These first followers of Jesus had an opportunity to listen to Jesus and they took advantage of it.

Later today will you say the same thing? Will you look back on this event we call Sunday worship and consider it such a highlight of your day that you’ll say with John, “It was about the tenth hour”? Not likely. Then again, Jesus isn’t sitting in front of you like he was with John. But he’s here all the same. He’s sharing his word with us just as he was with them. In fact, in a few minutes he will share his very body and blood with our communicants. He can’t be any more present than that! But we have a hard time recalling how blessed we are to have Jesus with us in word and sacrament. That’s why we need the reminder to look. Look at the Lamb of God! He takes away the sin of the world, yours and mine. He invites us to look at him and listen to what he says.

Part III.

More than one Bible scholar has declared, “Jesus never asks of us what he hasn’t already given us.” And that’s certainly true. And one of the things he asks of us is to share what we know about him.

His disciple Andrew presents a fine example of doing that very thing. Recall that Andrew didn’t have all that much familiarity with Jesus. Prior to the events recorded in our text, Andrew had been a follower of John the Baptist who was preparing Andrew and others for the coming of the Savior. But we don’t know how long that was. Perhaps less than a year. And I don’t think John had much information about Jesus to share with Andrew.

What’s more, Andrew didn’t have much time to speak with Jesus and to learn from him. He looked forward to having that opportunity as shown by the fact they he and John addressed Jesus as “Rabbi” or “Teacher.” But at this point in his life Jesus as the Savior was a relatively unknown person to him.

But look what he does. John tells us, “The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah.’” He simply states the facts he knew. When you look at the Lamb of God, that’s a natural response of faith in him.

Look, the Lamb of God! Look, and then share what you know.

Again, the Lord never asks something of us that he hasn’t already given us. There isn’t a person here this morning that doesn’t know something about Jesus. Even our children know the truth that Jesus died for the sins of all people. As you look at the Lamb of God this morning, look also for opportunities in your life to share what you know about him. Consider that friend, relative, co-worker who doesn’t have a relationship with Jesus. Pray about it and then share what you know about him. With God’s blessing you’ll make an eternal difference in their life. Invite them to look at the Lamb of God with you. Amen.