Come and See - John 1: 29-42

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Last week was Jesus’ baptism. Water flowed; the Spirit descended; the Father spoke: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” With His public ministry consecrated to begin preaching and teaching, it was time for His work – His epiphany, His revealing – as Messiah to begin.

John the Baptizer has been preaching and baptizing, but it is now time for him to exit, stage left. In his place, Jesus will take the forefront. John had said, “Behold, He’s coming.” Now, with Jesus’ arrival, John proclaims, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” It’s as if John is saying to all those around, “Here He is – the one for whom you have all been waiting, the One foretold, the One promised by God. Behold!” So there is no doubt, John adds his own eyewitness testimony of Jesus’ baptism, an admission that his way of baptizing is completed and the new baptism of Christ by the Spirit is to begin.

Again, the next day, Jesus appears and, again, John confesses and points to Jesus: “Behold, the lamb of God.” John is connecting the Old Testament rites and rituals of sacrifice with Jesus. In the times past, sacrifices were made morning and night for the worshipping community, and then throughout the day people brought their own sacrifices to the temple. I cannot begin to guess how many animals, how many lambs and sheep and pigeons and doves were slaughtered and burned to atone for the people’s sins. It was an ongoing, daily rite with the sight and sounds a part of the life of Jerusalem. Identifying Jesus as the Lamb of God was pointing ahead, foreshadowing, foretelling that Jesus would be the atoning sacrifice, the vicarious substitute, provided by God Himself for His people of all time. Jesus would truly be the perfect and sinless vicarious substitute, both completing the Old Testament sacrifice and taking the place of all sinners.

John continues to flip further into the shadows; Jesus takes center stage. Even John’s disciples behold, see, and follow. 

I’m struck by the interchange between Jesus and John’s disciples. As they start to follow, immediately Jesus asks, “What do you seek?” That is, as the saying goes, a loaded question. Notice, not who but what. “What do you seek?”

If we were to do a man on the street poll, stopping random strangers outside Jumbos, or Walmart, or Atwoods, or even your bank, your place of work, or your doctor’s office, what would people say to that question, “What do you seek?” It’s another way of asking, “What do you want?” How might the average person answer that? I suppose, as a teacher’s answer book would say, “Answers may vary.” Someone who has been unemployed may be seeking a new job. Someone who is sick seeks health, or at least, a course of treatment. Someone who is lonely seeks a friend or a spouse. Someone who is angry, or depressed, or anxious might seek relief, comfort, and joy. Someone who is dying might seek life. Others might want something less wholesome, seeking a buzz, a high, or a one-night’s love to ease the pain and fill the empty heart. I suspect those, or answers similar to those, are what you would most likely encounter. 

I wonder what would happen if we did an anonymous poll among the people of St. Paul’s? What are you seeking? What do you want? Truth be told, our Old Adams and Old Eves aren’t all that different from the answers out there, outside of Christ and His Church. Health? Absolutely. Wealth? Maybe not to be King Midas, but to go through the month without sweating the last few days before payday would be nice. Peace? Who wouldn’t love a home where kids play in peace, a neighborhood where there weren’t shouting matches over how loud music is at night, and a world where countries aren’t trying to eliminate each other from the face of the earth. The list is endless.

Don’t misunderstand me: all these things are important. They are all daily bread, First Article gifts of God. But, remember, they are all temporal. They have beginnings; they have endings, all occurring in this lifetime, this side of eternity. Jesus isn’t calling John’s two disciples into discipleship of possessions. For that matter, He isn’t calling 21^st century followers to disciple possessions, either. To be stewards, caretakers, yes, to care for them and use them for our wellbeing and that of our neighbors, but to hold onto them loosely as the temporal gifts that they are, recognizing that none of those things can save.

Go back to Jesus’ question: What are you seeking? It is as if Jesus is asking, “Do you seek what John has pointed to?” Do you seek what the Scriptures say of me? Is this the path of discipleship you wish to follow? Do you want to know what God has planned to rescue and save all of mankind? Do you desire the Messiah?” The answer for the child of God is a simple, humble, and faith-filled “Yes.”

And you, with Andrew, are able to proclaim that you, too, have found the Messiah. I suppose we could have some fun arguing just whom found who, but regardless, Andrew gets it right: we are, in fact, seeking what God has promised and you, Jesus, are He. Our culture is quick to point to ourselves, to say, “Look what I have done; See what I have found.” Christ comes to us; we do not come to Him of our own doing. In fact, John’s the evangelist even helps us see this with an interesting pair of bookends. At the beginning of John’s Gospel, Jesus asks the question, “What are you seeking?” At the end, St. John writes that “These things are written that you may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” 

Through that written word, the Holy Spirit creates faith in the hearts of men and women. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God,” Paul wrote in Romans 10. With the very Word made flesh doing the speaking, it should be of no wonder to us that faith was created.

“Messiah” and “Christ” mean the same thing – Messiah is Hebrew; Christ is Greek – both meaning anointed. As the Messiah-Christ, Jesus is anointed to be the fulfillment of all of God’s plan of salvation. He comes to bear the sins of the world. He comes to redeem the world. He comes to die on the cross, the perfect substitute and payment for the world’s sins.

Did Andrew know that already? Probably not. As far as being a disciple goes, he’s still a beginner, a rookie follower of Jesus. He will have much to learn in the days ahead. There will be moments that instead of following, he will turn tail and run. But, after Jesus ascension, strengthened in that same calling of following, Andrew will become one of the apostles proclaiming, “Behold! I have found the Christ.”

You have found the Messiah-Christ. Well, He found you, first. He found you at the font, where you were introduced to His grace in water and word. He found you when you were brought to His House, where you continue to find Him every time His Word is read and proclaimed. He finds you every time you come to His table where He stands as both meal and host. And, like Andrew, you continue to follow, learn, and grow in faith and knowledge of Jesus as your Messiah-Christ.

Jesus invites them, “Come and see.” The invitation continues to be extended, every time you speak of that grace and love of Christ to others. “Come and see.” Come and see the One who died for you, who rose for you, who ascended for you, and who intercedes for you. Come and see the love of Jesus that flows in water and word, in bread and wine, in holy absolution. Come and see, with eyes of faith, the Jesus who fulfills all righteousness for you.