Behold the Lamb of God

I like John the Baptist. He’s such a contrast to the dominant model of the celebrity today. I assume you’ve noticed how important the cult of the celebrity is today. When celebrities speak it’s all about them. It’s just assumed that everyone is interested in what they’re interested in. Whether it’s some prince getting married or a princess having children or Oprah at the Opera house we’re all expected to watch with bated breath for what they’ll do or say next.

John the Baptist was certainly a celebrity. Matthew tells us about him. He appears in the wilderness telling people to repent. He wears “clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.” This is code: John appears dressed like Elijah. His message is like that of the Old Testament prophets - a call to the nation to turn back to God. He’s clearly a celebrity.

But look at the previous section of John 1. When the priests and Levites ask him who he thinks he is, he tells them “I’m not the Messiah.” In an age when there was a rising hope of the coming of the Messiah, John’s arrival must have caused quite a stir. People from the whole region of Judea were going out to him to be baptised as a sign of their repentance. And many would have wondered whether he was the Messiah. But no, he says. I’m not the one. “Well then”, they say, “Are you Elijah?” “No.” “Then who are you?” “I’m the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’” he says. A quote from Isaiah of course. 

Then when they push him harder for an explanation of what he’s doing, he tells them: “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, 27 the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” 

And not only is John not interested in being looked up to as a celebrity, he knows what his mission in the world is all about. He actively points people away from himself to the real celebrity. 

The next day he sees Jesus coming towards him and he says to his disciples: “Look. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is the one I was talking about.”

Now remember John is a prophet; one through whom God speaks to his people. And God gives him words to say. It’s unlikely that John fully understood these words. The Lamb of God who takes away sin, might have meant something to him. But the sin of the world? Clearly he’s speaking a word of prophecy given to him by God. 

But let’s think about what this name means. What does it mean that Jesus is the Lamb who takes away sin? Is this the lamb that was sent out into the desert on the day of atonement, bearing the sins of the nation? Is it perhaps a reference to the lamb caught in a thicket that God gave Abraham to use for his sacrifice in the place of Isaac? Is it a reference to a guilt offering where an animal is killed as an offering for a person’s guilt before God? Or is it perhaps a reference to Isaiah 53 where the suffering servant, who’s wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, is compared to a lamb that’s led to the slaughter? 

Perhaps it’s all of those things. Jesus is the one who has come to take our place; He’s come to die so that we wouldn’t receive the punishment we owe. But notice the second half of what John says: Jesus isn’t just the lamb who takes away the sin of the nation. He’s come to take away the sin of the world.  This is an announcement of universal proportions.

And John has a further testimony to add to this name he’s given Jesus. He says he saw something amazing when Jesus came to him to be baptised. As Jesus was coming up out of the water he saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and it remained on him. Up until this point he hadn’t known who it was that he was preparing the way for but now he knows. How? Because God has told him that the one on whom the Spirit will descend and remain is the one who will baptise with the Holy Spirit. 

John is clearly a prophet like the Old Testament prophets, but he also understands where that puts him in God’s scheme of things. He’s just a servant, sent  to prepare the way for one who’s so much greater than he. The comparison is made clear by the two modes of baptism that he mentions. He baptises with water - a baptism of repentance that lasts until it needs to be done again, whereas Jesus baptises with the Spirit. Jesus’ baptism contains the means by which we can be remade, renewed, enabled to live in accordance with God’s will, changed from the inside, from the heart. And so John has no hesitation in directing his disciples to Jesus.

Finally, John knows that he’s simply the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth but this Jesus is the Son of God: so far beyond him that all he can do is kneel at his feet in worship; he’s not even worthy to untie the straps of his sandals he says elsewhere. 

And so he gladly points his disciples in Jesus; direction. The next day he again points him out: “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” 

Here is a great model for anyone who would be a disciple of Jesus, or a minister for God. When we choose to serve God, that’s exactly what we have to do. He is all that matters. And he’s the only one who deserves the glory. Too often you see ministers in the church who seem to be seeking their own glory; who seem to be doing what they do to receive the applause of others. You may have heard people complain that their work is never recognised. You might even have thought the same thing. I know I have in my worse moments. Yet look at John the Baptist. Here he is, perhaps the greatest of the prophets. That’s certainly what Jesus thought of him. Yet there’s no sense that he wants the glory for himself.

In fact what he does is at great cost to himself. He points out Jesus to his disciples and they leave him. One of them is Andrew and he goes and gets his brother Simon. Losing Andrew means losing Simon and losing the two of them is like sending your whole vestry to start a new church. No-one would do that, would they? Yet that’s what John does. 

As for the second disciple, we’re not told who that was, but it would fit with other parts of this gospel if it were John, not named but possibly the one who tells the story as an eye witness. 

The two disciples go up to Jesus and ask him where he’s staying. This is a sort of code for “Can we come with you?” Can we be your disciples?” Jesus gives them the coded answer: “Come and see” And they go with him and spend the day there.

Now at this point it’s important to notice something about the dialogue so far. Notice first that John’s description of Jesus contains within it a warning. He doesn’t describe Jesus as the Messiah, the anointed king, though that’s how Andrew interprets it. No, he’s the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is someone who’s destiny is death. He’s come to be a sacrifice on our behalf. So the implication could be if you want to follow him you need to be prepared to suffer with him. 

When Jesus greets the first two disciples he asks them “What are you looking for?” That’s a good question isn’t it? What are you looking for? Are you looking for a comfortable life? Are you looking for the glory that comes from being one of God’s servants? Are you looking for praise and recognition? Or are you ready to do whatever it takes to serve in God’s kingdom - even if it means suffering the way Jesus did? Are you ready to take up a cross in order to follow Jesus?

John is a great model for us as followers of Jesus Christ. He was a man who lived out the message he preached. His actions followed his words. This is something our world is crying out for. People who live out what they say they believe in. It’s a rare thing today isn’t it? In a world where the cult of celebrity rules, it’s all about the external appearance, the gloss, the spin, the sound bite. But don’t you long to see people in public life who live out their principles in their private life?

This is even more important for us who profess faith in God. Hypocrisy is the most common criticism of Christians, isn’t it? We claim to be godly, righteous people but too often we’re no different from our neighbours. 

Notice too how John’s training shows in the way Andrew behaves. The first thing he does is go and tell his brother. John has come to proclaim the coming of the Messiah. And his disciples do exactly the same thing. In the next passage Jesus calls Philip to follow him and he too goes out and tells his friend Nathaniel about Jesus. It’s significant, isn’t it, that even before they’re truly counted as disciples of Jesus they’ve begun to tell others about him. 

So here’s the challenge for us from this short passage. Are we living lives of integrity? Does your inner life match your external image? Are you willing to give up your own rights, your own glory, even your own comfort in order to serve the one who came as a sacrificial lamb? And secondly are you living out the life of a disciple in the way you tell others about Jesus? Are you an ambassador for Christ? 

Let’s pray that that might be the case.