Text: John 1:29-42a
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Martin Luther once wrote, “Sin has two places where it may be; either it may be with you, so that it lies upon your neck, or upon Christ, the Lamb of God. If now it lies upon your neck, you are lost; if, however, it lies upon Christ, you are free and will be saved. Take now whichever you prefer.”
When you put it that way, Luther, the decision seems quite clear. That’s like asking a death row criminal if he would rather be punished for his crimes, or be set free. He doesn’t have to think about it. The choice is clear. One option is life. The other is death. The choice is clear.
And yet Luther is not so foolish to suppose that the human nature is ready and willing or even able to make the clear and sensible choice. No it’s just not that simple, because within us there are great forces at work that would make us choose what is unnatural, undesirable, unthinkable.
It really all goes back to that very first sin in the Garden of Eden. All around Adam and Eve is life. And it’s not just any life. It is the good life. It is life with God. It’s paradise. With trees that are filled with marvelous fruit. They have everything they could ever want or need. Life is good.
Then the serpent comes. And he draws Eve’s attention to the fruit. Now this is the fruit that God said, “The day you eat of it you will surely die. All the other fruit you may eat. But not from this tree.” To eat from this tree should be unthinkable. It should be undesirable. Yet when the serpent tempts Eve, the bible says, “the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom.” That is death right there. But hypnotized by the serpents words she chooses death. It’s not natural. It’s undesirable. Yet she chooses it. And ever since the fall, our sinful nature has been at work in us to do what is undesirable and sin against God.
Today is life Sunday. It is a day which emphasizes the gift of life that God has given even as we live in a sinful world, want to choose death, and find it desirable.
Our Gospel lesson today directs us to the one who brings us life.
I love John the Baptist. He strikes me as such a no nonsense kind of guy. I imagine him to be a guy of few words. He’s not the type to waste his time with idle chit-chat, but if something is on his mind, he’s the kind of guy that is just going to say it. He’s not really worried about being politically correct either. Do you remember a few weeks ago when in our reading we heard about the Pharisees and the Sadducees who came to John. When John sees them he says, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come!” Or another example is when he learned that Herod was having a sinful relationship with his brother’s wife. John just can’t be silent. So he says, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”
“Shhh! Shhh! John, John! Be quiet! You’re going to get yourself in trouble saying stuff like that. Be quiet. Don’t talk about things like that. Herod’s going to have your head!” John didn’t hesitate a bit to speak a word of law. He just could not be silent. If there was a public issue of sin, it needed to be talked about.
So also today, the church just simply cannot remain silent about the sin of abortion. Or about euthanasia, or embryonic stem cell research. Shhh! Shhh! Keep it down! Don’t talk about that. You’re going make people uncomfortable. It’s too controversial. And for some people it is too personal.”
I know. I understand that.
At the Seminary there was a video that they would often show to Seminary students and their wives. It is called “After the Choice.” The video was simple, the personal testimonies of women who had gone through abortion, and they talked about how difficult it was and the guilt that remained. One year as they were going to show this video, one of the Seminary students’ wives asked the professor which video it was. When he showed her she said, “I know that video. I’m in it. I’m one of the women in that video talking about my own abortion.”
The professor wasn’t quite sure what to do. “Would you prefer I didn’t show this?”
She said “No, go ahead and show it. People need to hear what’s on that tape.”
It is an issue that affects people in the church. It is personal. Anytime we talk about sin, it is personal, because all of us have made decisions and choices that lead to death. We have found sin desirable. We need to hear about it.
But I love John the Baptist, for as unashamed as he was to proclaim the law, he was equally unashamed to proclaim the Gospel. When he sees Jesus coming toward him, everything stops and all attention is focused on him, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” John’s testimony is clear and concise as he points to the one in whom all hope is found. And the title he gives to Jesus is magnificent: Lamb of God. The simple mention of a lamb should immediately recall Old Testament sacrifices where atonement could be made for the forgiveness of sin. And though many lambs had been slaughtered, the people were still awaiting the messiah, the one sent from God, and John is here in this moment clearly saying, “Here he is . . . the lamb of God.” And what is he doing? The Greek literally says he is picking up and carrying away all the world’s sin.
You see, it’s like Luther said, “Sin has two places where it may be; either it may be with you, so that it lies upon your neck, or upon Christ, the Lamb of God.”
My sin is too heavy. My burden is too great. But Christ the Lamb of God gladly takes it upon himself.
Those are marvelous words we sing in our liturgy. “Lamb of God, You take away the sin of the world.” We come before the Lord’s altar confessing we have sinned. Sin that leads to death! Yet He gives us his body. He gives us His blood. The sacrifice of God is given to us to eat and drink. He takes that sin and carries it away.
That’s the message we have to share with the world. I love what happens in our text. After John makes his great confession, it happens again the next day. “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” One man who hears all of this is Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. This is wonderful news. We have found the Messiah! So what does he do? He goes to find his brother Simon, and he tells him, “We have found the messiah!” And the text simply says, “He brought him to Jesus.”
This is our task as well. May we be as fervent as pointing to Christ the Lamb of God as John was, because even though we have been enamored with sin that leads to death, we have a God who wants us to know that in him we have life. Amen.
Rev. Mark Nierman is pastor at Mount Olive Lutheran Church, Loveland, Colorado.