Thoughts going in, Sunday January 19th

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel." 32 Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God's Chosen One." 35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" 37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means "Teacher"), "where are you staying?" 39 "Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon. 40 Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter ).

            This Sunday I will be out of town and Rev. Tom Noll will be substituting for me. Even so, I wanted to offer a couple of thoughts on this gospel reading going in. It seems to me that one of the main things going on here is RECOGNITION. From what we can tell from reading the biblical accounts, and from what historians tell us, the man Jesus probably didn't look like much. He wasn't extra tall, or extra muscular, ... he didn't dress in extra fine clothes, etc. etc. There really wasn't anything to suggest that he was other than just a wandering peasant from the local area. And yet (through the power of the Spirit) John RECOGNIZES him as the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

            I cannot help but be reminded of the liturgical song by that name--Agnus Dei, or "Lamb of God." In the ebb & flow of what we do on a typical Sunday morning, we do not always sing the Agnus Dei, but when we do... we always locate it in its historical place. It is sung as a hymn to Christ as he is RECOGNIZED as present in the Sacrament. In that sense, when it's sung, it always comes after the words of institution in Holy Communion. As an interesting side-note, it was during the hyper-Protestant phase of the English Reformation that the Prayer Book liturgy changed the location of the Agnus Dei. They began singing it before the words of institution. The message seemed clear enough.... they were happy to sing about Christ being the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God, but they were no longer interested in RECOGNIZING him as present in the sacrament.

            For us today it seems like a BIG part of the life of faith is RECOGNIZING Christ. If Christianity is to be anything other than a mere philosophy, or a mere 'code of conduct' by which we live our lives, ... if Christianity is actually to offer a relationship with the God of the universe and his Son the Savior of the world, then Christians need to know HOW to be able to recognize Christ. And of course in order to do that, we need look no further than the words of the Bible. We can recognize him in the faces of the poor and downtrodden. "The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' (Matthew 25:40) We can recognize him on the pages of Scripture. Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31). And finally, we can recognize Jesus in the ritual meal of the Church, Holy Communion. Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.(Luke 24:35).

            The time of Epiphany is all about the manifestation of God in the flesh. It's all about the God who is able to be known. This particular week's focus is on us. God IS able to be known. Will we recognize him?

Cheers,

TM