A sermon I preached on Sunday 15th January 2023 at All Saints Church, Oakham.

John 1.29-42

Who here has a cousin? Odds are that the majority of you have a cousin. Now how do you tend to greet your cousin? You might go ‘hello,’ or ‘hi.’ I tend to go with ‘Hey, how are you doing?’ Normal people responses, right? But when John the Baptist comes to greet his cousin, Jesus, he says: ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’ At most, very weird; at the least, still a bit intense. But look again at the opening line of the gospel reading in verse 29. John the Baptist saw Jesus coming towards him and declared, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Notice how there is a cause and effect in this verse. John the Baptist saw Jesus coming towards him, and as a result, he declares that Jesus is the Lamb of God, the one who takes away the sin of the world. And again, the next day John repeats his greeting, saying, ‘here is the Lamb of God.’ The sight of Jesus gave birth to this revelation about Jesus. Seeing Jesus led him to know more of who he is and who he is for him. Likewise, when we see Jesus we know more of who he is and who he is for us.  

When John says this the second time, a couple of people overheard him saying this and started following Jesus. Jesus, never one to miss a trick, spotted that these two people were following him, and he asked them, ‘what are you looking for?’ They said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi (that is ‘teacher’), where are you staying?’ And I absolutely love how Jesus answers this question. He says to them, ‘come and see.’ For all the wisdom and articulation that Jesus possessed, what was often so remarkable about him is the way in which he chooses to say very little in his conversations. Instead, he opts to swap words for experiences. A little less conversation a little more action please. Jesus doesn’t just tell people about what he is doing, but he shows them. Come and see. Come to Jesus and see. See what he does, see more of him revealed in his actions and being in his presence. 

One of the people who followed Jesus here was the disciple Andrew, who having spent the day with Jesus, first went and found his brother Simon (who Jesus gave the name Peter) and told him, ‘We have found the Messiah.’ Andrew had seen Jesus; he spent time with him and came to see and know that Jesus was the Messiah. Seeing Jesus and being with him gave birth to revelation about Jesus. It’s the way it works with people. 

Think of someone who you know very well. Some of you here have been married for several decades. If I asked you, how many of you knew everything there was to know about your other half when you got married, I expect the majority of you would laugh and say no. The reality is that now having spent several years with this person, you realise that you actually knew very little about them when you first got married. It was through seeing them every day and being in their presence that you came to know more of who they are. This is how you came to know them. 

For Andrew and the rest of the disciples, they found that as they spent time with Jesus, they too came to see and know more of who Jesus is. Like we saw with John the Baptist, seeing Jesus gave birth to revelation about Jesus as the Messiah, the promised Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world. 

As followers of Jesus, or maybe you aren’t currently a follower of Jesus but you overheard something about him and wanted to come to check out what all the fuss was about, hear the words of Jesus to you: ‘come and see.’ It is in coming to him, in seeing, maybe even just for a moment, that we find out more about him, who he is and who he is for us. Maybe like John, you see Jesus and you immediately see that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That kind of quick conviction is the work of the Holy Spirit revealing more of Jesus to you. Or perhaps you are like Andrew and the other disciples who followed Jesus at a bit of a distance at first, but then through spending some time with him, you then come to know that he is the Messiah. Again, this is also the work of the Holy Spirit. God is at work revealing himself to us in Jesus. Truly, seeing is believing. 

Seeing Jesus gives birth to revelation about Jesus. So, if it is in seeing Jesus that we come to know him, how are we taking the time to come and see Jesus in our day to day? How are we going to see Jesus today, tomorrow, this week, and in the year ahead? I want to give you three ways in which to see Jesus. 

First, scripture. At the beginning of John’s gospel, Jesus is called the Word, and in the words of Scripture, we discover the divine Word, Jesus Christ. We see Jesus not just in the gospels, but throughout the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Jesus is there at the beginning and the end. The Bible is sometimes described as God’s love letter to us, and contained within its pages is the person of love, love himself, Jesus the Messiah. We read the Bible in church and at home during the week so that we can see Jesus and hear from him. As we read the Bible, and know and understand more of its story, we discover the story and heart of God and Jesus for us. 

Second, prayer. Prayer is the most significant thing we do as Christians. Prayer is broad and has many different expressions, but in all of them, prayer is about communion with God. This communion is more than just coming together in words. In prayer, we do spend time with God, talking with him, but also being with him, maybe in silence. I think of how when you are with a close friend, you don’t need to say something to them to share communion with them – you are joined together just by being in one another’s presence. Prayer is reaching into God and his presence. Our prayer, times of spoken prayer, contemplative silence, reflecting on a passage of scripture, and every kind of prayer all enjoy this act of communion and drawing toward God. 

Third, the world. As we said earlier, Jesus likes to invite people to experience him and his work. The place where these disciples experienced Jesus was in the world. It was in their lived experiences with Jesus and other people that these disciples came to see Jesus and discover who he is. The same is true for us today. We may not have the physical incarnate Jesus walking the streets with us, but Jesus is the maker of this world, and all things in this world have come into being through him (Colossians 1:16). The touch of Jesus is all around us in this world waiting to be seen. Jesus is present in the beauty of creation. Jesus is present in the wonder of the stars above. Jesus is present in the life and joy of his people. Look with open eyes at the world around you and you will see more and know more about Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 

Take these three means of scripture, prayer and the world to see Jesus. Come and see him, and in seeing him, trust that he will reveal who is he and who he is for us. He will show us that he is our Lord and King. He will show us that we have turned away from him and that he came to die on the cross to bring us back to him. He will show us that though there is pain and suffering in this world that in eternity there will be no more pain or suffering or death. He will show us that he is the Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Let us come and see who Jesus is today.

Amen.