Can we talk about the GENIUS of the song we don’t talk about Bruno being mixed with Mariano coming over for dinner? Because you get so many characters explaining HES HERE and I CAN HEAR HIM and it’s the DOUBLE MEANING

like one of the last lines AFTER all the characters sing their verses at the same time is ‘HES HERE’ which Mariano is there, but you know who else is there? Every night for dinner? Bruno

“Come and See”

A sermon for St. Martin's-by-the-Lake Episcopal Church, Minnetonka Beach, Minnesota Second Sunday After Epiphany | January 15, 2017 | Year A Isaiah 49.1-7 | Psalm 40 | I Corinthians 1.1-9 | John 1.29-42

I. 

What are you looking for? For 38 verses at the beginning of John's gospel, we hear nothing from the main character of the story. We hear plenty from John the Baptist, but nothing from the man himself. So when Jesus finally does say something, we might expect him to say something that will set the tone for the rest of his ministry. We might expect him to tell us what to do, to love one another. We might expect him to tell us that he is God. We have his first words in this morning’s reading, and they are unexpected. They are not a doctrine or a command or even a statement.

Jesus' first words are a question. What are you looking for? John the Baptist and his disciples hadn’t gone looking for Jesus, but they notice someone coming towards them. But even then, they don't recognize Jesus. It takes John the Baptist to tell them to look before they actually see Jesus. John says, "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." That's the New Revised Standard translation that we just read. Others are better: the New International says, "Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." The King James Version says, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 

John’s followers didn’t see anything unusual happening, and then, suddenly, John, a messenger from God, says "Behold! Pay attention! Look! Something is happening here! God is on the move and you may not notice that's what's happening. This man is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” 

The next day, John and his followers see Jesus again, and John goes much further in telling his followers about Jesus. He says Jesus out-ranks him because Jesus came before him, that Jesus is older than him. But there’s a problem with that. The story of John’s birth is told in Luke chapter 1, and we know that he is actually older than Jesus. His mother, Elizabeth was already pregnant when the angel Gabriel comes to speak to Mary and to inform her that she will become pregnant. And yet, John says to his followers that Jesus came before him. John doesn't stop there. He says that he witnessed the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus, and from this he knows that Jesus will be the one who will baptize people in the Holy Spirit. So Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, Jesus as the one who out-ranks John because he came before John, Jesus as the baptizer with the Holy Spirit. What could all this mean?

Even with this introduction, John's disciples are only intrigued. They say to Jesus, "Rabbi, where are you staying?" They don't fall down and worship him, or proclaim him as Messiah yet. They just ask him where he's staying. And Jesus answers them, "What are you looking for?"

II.

What are you looking for? This morning, maybe you're looking for a little inspiration, to see some friends, to calm guilt about not being at church for a while, or to be spiritually refreshed. But if I took a poll of the room, I wonder how many of us would say that we are completely satisfied with our lives. Always wanting more, never being satisfied, never having enough: three phrases that are more or less synonymous with being American. 

Lin-Manuel Miranda's smash-hit Broadway musical Hamilton explores what it means for Alexander Hamilton to never be satisfied with his life. In one number, Hamilton describes himself as being "just like my country, young, scrappy and hungry",[1] and in another, he is described by Aaron Burr, who would eventually kill Hamilton in a duel, as being "non-stop". Burr's character asks, "Why do write like you're running out of time / write day and night like you're running out of time / everyday you fight like you're running out of time." This drive to achieve, to constantly work, to constantly write, to make a name for himself in history, had disastrous effects on his marriage. Later in the same number, Hamilton's wife Eliza wants Hamilton to finally take it easy after ten years of fighting in the American Revolution. She sings, "Look at where you are / look at where you started / the fact that you're alive is a miracle / just stay alive / that would be enough / and if your wife could share a fraction of your time / if I could grant you peace of mind / would that be enough?" But when George Washington offers Hamilton the position of secretary of the Treasury, reminding Hamilton that history has its eyes on him, that the first secretary of the Treasury will have enormous impact on the new country, Hamilton accepts. His wife explodes: "What would be enough for you to be satisfied? Look around, Look around! Isn't this enough? What would be enough?"[2]

Look around, Look around! Isn't this enough? What would be enough? What would be enough to give you what you're looking for? Peace of mind? Courage to go on in the face of cancer or disease? A certain amount of money? Another house, 1000 square feet bigger than the one you’re in? Maybe you're here in church because you want your kids to acquire some morals that aren't taught by the culture. Maybe you're looking for healing from a broken relationship. There are lots of things that we might be looking for. And it just might be that we are so distracted by those things that we don’t notice the man walking up the road towards us. We don’t notice this one whom we’ve heard preached about and talked about, and we’re lost in our own thoughts. And maybe this morning, we can hear John the Baptist saying to us, “Behold! Look up! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

III. 

John’s followers turn and start following after Jesus down the road, wondering where he is going. He turns and notices them and says, "What are you looking for?" And they say, "Rabbi, Where are you staying?" 

Come and see, Jesus tells them. Come and see. And they came and they saw where he was staying and they remained with him that day. They came and saw and remained with him that day. We don’t know what they talked about. All we know is that when the disciples come out, they rush to find their family members to get them to come and see and remain with Jesus.

John had told them that Jesus was the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world, that Jesus had come before John even though John had been born first, that Jesus was the baptizer with the Holy Spirit. But it took them hearing Jesus' invitation to come and see, and their following him to where he was staying, for them to know themselves that Jesus was who John claimed that he was.

Why was what John told his disciples significant? First, he said Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. My experience with church people is that we are deeply confused about what sin is, and about what it might mean for Jesus to take it away. Many of us think that people are basically good, with only a handful of exceptions allowed for the truly horrible people of history - Hitler, serial killers, child molesters. For all the rest of us, the assumption is that because we’re good people we’re good with God. But this idea is far from what the Bible teaches about sin. The Bible tells story after story of human failure and human brokenness. In his letter to the Romans, Paul says, "God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he might have mercy upon all." Russian novelist and political dissident Alexander Soltzhenitsyn put it another way: "the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts."[3] None of us are good people. All of us are imprisoned by the power of sin, all of us are subject to death, all of us are subject to injustice and oppression and everything else that opposes God in our world. But through his death and resurrection, Jesus has conquered the power of sin. It is no longer able to imprison us, and it no longer has the last word over creation. Jesus offered himself as a sacrificial lamb – the Lamb of God – to bear away the sin of the world.

Second, Jesus is the one who comes before John. John is older than Jesus, and yet he says Jesus out-ranks him because he is older. John is claiming that Jesus existed before his own birth – and in saying this, John is saying that Jesus is a part of God, that he shares in the life of God. He is not simply Rabbi, a teacher among the great religious teachers of the world, but rather God himself, the God before which every idol and every other so-called god will bow. When we say in the creed that we believe that Jesus is of one Being with the Father, this is what we mean.

Third, Jesus is the one who is baptized in and will baptize with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is also a divine person together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit marks him out as God’s unique instrument to bring about the conquering of all evil and the end of sin. [4]

John the Baptist’s testimony is a complete Christology; it told his followers everything they needed to know about Jesus. But they still only recognized Jesus when Jesus invited them to come and see.

IV.

This is the season after Epiphany. Epiphany is about realizing that Jesus is not just Rabbi, not just a teacher, but Lord of the universe. Jesus is not just a baby in a manger but the crucified God on a cross. John told his disciples what they needed to know, but his disciples didn’t come to realize who Jesus was until he invited them to come and see. Epiphany is about moving from “What are you looking for?” to “Come and see” where Jesus is staying, and, having seen, believed.

So, come and see. Maybe you’re one of those people who’s never satisfied, whose husband is never quite good enough, whose kids are never quite smart enough. Maybe you’re always looking for something that will satisfy: more money, more lovers, one more hour with your family. Maybe you’re looking for answers about why life has turned out the way that it has.

Come and see where the Messiah is staying. Come and see Jesus the Lamb of God at work in our lives: this Epiphany may the Lamb of God will help us to conquer long-standing destructive habits. Come and see where the Messiah is staying. Come and see the one who has come from God living in the midst of our broken hearts, in the midst of our chaotic lives; come and know that you are not alone, not far from God, but that Jesus is right in the midst of our brokenness and chaos. Come and see where the Messiah is staying and receive the Holy Spirit: receive power to live a life that is based solely on bearing witness to what this Messiah has done, receive healing in all the broken places of our lives; receive courage to see the world differently, the way that Jesus the Messiah sees it.

In a few moments time, we will come to receive the Eucharist, to receive Jesus into our bodies. May each of us invite him in that moment to come and see us, and to remain with us. In the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

[1] “My Shot”.

[2] “Non-Stop”.

[3] The Gulag Archipelago.

[4] Raymond Brown, The Gospel According to John, v.1, Anchor Bible Commentary, 58-66.