John 1:29-41 Come and see the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

“Do not touch the glass,” and “Come here and pet him,” are two phrases you hear at the zoo. If you go to see a snake at the zoo, you will find it behind glass to protect you from its bite. If you go to see a lamb at the zoo, you will probably be able to feed and even pet it. Some people like holding snakes, but few things represent an innocent and welcoming presence better than a lamb.

Finding the animals that we like to come and see at the zoo takes work. It may be easy to find a lamb to keep at the zoo by going to any number of farms, but finding an animal like a grizzly bear takes work. Grizzly bears live in places with tough terrain and temperamental weather. Plus, they sprint as fast as a horse and can smell six times better than a bloodhound. And, finding them often limits the use of motorized vehicles and requires going on foot. Tracking something like a grizzly bear through the woods might make most of us picture bringing along dogs, but I recently read an article about the benefits of using goats rather than dogs. Goats were said to be superior because they are quieter, find their own food along the way, are not tempted to chase after things like squirrels and, maybe the best thing, carry heavy packs filled with gear.

When life weighs us down seeing a little lamb, exotic snake or impressive grizzly bear at the zoo are not enough to lift our spirits. The weight of sin was heavy on the world at the time of John the Baptist. It had been centuries since God had spoken to Israel until the silence was broken by the angel Gabriel. He appeared to John’s father Zechariah, announcing his birth as the one who would prepare the way for the Lord. He also appeared to Mary, and though the angel is not named we presume to Jospeh, to announce Jesus’ birth. Then, thirty years later John the Baptist began his ministry of preaching repentance and baptizing. As John ministered, he had disciples who like him were waiting for the promised Messiah, the Son of God, the Chosen One, the Christ and Savior of the world. Finally, John was able to point the people and his disciples to the One who would take the weight of sin off all people as we hear in our Gospel reading from John 1, 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.” When Jesus was baptized by John, God the Father spoke from heaven and the Holy Spirit descended on him as a dove revealing Jesus as the One to take away the sin of the world.

Finding a way to carry sin is our life’s work. We all have sin, and it weighs all of us down, but sin is like mushrooms. Some mushrooms are edible, and some will kill you with just a small bite. Sin like mushrooms is difficult to recognize. For some people what is recognized as a temptation, sin and burden of guilt, shame and punishment looks good and acceptable. And for all of us, whether Christian or not, we deceive ourselves into thinking we can carry the crushing weight of. We live as though the solution to sin is here among us in the world, but we are warned against this in our New Testament reading from Colossians 2, 8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. Rather than depending on Christ, we choose to avoid the topic of sin philosophically rationalizing away its guilt and shame or adopting a moral life expecting a reward for our good behavior. As Christians, we forget there is a barrier between us and God. We may see through the glass to the perfect standards of God, but we are caged in this world with bite marks and sin’s venom coursing through our veins. We know what an innocent lamb looks like, but we are as untamed as a grizzly at the smell of temptation. We cannot buy into the idea that we can carry the weight of our sins. We cannot look away from Jesus, or we will be overwhelmed, crushed and condemned to hell.

There is no choice about carrying sin. Sin is not a like a backpack that we can take off; it lives in us. Sin is our burden, but it can be taken away. The only way for sin to be taken away is for our lives to be taken away because it lives in us. So, if we die, then sin dies too, but then we are dead. Sin is a crushing weight for us, but not for the Lamb of God. In our Gospel reading from John 1, John the Baptist said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John pointed the people to Jesus in the flesh after God had been pointing to this moment since the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve were deceived by the devil God promised in Genesis 3, 15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” God promised the serpent would bite the One who would then crush his head. A few verses later, God took away Adam and Eve’s shame by clothing them as we read, 21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. God continued to care for the sinful world, and in thanksgiving for his care, we read in Genesis 4, 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. Noah after God delivered him and his family in the ark from the global flood sacrificed some clean animals from what was left after just over a year in the ark as we read in Genesis 8, 20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. When God delivered Israel from Egypt, lambs without defect were sacrificed to save the nation as we read in Exodus 12, 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. Lambs again were used at the Tabernacle and later at the Temple as we read in Exodus 29, 38 “This is what you are to offer on the altar regularly each day: two lambs a year old. 39 Offer one in the morning and the other at twilight. Centuries of sacrifices later the prophet Isaiah further set the stage for John the Baptist as we read in Isaiah 53, 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. All of this and more pointed with John the Baptist at Jesus as the serpent crusher, shame taker, perfect, innocent, lifegiving sacrifice who takes away the sin of the world. The weight of our sin that we carried as a death certificate was taken away on the cross as we heard in our New Testament reading from Colossians 2, 13 … He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. God chose to take away our sins through Jesus and open our eyes to believe in him by the power of the Holy Spirit. With our sins removed, we will be welcomed into heaven to live with unburdened, joyful hearts praising God as we read in Revelation 5, 12 In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”

When your sins stack up, come to Jesus. Carrying sin wears us out, and certain temptations and sins toss the weight on bringing us to try unhealthy things to take away the pain. The familiar things we run to in place of Jesus do not work. We trust in lots of things for temporary relief or distraction, but the guilt, shame and weight of sin remain without Jesus. It is easy to trust in what we know. Stop trusting in temporary things to take away sin. Familiarize yourself with Jesus. Get to know Jesus by reading, studying and meditating on Scripture, then you can pray and apply it. Only Jesus works against sin. Our relief in Jesus grows as we see him more clearly and have ‘epiphanies’ of who he is by reading the Bible. God wants us to lie down in the sheep pen with the Lamb of God, not be left in the dumpster behind Satan’s slaughterhouse. He also wants everyone you know to hear about Jesus. John the Baptist pointed his disciples to Jesus in John 1, and 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.” Those two disciples listened to Jesus and became Jesus’ disciples. And after listening to him, we hear that one of them went to his brother, who also became one of Jesus’ disciples, 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). We have also found the Messiah. We know who took our sins away. And we know Jesus fulfilled these words from our Old Testament reading from Isaiah 49, “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” You may have an opinion about using dogs versus goats for tracking bears, but what matters is that God did a big thing through Jesus. Jesus took away the sins of the world bringing salvation to the ends of the earth. Jesus took away our burden of sin, and now we take Jesus to one another as brothers and sisters. We also take Jesus to those who need to hear their sins have been taken away too.

“Do not touch the glass,” and “Come here and pet him,” are two phrases you hear at the zoo. If you go to see a snake at the zoo, you will find it behind glass to protect you from its bite. If you go to see a lamb at the zoo, you will probably be able to feed and even pet it. Few things represent an innocent and welcoming presence better than a lamb. God confirmed to John the Baptist that Jesus was the ‘Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’ Unlike the countless animal sacrifices, Jesus was the one and only innocent sacrifice for the sins of the world, and through him we will be welcomed into the presence of God to live in eternal peace in heaven. Like John the Baptist and Andrew, invite others to Come and see the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Amen.

        

Gunnar Ledermann, Pastor Divine Peace Church