Come and You Will See

Audio is available here.

Last Sunday, we saw four people baptized. Our candidates heard and saw again the promises of the Gospel in Word and in Sacrament, and announced to all their commitment to follow Jesus. That is, to be his disciples. This morning, our Gospel lesson comes from the Gospel of John, and about the discipleship journeys of John the Baptist and three of Jesus’s disciples. Taken together, these journeys invite us to ask, with our recently baptized brothers and sisters, what does it mean to be a disciple? 

To be a Disciple is to Have Jesus as our Goal. 

The story opens with the phrase, “the next day.” Well that invites a question doesn’t it? The day after what? In our story, it is the day after John’s initial announcement of Jesus. Here’s how it reads: 

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.”  

The next day, Jesus walks by again and John makes the same announcement, this time to Andrew and an unnamed disciple of John: Look, the Lamb of God!” And when the two disciples heard this, John tells us, they followed Jesus. 

In this short passage two facets of Jesus’s identity are made clear. Here is the first one. Jesus is the Goal of John’s ministry. Jesus is the reason for John’s ministry. It is his sole purpose to point to the One who is the Lamb of God. But look further. As the goal of John’s ministry, he is the one who ends John’s ministry. John’s disciples leave him and follow Jesus. And this is as it should be. As John himself will later say, “He must increase and I must decrease.” 

So for those of us who are disciples, we follow the baptizer in pointing people with our words and our lives to the One who is the Lamb of God.  

We do not point to our church. Our church is a great church. I am thankful for its place here in our community of Shawville. I am thankful for the people who come to worship here. I am thankful for the Bible Studies that take place on Sunday nights and at NHL and on Tuesday nights. But we are not the purpose of our coming together.  

I am thankful for the ways God allows us to turn outward to our community. For Shawville Shenanigans, for the pre-K group, and for the youth group. But these groups are not the purpose of our existence. 

Then what is? 

We exist in the shadow of John the Baptist. We exist to point people to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 

No matter what. 

Ah. That's the kicker. 

Sometimes disciples might be tempted to think that, if I am faithful in my pointing to Jesus, Jesus will reward me both in this life and in the next. But I am hard pressed to find in the Bible or in Church History just where this is shown to be true.  

It may be true in some cases—some Christians have been faithful and have prospered and we thank God for that. Others, however, precisely because they have been faithful have suffered. 

And of course, John the Baptist is the prime example. It is only after John is shut up in prison that Jesus begins his prophetic ministry and, if I have my chronology right, that must happen during Jesus's sojourn in the desert following his baptism.  

Imagine. Immediately after the climax of John's ministry—his pointing to Jesus, his announcement of his identity recalling Jesus's baptism, John—faithful John—is put in prison and he never gets out.  

Are we like John willing to decrease in order to point to Jesus? That's a good, troubling question. 

To Be a Disciple is to Follow the Lamb of God 

John announces the Lamb of God. And two of John's own disciples leave him in response and follow Jesus. 

The Lamb of God, of course, directs us to Genesis 22, and Abraham's promise to his son, Isaac, that God would provide the lamb for the sacrifice. That lamb was then foreshadowed in the ram caught in the thicket. But it was not until John declared him that he was revealed. The only Son, the Beloved Son, is the Lamb of God. 

The Lamb whose lifeblood was spilled on the cross to bring to an end the annual sacrifices in the temple. Whose life blood was the cleansing agent that removed the uncleanness of sin, not merely outward and annually, but inwardly and once and for all. The Lamb whose followers are called to take that self sacrificial life into the world, because it is the only life that breaks the cycle of sin and death, the only life that leads to resurrection.  

There is no following the Lamb that does not include following to the Cross. 

That means, if we would be disciples of Jesus, we do not follow a politician or party—a good reminder for many people these days. No political platform can simply be the Gospel because the Gospel is from another world and will not be found in its entirety in this world until the last day, when all that is wrong is made right. 

Should followers of Jesus be politically engaged and aware? Yes. But always and only as disciples of the Lamb. 

That means in our attempts to point to Jesus, we avoid means and methods that are not "Lamb-like." I am reminded here of the question asked of Conan the Barbarian by a Mongol general. "What is best in life?" Do you know his answer? To crush your enemies. See them driven before you. And to hear the lamentations of their women. What is best in life, in other words, is to win and to make sure your enemies can never take that victory away from you. 

When we point to Jesus as the one who will give his followers everything they've ever wanted, if only their faith is big enough, we have stopped following the Lamb and started following Conan. The Lamb leads us to the Cross, which is indeed a victory, but it is a victory through suffering not a victory that avoids it.  

To be a Disciple is to follow the One who is the Lamb All. The. Way.  

To Be a Disciple is to Gain Spiritual Insight 

Back to our story. Andrew and his companion follow after Jesus. And Jesus turning around, sees them and asks, "What do you want?" Their reply? "Rabbi, where are you staying?" And Jesus says to them," Come and you will see." 

It is a wonderful technique of John's to tell straightforward stories that have deep wells of truth. This is one. At the surface level, the new disciples want to know where Jesus is residing so that they can join him there. Spend time with him there. And Jesus responds straightforwardly enough. Come and you'll see. And they stayed with him 

What more is going on? 

Just this: here is a promise not only to these disciples, but to all disciples—if we follow, we will see. If we follow Jesus, who is the light, if we stay close to him, he will illumine his own identity, our world and ourselves to us so that we will see.  

To be a disciple is to rest with Jesus, and in so doing, to come to see. 

To Be a Disciple is to Make Disciples. 

Finally, we read that the first thing Andrew did was to search out his brother, Simon and bring him to Jesus, saying "We have found the Messiah!" 

And this is were I want to stop today. To be a dicsiple is to make disciples. Are we all Billy Grahams? No. Are we all to preach like the John the Baptist? No. Andrew didn't preach. He went and told his brother what he had seen and he invited his brother to come along. 

To be a disciple is to rest with Jesus, to be in a relationship with him, one so natural and life-giving that talking about it, that pointing to Jesus, is the simplest thing to do. If and as we follow, if and as we rest, the Holy Spirit will open doors for us to point to Jesus in our words and in our actions. 

Come and you WILL see.