Meeting Jesus

Epiphany 2

John 1:29-42

1-21-08

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Rev. Michael Trask

How did you meet Jesus? Was he someone who was just always around your house? Was he a friend of your parents, your brother, or your sister? Or maybe you met him later on in life through a friend: you were told that you “just had to meet him.” You were skeptical at first, but now you know him and are pleased to count him as one of your friends.

It’s rather surprising, I think, that the Lord of all, the Savior of the world, The Prince of peace, the mighty God would be introduced into our lives in such a matter-of-fact way by our fellow human beings. It would seem, that we meet him in the same way that we meet other people!

As a kid, I remember reading books and hearing accounts of how people first met Jesus, and it was always so dramatic: heroin addicts, drunks, people in their hospital beds, car accidents, and tragedies of all kinds seemed to be a prerequisite for meeting the Lord. As a kid I used to envy those people with their fantastic and suspenseful stories of how they came to faith. My experience was just not as cool as theirs was. I wondered if perhaps my meeting of Jesus was somehow less valid. For you see I didn’t have a suspenseful story to tell, for I couldn’t remember a time when I didn’t know Jesus. I met him in my Baptism.

But lately, as I said, it has become clear to me that we meet Jesus in the same way we meet other people. Sometimes we meet other people in the midst of tragedy; other times, we just meet people in the very stride of life. It matters not how we meet them, just that we meet them. And so it is with Jesus: it matters not how you meet him, but that you meet him.

In today’s Gospel lesson two men, who would soon become Jesus’ disciples would meet Jesus in a somewhat regular way. They were originally adherents to John the Baptist’s teaching. His preaching of repentance and preparation for the coming Christ was something that had resonated in their souls. One day, as he was standing there with these too, Jesus passed by and the baptizer said, “Look, the lamb of God.”.

They looked and and then they followed. Now for all appearances, there was nothing very spectacular happening. Previously, the baptist had told them some rather spectacular things about this one, but they weren’t seeing any of that. Jesus was just some guy walking by. There were no flashes of light, no bolts from above, no car accidents or bad diagnoses, no personal crises, nothing strange or out of the ordinary, just a man like any other man walking by. The names of the two were John and Andrew and the the fact that were following after him, didn’t seem like much. If you didn’t know who Andrew and John were to become, and you were standing there on that day watching them starting to follow Jesus, you would say “Ho Hum” “big deal!” “whoopie!” “Pass me the remote!” “Not very interesting.”

But don’t be fooled. That was just appearances. Inspite of how things might have looked, something big was happening! Remember what the Baptist said that made them follow: “Look, the Lamb of God.” Remember these guys were Jews. The whole history of the jewish people was heavily wrapped up in waiting for the lamb of God! Not only were lambs a big part of their worship, but Isaiah talked about the lamb from God who would offer himself as an atonement for the sins of the world. So not only did their ears perk up, but their hearts skipped a beat! They’d spent enough time with John the Baptist to know that they were sinful. You couldn’t be around John without coming to that conclusion. His preaching was the truth, but it was all Law! So when he said, “Look, the Lamb of God” ......their hearts, which were hungry for a some good news; hungry for salvation and forgiveness; hungry for peace with the Lord perked up and they were motivated to follow him.

Perhaps you have known a similar hunger. In one way or another, it has been made clear to you that you yourself are a sinner. Maybe right now you feel the burn of it. Perhaps you are now living with the repercussions of things that you have done; though they are long past, you are pestered by them. Perhaps even now, you just can’t get past your past.

Or maybe it’s not the past, but rather the future that has you going. You fear what could or might happen. You’ve been around long enough to know that anything can happen.

So yeah, you’d like some good news please. You’d like some salvation. You’d like some assurance. You’d like some hope. You’d like some peace for your tired brain. And this is what you have in Christ Jesus. This is why he came! To rescue us; to forgive us and save us. So what John the baptist said to Andrew and John, I say to you “Look! the Lamb of God” who takes away your sins and reunites you with the one who created you, who promises you all that is his! Protection, life, and salvation!

All this, is the kind of stuff that goes on in the heart of person who meets Jesus and follows him. Regardless of where they are in the world, regardless of the time in history, regardless of the situation, whether it is quite mundane or quite dazzling, It’s always about a heart meeting up with the savior. “Look! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” Look for him in your baptism! Look for him in the Lord’s Supper! Look for him in the Gospel as it is proclaimed. He has told us he is truly present and walking among us in these things!

So, John and Andrew without a word started following Jesus, literally walking behind him. And what happens next is a study of human nature. The two guys are following him now; he notices that they are following him; he turns and says “you want something?” And it is at that moment that we find out that John and Andrew were actually Minnesotans. Rather than being direct and admitting that they really did want something from Jesus, they took the indirect route They say “Ah Rabbi where are you staying”

And what do you know! Jesus loves Minnesotans too! He plays along! “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” In other words, : “Oh, that’s what you wanted, you wanted to see what my accommodations were like!” Of course, everybody knew that what they really wanted was to spend some time with him. They wanted to be with him and get to know him. What Jesus wanted was to spend time with them! They spent almost a whole day together.

John doesn’t tell us what they talked about, I assume that Jesus, the rabbi taught them as they spent the whole day with him. For we know that both John and Andrew came away convinced of who he was. The Baptist had pointed them in the right direction. But it was spending time with Jesus that clinched it for them. Andrew got so excited that the first thing he did was go find Simon Peter and say “We have found the Messiah!” And then he brought Peter to see Jesus!

One human being sharing good news with another. That’s how it has always been. John the baptist did it for Andrew. Andrew did it for Peter. Peter would do it for three thousand on the day of Pentecost. Parents do it for their children Pastors and Teachers have been doing it for generations right in the stride of life. And usually, there are no lightening bolts or showers of sparks or anything like that, it’s usually just one person telling another that simple message: “We have found the Messiah”.

Perhaps your experience you had was similar to mine, Perhaps you have thought that when people meet Jesus that there’s got to be lots of bells and whistles and a big bang boom. This has prevented you from rejoicing in the faith you now have. Perhaps it has also prevented you from doing for others what someone once did for you: introduce you Jesus. But now you know different. Now you know that the biggest stuff most often happens in the heart. You’ve even learned that a Minnesotan can do it. You can say that good friend of yours “Hey, whatcha doing this Sunday?” And then gradually and ever so indirectly invite them to church and maybe supper afterwards. Just a suggestion. Don’t you like sharing good stuff with your friends? Well, this is good stuff! AMEN