All Saints' Church, East Finchley
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Homily - 2nd Sunday of the Year
Michael Waring, Reader
"As John stood with two of his disciples, Jesus passed, and John stared hard at him and said, 'Look, there is the lamb of God.'"
In today's gospel we see the very start of Jesus' ministry after his baptism. He has not yet announced himself in any way. The water in Cana is still water, he is still just the carpenter's son to his community. The healings, miracles and teaching are all before him. In this gospel passage Jesus is just a man passing by, anonymous to most people. But one important event has happened. The day before Jesus had been to the river Jordan and been baptised, and in his baptism we are told that John recognises him.
"And John declared, 'I saw the Spirit come down on him like a dove from heaven and rest on him. I did not know him myself, but he who sent me to baptise with water had said to me, "The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and rest is the one who is to baptise with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and I testify that he is the Chosen One of God."
And so it is that on the next day John is able to recognise Jesus: "John stared hard at him and said, 'Look, there is the lamb of God'."
There is no indication that John knows Jesus' actual name, maybe he does, maybe he doesn't, it doesn't really matter because he knows who he is. He is 'The Chosen one of God', or as he now says, 'the lamb of God'. And this recognition is enough for the two disciples of John to leave him and follow after Jesus, thus literally acting out one of the actions of discipleship, that of following. And their first word to him acknowledges the other important aspect of discipleship which is learning.
"Jesus turned round, saw them following and said, 'What do you want?' They answered, 'Rabbi' - which means Teacher - 'where do you live?'"
Now this is pretty extraordinary if you think about. Two men were standing with their teacher, who was a recognised, one might almost say famous, holy man who had drawn the attention of the Jerusalem authorities, and without any apparent second thoughts they leave him to follow someone who they have not even actually spoken to yet. Not only that, they have already recognised him as a religious teacher and want to know more. If this was not extraordinary enough the tale actually gets more amazing.
"Early next morning, Andrew met his brother and said to him, 'We have found the Messiah' - which means the Christ.'" In the space of just six verses Jesus has gone from anonymity to 'the Messiah, the Christ'. Andrew, after just a few hours of being with Jesus, has recognised him as the anointed of the Lord. The other three gospels spend time leading up to this event. In fact you have to wait for Chapter 16 in Mathew's gospel, for instance, before Peter's confession at Caesarea Philippi that Jesus 'is the Christ, the son of the living God'.
Now this a significant difference, but we must not get hung up on this. We need to be careful that we do not attribute to the gospels the criteria that they be linear histories of the ministry of Jesus on earth. They are not that. The gospels are all written from a theological, rather than historical, perspective, and also all make assumptions about their readership.
It is when we look at this passage with this in mind that we can recognise one of the points that the gospel writer is trying to get across. This passage has actually all been about names, and the ability to have, receive and give names and titles was an important aspect of the thinking of the times.
John recognises who Jesus is in titles 'Chosen One of God' and 'Lamb of God'. In this recognition John places Jesus above all humanity in both spiritual (and physical) power. It is this that the two disciples understand and why they so quickly leave John and follow Jesus. Andrew then takes this one step further. In naming Jesus as 'Messiah' Andrew takes Jesus from the abstract 'lamb of God' to a specifically awaited person. This 'Chosen One of God' is the one who has been prophesied to appear, he is the one promised by God to redeem his people. Andrew might not yet understand what that redemption will actually mean, but he recognises the redeemer.
And then right at the end of today's gospel passage we have an acknowledgement by Jesus that he does in fact hold spiritual and physical power. When Andrew takes Simon to meet Jesus, Jesus says:
"'You are Simon son of John; you are to be called Cephas' -- which means Rock."
Only those who claimed lordship had the power to change someone's name. Jesus assumes the position of Simon Peter's lord and master as he re-names him.
And I suppose all I can now say is - As then, so now.
Like John we must recognise that Jesus is the Chosen One of God.
Like Andrew we must recognise he is the Messiah
Like Simon Peter we must acknowledge Jesus as our Lord and Master.
And like Andrew, and that other un-named disciple, we too must declare Jesus to be our Rabbi, our teacher. We must continue to follow the path laid down for us by the Lord. We must continue to learn and pray about our Christian faith and responsibilities.
So in this new year let us re-commit ourselves to following our Messiah, learning from our teacher and praying to our Lord and Master, so that we too, when the time finally comes, can say:
"Look, there is the lamb of God".
Amen.