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January 8th, 2012                                                                                   The Second Sunday after Epiphany

John 1:29-34                                                                                                       Rev. Matthew C. Rauh

WHY DID THE LAMBS HAVE TO DIE?

    “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!  This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’  I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”  Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.  I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’  I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.””

    The title of a book is usually found in the front.  It is printed on the title page.  It is often printed on the spine of the book so you can see the title when the book is stacked in a book shelf.  The Bible is a little different.  The title of it doesn’t appear until almost 85% of the way through the book, here in the Gospel of John, chapter 29, “But these are written  that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”  This is the title and theme of the Bible, from Genesis chapter one to the last verse of Revelation chapter 22.  The Bible has only one purpose, that you and I and everyone who reads it may believe.  Believe what?  That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that by believing in him we may have life, eternal life, in his name.  That’s it.  The Old Testament points to Jesus.  The New Testament points back to him.  Some of the Bible points to Jesus in an indirect way, such as the creation account, or the Old Testament history or those Old Testament ceremonial laws.  Others point to him directly like our text for today.

    Thus, when the Holy Spirit moved John to write this gospel, he made sure that Christ and the cross was found on every page, in every verse.  Thus, when John records the ministry of John the Baptist, he made sure we heard these words about Jesus, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”  Friends, in these weeks leading up to Lent and Easter, we will use our Sunday mornings as a time to concentrate on the various names for Jesus.  Today we see Jesus as the Lamb of God as we consider this question, “Why did all those lambs have to die?”  The answer is found right here in our text, to show that Jesus is the Lamb who takes away our sins and that he is the Son of God.

1-8-12