Sermon 1-18-26

Sermon 1-18-26 John 1:29-41 2nd Epiphany

There was a radio and then television show in the 1950's and 60's called Dragnet. The star of the show was a Los Angeles policeman named Joe Friday. His famous tag line was “all we want are the facts ma'am”.

That's what we get from our Gospel reading today, just the facts.

The first part of this reading, just a little over half, is commonly called “the Testimony of John the Baptist”. This whole book of the New Testament called “The Gospel According to John” could just as easily be called “the Testimony of John”. That is what it is, a testimony by the Apostle John as to why Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God. Only the facts ma'am.

This reading is called a pericope, it's a short passage from a book. This scene takes place over a period of a few days in one place, Bethany Beyond the Jordan, where John the Baptist was working and where he baptized Jesus.

We have three Salems here in Illinois. Salem, West Salem and New Salem. There were at least two Bethanys in the area around Jerusalem during the time of Jesus. Bethany, the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus just west of town, and this one Bethany Beyond the Jordan, northeast of town and a mile or two east of the river.

Bethany Beyond the Jordan was the site of a series of springs that formed and forms a trickle of water that fed and feeds the river. It is a tourist attraction today, actually in the Kingdom of Jordan. This is the only place in our bible that Bethany Beyond the Jordan is mentioned.

John the Baptist begins this reading by saying, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

This the only place in the bible where these three words are put together, Lamb of God, John uses them twice, but it was not a phrase that was unknown to the people of that place and time. The Mediterranean people put great stock in the study of the constellations. Their electric lighting systems and satellite TV signals were spotty at best.

It would have been dark, dark, dark at night. Star gazing would have been easy and common place.

The names for the constellations that we have today were in affect then too. The belief through that whole region was that the constellation Aries was the first one created by God, or gods, depending on who you were or where you lived. Aries was considered the first cosmic being. It was in the center of the sky. The Lamb of God.

If you are follower of the Zodiac and you read your daily horoscope in the paper, you will see a picture of a fully grown ram by the section of Aries. That ram has the big, curled horns of a old mature male sheep. The original meaning of Aries in all the Mediterranean dialects was “young male lamb”. A typical one you would pick out of your flock to slaughter for your own food, young and tender, without blemish.

Ancient lore, especially Hebrew lore, was that at the end of time all the celestial bodies would return to their original positions in the sky with Aries again the center of the universe. The constellations circle around the north star throughout the year. They are constantly moving.

By ushering in a new created order, with a new sky, the cosmic Lamb of God does away with everything that preceded. We start over, from scratch. “The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world”. The sin of the world, ways of living that disgrace or dishonor God, ceases to be.

The Jewish people held and hold a New Year celebration with The Exodus as the theme. It's called Rosh Hashanah, in September or October each year. It lasts a whole week. The ritual features a male lamb, the Passover Lamb, symbolizing freedom from slavery for the Jewish people, salvation and a new life. Christians use the lamb as a a similar symbol, salvation and a new life.

In John's Gospel, John the Baptist's function is exclusively that of a forensic witness. He might as well have had his own TV show. He testified about the “one coming after me”; he calls Jesus the stainless Lamb of God, twice; he tells the people his job was to reveal Jesus to Israel; he affirms Jesus' holiness by witnessing the Spirit of God descending and staying on Jesus. Just the facts.

In the Mediterranean world few people outside one's family have a right to the truth. John the Baptist shouted it from the rooftops.

John is a human witness, more than a voice from Heaven. One of the first things he does is to tell his disciples what he has felt in his heart this whole time. There He is, that's Him, the Lamb of God. The facts ma'am.

A couple of John's disciples follow Jesus to where He is staying. They call Him Rabbi, a title of respect. “And they remained with Him”. The Greek word translated to English as remain, meno, is used no less than forty times in this Gospel. It might better be translated as: loyalty or a deep attachment.

As luck or per-ordination would have it, one of the disciples was Andrew, a man who would become one of Jesus' core disciples, one of the twelve. Andrew remained with Jesus. He formed a deep attachment. He only left long enough to go find his brother Simon.

Andrew tells his brother, “We have found the Messiah”. Someone they have been looking and waiting for as a race and religion for thousands of years.

This area of the eastern Mediterranean Sea was a crossroads. People from all over their known world either lived there or traveled through carrying goods to trade. Most of the inhabitants spoke more than one language. Aramaic was the common street language.

Simon was a cross of Aramaic and Greek. It could also be Simeon or Shimeon, it meant heard or listening. Most of the people would have had more than one name, nicknames if you choose.

Upon meeting Andrew's brother, Jesus immediately christens him with the new Aramaic nickname of Cephus meaning “rock”. Giving Simon a new name is an indication that he will also become a core member of Jesus' group.

The fact is these New Testaments were not written in Aramaic, they were written in Greek. Cephus then becomes Peter. The Greek was then translated into the English that we read and are hearing today. Just the facts ma'am.

Amen.