“Willing to trust, anyway”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Sunday, January 15, 2023

John 1:29-42 (Forward, p. 78) CEV p. 1101

I have often said, when trying to discern the meaning of certain prophetic passages in the Bible, that when they were written only the prophet and God knew fully what they meant, and now, seeing as the prophet is dead and gone, only God knows.

In a sense, this applies very much to the central saying of John the Baptist in today’s passage, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (verse 29). Commentators are ‘all over the map’ in trying to explain what John meant. Of course, there are some commentators who dismiss out of hand any suggestion that John actually said this: they assume the John, as a post crucifixion Christian, simply made this up and put these words—and their sacrificial, atoning meaning—into the mouth of John. However, it would be good to dismiss this suggestion out of hand as it totally violates and undermines the witness of the Scriptures. Moreover, it does incredible injustice to the present story.

So, coming back to the quote itself, and assuming that it did indeed come from the mouth of John, what could he have meant by it. Here are some of the many suggestions:

-the lamb that was slain to redeem Israel, preserve the lives of their firstborn sons and free Israel from its slavery in Egypt;

-the Pascal Lamb offered at Passover, in commemoration of Israel’s deliverance from slavery, which makes some sense, given that this feast was soon to come. (However, with this usage, there is no mention of an expiation of sin);

-the lamb of the daily offering for sin in the Temple (though this is never referred to as the ‘lamb of God’ or as ‘God’s lamb’) or as the guilt offering also given as a sacrifice (though here it was usually goats or bulls that were offered);

-the goat (not a lamb) that was offered to God by Abraham in place of his son Isaac;

-the scapegoat, upon which were ‘laid’ the sins of the worshippers and then banished to the desert (however, this was a goat, not a lamb);

-the lamb, the suffering servant, of Isaiah 53;

-the conquering lamb, the warrior lamb, of Revelation 7 & 17.

Commentators have often related how most, if not all, of these instances had no Messianic interpretations in Jesus’ day and how the standard or usual understandings of who or what the Messiah would be had no expiatory or sacrificial overtones. (Indeed, it would seem that even John had little sense of this). And yet, as verse 41 says expressly, one of those first two converts, Andrew, clearly thought that Jesus was the Messiah.

But, maybe the conquering or warrior image does have some merit. John the Baptist certainly saw the Messiah as coming to wage war on sin, to stand in judgment on sin and remove or take it away, as being the person who would ‘clean up’ Israel once and for all. And so, this need not have any sacrificial or expiatory overtones at all.

All that having been said, the two disciples of John here mentioned in verses 35-42 must have found meaning in his words—regardless of what they meant, so much so that they hived off from John and went over to Jesus to investigate further. And, not only that, that they would feel compelled to introduce others (Peter, for instance) to Him as well.

So, what this says to me, is not so much a question of words, or even of intent, but of response and discipleship. Are we, you and I, willing to trust, and willing to follow, even if we do not fully—or properly—understand what God is saying to us. I suspect that much of life’s understandings, particularly as Christians, come after we decide to step out in faith and trust, rather than before. It is then, not so much a matter of trusting the ‘facts’ but the figure, the person of Christ. Amen.

Forward notes: “The next day John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’” (verse 29)

“The Lamb of God is a wonderful title for Jesus used in Saint John’s Gospel. It points us back to the binding of Isaac and Abraham’s deep faith that God would provide. Over time, John the Baptist’s proclamation of Jesus as the Lamb of God has been honoured in the church’s liturgy. Today, it’s one of the great prayers and anthems at the breaking of the bread.

“Together, we pray for the Lamb of God to grant us his peace. In the context of the breaking of Christ’s body, we catch a glimpse of what God’s peace looks like. Sharing in the communion feast, we become Christ’s body on earth: pieces and parts, yet all of one whole. Gone are the world’s empty proclamations of peace with no action. We pray for God’s kingdom to be on earth as it is in heaven, so God answers. God sends us out to be the very hands and feet for the work of justice, the forgiveness of sins, and our reconciliation.”

MOVING FORWARD: “What does it mean to you to hear Jesus described as the ‘Lamb of God?’