January 20, 2008

Epiphany 2
John 1:28-42

WHAT DO YOU WANT? WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

Oh, I so seriously hesitate to make the follow comparison because I could antagonize a majority of you who are sick and tired of presidential election year campaigns - AND I could completely miss those who pay no attention to politics - AND if you are interested in candidates and polls and primaries, I could lose you because I'm not going to talk party politics. All in all, it's risky.

However, there are at least one or two similarities between national campaigns and candidates and four gospels in the New Testament. (I'll bet you've never heard anything like that ever before in any church!) Four gospels... the first three of which are called the "synoptics" because they are look-alikes. Matthew, Mark, and Luke for the most part report the life of Jesus and his resurrection with a similar story-line and point of view.

Matthew, Mark, Luke... and, as they say, now for something completely different, the gospel of John. No Christmas story in John, for example, but instead a creation story: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God..." John writes in his first line.

Now, before I get too far away from that introductory comparison, here it is: To the casual observer, at first glance, the Republican Party candidates look pretty much alike. Oh, I know to you party regulars there are big differences, but stay with me. The Democratic Party candidates also look alike - different from Republicans, of course, but as Democrats, pretty much alike. Synoptics, one and all. But as you know, the closer you look, the differences show up, even within the parties - that's what those primary fights are all about - and those differences can be revealing. From 30,000 feet, politicians are all the same; down here on the ground, they aren't.

Now, that's as far as the comparison goes. Absolutely no implied or intended endorsement whatsoever! What's that line you see next to the title page in novels? "Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental." That applies to my illustration about politics, too. So: Put politics aside, now, hard as it may be, and come back. Please!

From 30,000 feet the four gospels look the same. But down on the ground, their differences are revealing, intended to draw us, with all our personal differences, close to God, to bring us with our individual needs and hurts to be safe with God through Christ.

Last weekend we heard the story of the baptism of Jesus reported by Matthew. John is the baptizer, Jesus submits because it's the right thing to do, and then he goes out (we'll hear about it next weekend) and calls people - whose minds, frankly, are somewhere else. They're thinking about work, the family fishing business, making a living. In Matthew's gospel Jesus calls essentially passive people: "Come, follow me" - and then they react. Today Jesus says, "Come and see..." Baptism isn't even specifically mentioned, today, and these men are already spiritually primed, alert, and looking - so that when John points to Jesus, they actively respond.

Pay attention, now, because just as we vote from our own agendas, I think we respond to Jesus from our own insides. Our ears and hearts, our needs and fears, circumstances, family history, how old we are, hopes for ourselves and our children - these differences prime us to hear and to respond in the many ways that Jesus calls us.

For example: Jesus' first public words in the gospel of Mark: "Repent! The kingdom of God is here." Jesus the change-agent, in other words; things can't stay the same. Is that what you need to hear - change what you're doing? Or in Luke's gospel, his first public words: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach good news to the poor." Jesus, friend of sinners and those in need of any kind. Is that you?

In Matthew's gospel, the first time Jesus says anything official it's in the Sermon on the Mount. He goes up the mountain and sits down - like Moses the old law-giver, bringing the 10 Commandments down the mountain to teach us how to live. Do you want to learn about relationships and how to live with one another? Jesus the Teacher.

In the gospel of John Jesus is identified immediately and repeatedly. In the synoptic gospels it's not until the end or nearly there that Jesus is revealed - although as I've said, his first words give clues, but it's not always clear about Jesus until the end. In John's gospel the approach is different. Right from the start Jesus is identified: God; the Word of God; the Lamb of God (twice); Teacher; Messiah; Son of God and King of Israel; Son of Man. [1]

A couple of individuals look at where John is point, make a turn, start to follow, and you gotta wonder - with all the possibilities listed, what are they going to find in Jesus? What are they after? They're already searching... but for what? "Come and see," he says.

What do you want here? What are you looking for in Jesus? How are you searching spiritually?

On Wednesdays this month I'm telling stories to our 4th graders either in prep for their very 1st Communion at this Table, or they had a quickie introduction and now they're going deeper. This last Wednesday I told the story of Passover. I used a movie-clip and then tried to draw pictures in their minds: The children of Israel, enslaved in Egypt, deep in misery, boys and girls endangered, pleading for rescue C the signs and wonders Moses did to try to set them free, but nothing worked C until finally God did the greatest thing.

To be ready for it they took a lamb C a perfect lamb, not a bone broken, , unblemished C killed it and prepared it for their... last supper... in that place, but as they killed it they caught the blood in a bowl and using a plant called hyssop they painted that blood above the outside doorways of their homes. And when the Angel of Death swept into Egypt and saw the... blood of the lamb... the angel passed over their homes C and as a result the people of God were set free.

A thousand years later, in their Temple in Jerusalem, as part of the faith that Jesus also practiced, each day, morning and evening, a lamb was sacrificed for the sins of the people. But every year the highpoint was Passover C still is, for Jews, right? C when they tell the stories of that first Passover and their deliverance from death.

In the days of Jesus the lambs for Passover were specially sacrificed between noon and sunset on the Day of Preparation C and Passover officially began then that evening. The gospel of John specifically mentions that the Last Supper was the night before and that Jesus was crucified and died the next afternoon on the day the lambs were being killed.

John specifically mentions, too, that the soldiers at the cross did not break Jesus' legs they way they usually did at crucifixions C just as the Passover lambs were undamaged. And when the soldiers offered Jesus a drink from a wine-soaked sponge, they used a... hyssop branch... to hold it up to him. "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!"

What are you looking for? What do you want, what do you need, here? Forgiveness of sins? To be set free from a guilty conscience? To have your dirty hands or dirty heart washed clean? Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away your sin, too.

Or do you perhaps come, let's say, with prayers that things someday will be better than they are right now? Find hope here; resurrection means that God has better plans for us. Or are you looking for a companion, feeling lonely, isolated, misunderstood, or vulnerable, and you need Someone beside you? "I am with you always," he promises.

Do you need comfort in a time of death? "I am the resurrection and the life," he said. Comfort, peace, and healing after a week of getting beaten up at work or kicked around at school... too busy... too tired? "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy-burdened, and I will give you rest."

Are you looking for guidance and advice? Here you are. Or, you don't think you need that, but you want it for your kids, to give your children a moral structure in their lives, a foundation, good values? Well, you can find that here. Jesus is Teacher, after all, law-giver, prime example of the Golden Rule. Or are you in some ways an orphan and you need a home and family? You find that here, too, others like you and a community where you belong.

Are you simply along for the ride today, just came with someone else, not really engaged or interested - passive, your mind on other things? Jesus interrupts; "Hey, you - drop your work and follow me." Too old for all this children, youth, and family stuff around here? OK, what about the stage of life you're in just now - and what's ahead for you? Searching for... you don't know what, but it feels vaguely, strongly... spiritual? Do you need a challenge... or a new challenge after you've met them all so far? Are you looking for a pace-setter in your life, someone better than you to run ahead and push you to your best? Take his invitation, take up your cross, and give that a chance to see if it's enough to challenge you from here on out. Or you agree that something new is needed in this world today, a change-agent and reformer? Volunteer for it; Jesus takes us as we are C but he's never satisfied to leave us there!

Do you suffer from low self-esteem... you're poor in spirit... or you're poor, period? Or you're ashamed about your addiction but unable to escape C or you have sinned publically and old friends have nothing to do with you? Here is Jesus, friend of sinners.

What do you want? What do you need? What are you after, here? Any of that and all of the above, but this, too. "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" - and yours, too.

Nate Castens
Chanhassen, Minnesota

[1] Thanks to Harry Wendt for this insight in an address to the Minneapolis Area Synod Assembly, May 30, 1996