This is a transitional place in the gospel of John. John has just baptized Jesus and Jesus is just about to start his public ministry. In the other gospel accounts, just after Jesus is baptized he goes into the wilderness and is faced with the forty days of temptation. Not so in John. In John, Jesus is announced in a manner of speaking by John.
The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come and see.’
It's like Jesus' "Here's Johnny!" moment with John playing the part of Ed McMahon. John declares "Here is the Lamb of God," and the people nearby are interested. Interested that he is being called the Lamb of God (a lamb was a sacrifice at the altar) and interested in what this man is about. They want to know where he is staying. They follow him almost immediately. It's weird, really, "The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus." Just like that. Really?
When you hear a weather forecast for snow, do you immediately go prepare for the snow, or do you doubt for a while first? I know that I don't often believe it the first time I hear it. The weather forecasters must tell me for days on end that snow is coming before I actually can buy into the "snow is coming" reality. Did Jesus have such an aura about him that they immediately felt compelled to follow? Or is John portraying Jesus this way to make a point about following the lamb to sacrifice?
This Sunday is Human Relations Sunday in the UMC. It is the Sunday before Martin Luther King, Jr Day. It is a time to remember our call to right the injustices of the world, to align ourselves with the oppressed, to recognize that we can transform our world in little bitty ways and great big ways.
Did Martin Luther King, Jr and all those in the Civil Rights movement just go immediately? Or did they have to be in the desert for awhile to build up to the cause? I am not sure of each inner mind's thoughts, but they did have to have a sense of 'the climate shifting,' and knew that it would only continue to shift if they got involved. The sense of sacrifice and call to duty of MLK, Jr who gave his life fighting for freedom and respect and civil rights for African Americans is what we honor on the holiday.
I wonder, when John announces Jesus as 'the lamb of God,' if he is fully aware of the sacrifices he has ahead of him, can he feel a climate shift? Is Jesus able to forecast the darkness ahead? Or does he have to hear the words of the prophets over and over again before he can grab onto the reality?
What do you believe without persuasion in this faith journey? What takes time for you to believe? Email me or comment below.
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