Sermon for: January 20, 2008 [Epiphany II A Brian McHugh, priest & vicar
[Is 49:1-7][Ps 40:1-12][I Cor 1:1-9][Jn 1:29-42]

“Here He is, God’s Passover Lamb!” These are the words of John the Baptizer the day after he had baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. And the day after that, the same words: “Here He is, God’s Passover Lamb”. This time, two of John’s disciples leave him and go after Jesus. They spend the evening with Him. And after that short time, Andrew goes to find his brother Peter and says to him, “We have found the Messiah!” That day, Simon becomes Peter, the rock. He becomes a symbol – of what? That God’s Kingdom of Love and Salvation will be built on those, no matter how weak, denying or even betraying, who are open to being cleansed from sin and who say “yes” to the call from God.

“Here He is, God’s Passover Lamb! What would the people around John have thought when they heard these words and their odd association? What should come to our minds if we know the Scriptures well enough? What should come to mind are these words from Exodus[1]:

“Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family … your lamb shall be without blemish … You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night ….. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand ….. It is the passover of the Lord ….. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you …”

By the early 2nd century, John’s Gospel finally went from aural to written form. It’s writers had come to see a connection between what God had done at the time of the flight of the people of Israel from Egypt and what God had done in Jesus. Think about it. God’s people are yet again in bondage, not just to the Romans but, more critically, to their sins. God sends John the Baptist, like Moses, to prepare them for liberation. As John says[2], “my task has been to get Israel ready to recognize him as the God-Revealer. That is why I came here baptizing with water, giving you a good bath and scrubbing sins from your life so you can get a fresh start with God.”

And then comes Jesus. He preached the Kingdom of God and the Gospel of Salvation. He, like the Passover lamb, was killed and His blood was shed. I can see these followers of Jesus making connections as they think and pray and talk. What is the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection? A light, flowing from their ancient experience as God’s people, illumines their minds and hearts. Somehow, His death or shedding of blood on the cross, in some mysterious way, protects them from the judgment they might be under at having disappointed God[3], just as the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts protected the Israelites from the plagues.

No wonder that the followers of Jesus would develop, at the centre of their life, a shared meal – as the Passover meal had first been and continued to be - in which they ate the “flesh” and drank the “blood” of Jesus. They ate this spiritual food, remembering how God had always saved them. They remembered how Jesus had associated the Passover unleavened bread and the cup with His Body and Blood. Even the Gentiles later were able to see and understand the glorious work of salvation that God was always doing. Still today, when Christians gather to share the Eucharistic meal, we give thanks that God keeps breaking the bonds of the power of sin and death. God keeps freeing us to live and to grow into the fullness of our humanity and into the fullness of the Christ Who dwells within each of us.

I remember an old hymn: “Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power / Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb / Are your garments spotless, are they white as snow / Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb/ Are you washed, are you washed / In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb / Are your garments spotless, are they white as snow / Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb.”

It’s a gory and not very Episcopalian image! But in a very graphic, symbolic way, it goes right to the heart of the fact that God is constantly calling us to get a fresh start with Him. To be free. To escape every bondage, every slavery, every oppressor.

But there’s another part. The People of Israel were told, “This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand ….. “. Having been prepared for freedom, we are to be ready to move quickly towards whatever Promised Land God points to. The “Promised Land” is not a physical place. It is somewhere we are called to build God’s Kingdom. It may be our own heart. It may be our own family or community or country. It may be Darfur, or Iran, or the United States Congress or the Pinal County Jail or anywhere that the compassion and justice of God is needed. And, having blessed us, God has called us to go as ambassadors of that Love.

Paul calls the Corinthians “believers cleaned up by Jesus and set apart for a God-filled life”. He assures them that “God is right alongside to keep you steady and on the track”. The same is true of us. God is there to help us overcome all prejudices that separate us from each other, especially through willful choices that only pander to our fears. God is right alongside, inviting everyone into the fold. Paul says to them that the “evidence of Christ has been clearly verified in your lives”; so it must be in ours if we want to claim or be worthy of the name “Christian”.

The Collect reminds us of our call and destiny: to “shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory”. That light is the light of seeing in every human being the image of our loving God. And treating them as such.

[1] Ex 12:1-14, read on Maundy Thursday
[2] The Message, John 1
[3] Expressed as “Christ died for our sins”, or “Jesus took upon Himself the sins of the World”.