John 1:29-42
“You’ve Got To See This”
By: Rev. Kenneth Emerson Sauer, Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport
News, VA
A couple of weeks ago Jeanne, Ben and I went to see the movie, “A Beauetiful Mind”,
and ever since I have found myself telling others about this fascinating movie based on a true
story.
I tell people, “You’ve gotta see this movie.”
This is a common thing for people to do when they have seen a movie which is worth
watching.
This past week, while Jeanne was out of town, I decided that I would rent a couple
movies for Ben and I to watch.
I found out that Ben had never seen Airplane or Cadyshack--two of the funniest movies I
remember from my youth.
So I rented them in order for Ben to enjoy them.
I wanted him to laugh at the same things I had laughed at. I wanted him to experience
what I had experienced.
But those are only movies.
In our Gospel lesson for today we see that John the Baptist was eager to tell others about
something much more important than any movie that he could have seen: “Look,” John
declared “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
Down through the centuries “the Lamb of God” has been one of the most cherished
symbols of Jesus Christ held by believers.
But we are living in a world which is filled with people who know nothing about this
Lamb of God.
Increasingly, people are refusing to accept responsibility for their actions.
It’s more convenient and less painful, it seems, to blame somebody else---like that other
racial group, women, men, parents, and the like--than to take responsibility onto ourselves.
The Jews placed their sins symbolically on a scapegoat and drove him out into the
wilderness. This may have helped them cope with guilt, but it didn’t get to the crux of the
problem of sin.
But God did get to the crux of the problem in the person of His Son!
Jesus took our sins to the cross where he crucified them, and through accepting this fact
through faith--God enables us not only to evade the guilt of our sins for a time, but He frees
us from their power so that we can live victorious lives.
Those of us who are white cannot fathom the pain of racial prejudice that African
Americans and other minorities face in our country.
I’m sure many of you remember the riot that followed the first Rodney King trial in Los
Angeles.
In that riot a white truck driver was pulled out of his truck and brutally beaten by some
young black men.
One of them took a brick and threw it with force at the head of the hapless driver whose
name is John Denny.
Some time later, the man who threw the brick and Denny were both invited to appear on
a talk show.
Denny is a Christian and does not blame or hate those who attacked him.
He even seems to excuse their actions on account of the conditions they live in.
To forgive them is wonderful, but should he also release them from the responsibility for
their actions?
The man who threw the brick, Mr. Washington, says he’s sorry for the harm he has
caused Denny but he also stated that he does not entirely regret participating in the riot.
The audience in the studio was quite agitated with Washington because they felt that he
wasn’t really sorry for what he had done, that he was not really ready to confess that what
he had done was wrong.
I think that the audience intuitively understood that Mr. Washington could not rise
above his past sins until he owned them and confessed them.
This is not a racial issue; it is a spiritual matter.
What it boils down to is this: We don’t need a scapegoat; we need to lay our sins on the
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
And when we do this, we find a peace and a joy which passes all understanding.
Have you noticed that people don’t sin anymore?
We make mistakes.
We slip up.
We become temporarily insane or ill, but we don’t sin.
And when we can’t figure out who to blame we throw up our arms and say, “It just
happened.”
I didn’t intend to cheat on my wife; it just happened.
I don’t know how or why I shot him; it just happened.
Who knows, maybe aliens from outer space are taking possession of our bodies when
things just happen.
When John pointed to Jesus as the Lamb of God, two of John’s disciples followed Jesus.
And when Jesus saw them, he asked, “What do you want?”
They didn’t know quit what to say and so they blurted, “Rabbi, where are you staying?”
“Come and you will see,” Jesus responded.
This was Jesus’ first call, and it was a rather low key approach.
“Come and see” is an invitation to examine the life of Christ.
It is a request that these men might come to know Him, to enter into a relationship with
Him.
Christ didn’t try to sell himself; he merely invited them to come and discover for
themselves.
And they apparently liked what they saw, at least Andrew did, because the first thing he
did was to find his brother, Peter, and tell him, “We have found the Messiah.”
Then he brought Peter with him to meet Jesus for himself.
Many scholars have dubbed Andrew as the ordinary Apostle.
He didn’t have any spectacular gifts and he wasn’t a great leader like his brother--but
what he had--he used.
His greatest gift was to invite folks to come and see this Jesus.
Andrew realized that he didn’t have the burden of changing people; all he had to do was
to bring them to Jesus.
And that is our calling as well, to enthusiastically invite people to “come and see” who
this Jesus might be.
When my family and I went to see the movie A Beautiful Mind, the theater was packed.
Apparently there had been a lot of people who had told others that they’ve got to see
this movie.
We seem to have no trouble at all telling people that they ought to go see a certain
movie....Why then, is it so hard for us to tell others that they ought to come and see Jesus?
What is preventing us?
Where is our excitement?
This place should be packed to the rafters!
When we tell others that they ought to go see some movie, we are doing this, at least in
part, because we want them to have the same experience we have had.
Those of us who have met Jesus.
Those of us who are born again.
Those of us whose lives have been changed permanently because of our relationship with
the One True and Eternal God should be at least as excited to invite others to come and
experience this amzing event....as we are to tell them that they ought to go see some great movie.
Andrew and the other disciple of John had been searching for something--something to
fill the voids in their lives--something to give them meaning and purpose.
And today, there are still many people like these two disciples who are searching.
Life is difficult.
Life can be frustrating.
Life can be very lonely.
Life can be very meaningless....because without Jesus Christ in our lives there is
absolutely no meaning at all!
In this day and age there are so many things we use to fill up our time.
Many people spend hours at a time, at home, alone, in front of their computers and video
games.
This is what has come to be referred to as “cacooning”.
A friend of mine recently told me that he can count about a dozen people who he can see
through their windows on his very short drive to work huddled over their computers.
We have become a society that cuts ourselves off from God and from each other.
Many people used to sit out on their front porches in order to enjoy the day, and chat with
neighbors.
Now we’ve moved from our front porches to our back patios where we build fences or
plant trees so that we can have some privacy.
What’s going on here?
Why are we hiding?
Even children don’t seem to play outdoors anymore.
Someone told me a couple of weeks ago that they didn’t even know they had so many
kids in their neighborhood until the snow storm hit.
All these gadgets and devices that we are buying...well it’s quite amazing!
I heard that since the tragedies of September 11th, the only thing that people are buying
more of are electronics...places like Circuit City are doing a booming business.
It seems that we are shutting ourselves off more and more from the rest of the world, and
this makes our jobs even more important!
Because it is essential that people find Christ, and all these new gadgets are hindering
this search more and more.
We are the Church of Jesus Christ--the Church of the Lamb of God who takes away the
sins of the world.
We have something that people can’t find anywhere else and Jesus has called all
Christians to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
Through His Church Christ is urging us to invite others to come to church so that they might
get to know him through His self-revelation.
No hard sell.
Just a gracious invitation.
Right now, too many of our friends, neighbors, co-workers, and family members are still
sleeping, watching the Sunday morning talk shows, reading the newspaper, or trying to recover
from a painful hangover.
Andrew found the Messiah, and so have we!
Let’s give ourselves a challenge this week.
Let’s think of someone we know who does not have a church home.
Let’s follow the example of Andrew, and tell them about Parkview United Methodist
Church.
Let’s invite them to “come and see” who this Jesus might be.
