Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Up until the recent past, children in the West, and in the Middle East as well, were raised on Bible stories. They learned about the patriarchs and matriarchs, their works and their sins, their good things and their bad. At the time of Jesus they were told stories each week at Passover. They were constantly taught and instructed in the faith. Many of those stories naturally focused on the sacrifices offered before the Lord God in the Old Testament.
We know, of course, the most famous story of sacrifice: Abraham and Isaac. As Abraham and Isaac walked up the mountain, Isaac asked his father, “Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God will provide for Himself the lamb.” You know the rest of the story. Just as Abraham was about to thrust the knife into his own son, his only begotten son, God stopped it. The angel of the Lord said, “Do not raise your hand or hurt the boy.” And the Lord God provided a ram caught by its horns in a nearby thicket.
Perhaps the next most well-known story of sacrifice is the Passover. The Hebrew people were held captive in Egypt, and they were told that the firstborn son of all people in the land of Egypt would die unless a lamb was slain and the blood of the lamb poured on the doorposts and lintel of the house. If the angel of death saw the mark of the blood of the lamb, the household was saved. The Passover meal was instituted by God to do two things: to remind the Hebrew people who He was, the Lord God of Israel, the Deliverer; and what He had done, saving them from captivity in Egypt and keeping them intact as a Hebrew people so that the seed of the promised Messiah would come from their line; and who they were in relationship to Him: His chosen people, created to trust in Him and His Word and to have fellowship with Him.
In addition to the annual Passover feast, the tabernacle and the temple played host to sacrifices offered to God, sacrifices daily, twice daily: “One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight.” It was a command that every day a lamb was to be sacrificed before the Lord.
The Passover and these sacrifices were not simply intended to remind the people of what God had done for them and their relationship to Him. They were to remind them that there was a promised Lamb to come, the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world, and that in fact their sacrifices meant nothing apart from faith in the promised Messiah. The language of sacrifice permeated the liturgy of the Old Testament church. “Let my prayer be counted as incense before You, and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.” It is in our liturgy in the Matins and Vespers services. It is more than likely the reason we still have morning and evening services, and why Christians in years past gathered morning and evening for worship.
Day after day, year after year, decade after decade, century after century throughout the Old Testament, a long line of lambs and other animals were slain in the temple, creating a continuous flow of shed blood. The temple had an entire plumbing system designed to carry the flowing blood off the temple property. In addition to atoning for the sins of the people, these lambs were to be a reminder of the ultimate Lamb who was promised to come. But it was more than a reminder: there was a connection between the ultimate sacrifice and all these little sacrifices, these types of Christ, leading up to the ultimate One who would take away the sins of the world and end all need for animal sacrifice.
So when John says to his disciples, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is before me, because He was before me,'” he is telling them and teaching them that Jesus the Nazarene is the promised Messiah.
But most of the Jews at the time no longer understood what the Messiah was coming to do. They did not understand that the sacrifices offered in the temple were only effective because of their connection to the promised Lamb of God that God Himself would provide. Instead they got it into their heads that they were saved by their worship services, by offering their praise and thanks, by offering sacrifices, by paying the required fees, sacrificing the required animals on the required days, keeping the oral and written traditions. If they did all those things and were decent and good people, God would be pleased and continue the relationship.
They turned God’s most gracious gift into a religion of works righteousness. The lambs were supposed to remind the people that their Savior was coming and that He would provide everything necessary for salvation, mainly the forgiveness of sins. Without faith in Christ, their worship and sacrifices were an offense to God, because they hinged on self-righteousness, not on the atoning sacrifice and resurrection of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Human nature has always had a natural inclination, in regard to our relationship with God, to think that somehow it is dependent on us, not God. Human beings the world over think their relationship is based on good natures, good lifestyles, good intentions, the worship of God or the treatment of others, and especially all our sacrifices offered in various forms and fashions, especially in what some loosely call church services these days: “I want to offer up prayers and sacrifices before You, God,” when they understand neither prayers nor sacrifices.
God spoke to the sin in Isaiah 1:11: “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me? I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats.” Apart from true Christian faith in Jesus Christ, God detests our works; He detests our sacrifices; He detests our intentions. All He ever sees is sin continually. Apart from faith in Christ Jesus, He even detests the songs sung by those who claim to meet in His name but have no faith. Amos 5:21-23: “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer Me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them, and the peace offerings of your fattened animals I will not look upon. Take away from Me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.”
By saying that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, John the Baptist is fulfilling his ultimate purpose and ministry. And for Jesus, He was first and foremost, above all other things, the spotless Lamb who was to be slain to atone for the sins of the world. “But when Christ appeared as high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, that is, His body, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, He entered once for all into the holy place, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”
By the time we get to John 1:29, it is time for Jesus to increase and for John to decrease. So he sends two of his disciples; one was Andrew, the brother of Peter. The other is generally thought to be John himself, the unnamed writer of the Gospel, who never uses his own name but refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. Notice here: John does not root his identity in what he does toward Jesus; he roots his identity, his self-esteem, in Jesus’ disposition and acts toward him. He is the disciple whom Jesus loved. When anyone is in an identity crisis, for a Christian that is all you really need: Jesus’ disposition toward you, a disciple whom Jesus loves.
The Jews had been long seeking a Messiah, waiting for God to send His beloved Son. That was not the problem. The problem came with the definition of what it meant to be the promised Messiah. They were taught wrongly, and they believed wrongly. Most Jews thought the Christ would bring freedom from Roman political oppression. They saw Him as a temporal king who would restore Jerusalem and the Jewish people to power, heal the sick, bring health and prosperity, a chicken in every pot, a car in every driveway. They were seeking a Messiah; they just were not looking for the right Messiah. The one they truly needed, they hated.
It is a problem all people at all times have had: they are always seeking something from God; they just do not know what they are looking for. Jesus knew that most Jews misunderstood who He was and what He came to do. In John 2:24-25 we are told Jesus did not entrust Himself to them, because He knew all people and did not need anyone to testify about mankind, for He Himself knew what was in man: selfishness, sin, and self-righteousness.
So when the two disciples followed after Jesus, He turned and asked them, “What are you seeking? What kind of Messiah are you looking for?” Christians ought to ask that question of themselves often and answer it honestly, and if we do, we will discover that we violate the commandments at almost every point.
For most people, they do not know; they just keep looking. All they know is they want to be happy. Some seek power, because power is a means to get other things they think will result in the good and happy life. Many want to be wealthy, because with money you can buy just about anything. Others simply need to be liked or loved or approved, only to find out these relationships are fragile and easily broken among sinful people. Others want popularity, only to discover how fickle the masses are.
And many Christians seek the wrong kind of Savior too. They do not want the Jesus who works in lowly things, in humble things, in difficult circumstances, among people who are easily offended or unpleasant. They want Jesus to fix it: a Jesus who will cure them, make them successful, make them feel good about themselves, and reward them here and now for simply being Christians, thinking somehow they are good disciples of Jesus.
But John the Baptist is very clear about what kind of Messiah we needed and what kind the Lord God sent: “Behold!” It means look, pay attention. “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” John and Andrew followed Jesus, and He turned to ask them what they were seeking. They stayed with Him that day. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, went to Simon Peter and said, “Come and see; we have found the Messiah.” John’s disciples believed John; that is why they followed Jesus, and they were further convinced when they spent the day with Him, listening to Him preach and teach.
By calling Jesus the Lamb of God, John the Baptist was directing his disciples not to a theology of glory but to a theology of the cross. He was directing them to Isaiah 53:7: “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.” Christians do not like to see a suffering Jesus. That is why in many churches they took Jesus off the cross; they think it is scandalous to have a crucifix in church. It is offensive to see where we put Him.
The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world is here in this place. He is in this church to serve you, to take your sins away through Word and Sacrament. That is why we come week after week, year after year: because we never stop sinning, and we constantly need somebody to take out the garbage. So He does: in the word of absolution, He forgives and you receive; in Holy Baptism, He washes and you receive the washing; in the Lord’s Supper, He gives His body and blood for the remission of sins and you receive. The Lutheran Confessions get it right: the highest worship of the Gospel is the desire to receive the forgiveness of sins.
Christian worship is really about this: that little hymn of the liturgy we sing, “O Christ, Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us. O Christ, Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us Your peace.” It is outstanding that so many churches and so many Christians do not know nor sing this hymn, for it is the very essence of the Christian service. It is His sacrifice that saves us, not ours. Here in this place we gather by the grace of God to receive what God Himself gives us: the person and work of Jesus Christ. So come and you will see: Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away your sin. They are forgiven. Amen.
May the peace that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.