View Full Transcript
Episode Transcript
The Holy gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ, according to John. Glory to you, O Christ. John saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, here is 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 ranks ahead of me because he was before me. I myself did not know him, but I came baptizing with water for this reason that he might be revealed to Israel.
And John testified, I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove and it remained on him. I myself did not know him. But the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, he on whom you see the spirit to send and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God. 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. They came and saw where he was staying and they remained with him that day. It was about 04:00 in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, we have found the Messiah.
Which is translated anointed. He brought Simon to Jesus who looked at him and said, you are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas. Which is translated Peter. The gospel of the Lord.
At this time, children ages three through 10 are invited to join Katie for our story time. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, oh lord, our strength and redeemer. Amen. Every year, Janney Elementary holds a fundraiser for the school. I know there's a bit of competition between the elementary schools for who does what best.
And I've never been to any of the other school fundraisers. But I'm confident in the assertion that the one Jani holds is a wild event. Children are absolutely not invited to this gala. Teachers, administrators, and parents alike let their hair down and party together. The first fundraiser after the lockdowns of the pandemic was particularly memorable in my mind.
It was a real first party I've been to since moving to the neighborhood. And after the months of isolation and the ongoing stress of what was coming next, those adults were primed for party. One of the joys of being a priest for me is that nearly always at a school or community event, someone will want to talk shop with me. Sometimes it's wonderfully superficial, sometimes it's deeply personal. To say it's about religion is perhaps an unhelpful gloss.
Sometimes what it's about are those things in life that are the hardest to name. When one of my daughter's Jewish friends found out that I was priest, he was genuinely shocked. And he jumped to the quick of it. So you believe that everyone who does not believe in the Christian God is going to hell. Alright.
There are two things you need to know about the larger context of that conversation. First, this person went on to become a dear, dear friend of mine. And second, there's no way around what a bummer it is at a party to bring up eternal damnation. I mean, I had a fruit cocktail in my hand. The conversation that ensued was not adversarial.
He wasn't accusatory, but he was firm in his belief that Christians had to believe this way. That their religion compelled or forced them to believe it. Jesus is the only way to heaven, then what other possible conclusion could you draw? I tried not to be evasive. I quoted from the gospel of John, which is the text this morning.
Yes. I do believe that Jesus and the father are one. Yes. I also believe that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. But also, I do not believe that all other religions are going to hell.
How could you say both? He pressed me. I don't know how it all works out. It was basically what I said. I can't reconstruct everything that went between us.
But as we turn our attention to the gospel of John today, I'd like to briefly do two things. The first is to name and recognize that for many of us, John's lofty imagery of God sometimes produces an uneasiness in us. Do we really stand in the judgment of the world? Does Jesus invite us to condemn the world? The second is to simply offer some humble thoughts about how to approach passages and conversations like this.
What I think their essential nature is. This morning, we hear John the Baptist say here. Here is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Here, John tries to name not individual mistakes or personal misdeeds, but as another translation puts it, the sin of the cosmos. That is, the structure or order of reality that has led to the world being so deeply broken.
And why is that? Here, Jesus is very clear throughout the gospels. The great evil of our world is when we try to dominate others. When we come to believe that there is no law greater than our own personal whims. That justice is whatever we say it is.
When we use our power to belittle and dominate others, the great evil of the world simply is when we try to fashion ourselves as a God. Jesus and the prophets decry that as idolatry. The worship of human power and domination instead of the worship of God. And what is the worship of God? What is Jesus's alternative to the sin of the world?
This too from my perspective is also simple. Jesus calls us to serve others. Radically, he creates a community that defines itself on whether it truly welcomes all people. Most especially the marginalized. Widows, the sick, prisoners, the poor, immigrants.
How do we treat those who don't have power? That's how Jesus says we'll be judged. If we see in a stranger, if we see in the naked, if we see in the hungry, the very presence of God and welcome them in our midst. If we might welcome Jesus, the lamb of God himself, then our church, our communities, and dare I say it, our nation, we will truly begin to look like the kingdom of God. Enter into the salvation of God.
The great temptation is to begin to think that because of our status, we deserve different treatment than others who have less power than us. That because a person is poor, we see them differently, and less than. Jesus reverses that traditional view of power. True power for Jesus is to have the strength, and courage, and generosity to extend kindness, and mercy, and love to all people. Even the weak, even our enemies.
That is the vision of God. As John the Baptist says this morning, here in this image, here is the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. So, from my POV, that's the problem and the solution. Now, how all of that gets mangled into the view, held by millions of Christians, that God has a vengeful lust to cast billions of people into hell, I don't understand. When we encounter people of other faiths, I'd expect that Jesus would hold us to the same expectation as he did the disciples.
Do we see first that the power and mystery of God resides in every person? Or do we see them as people we might manipulate into joining our tribal religious practices? Do we see them do we see in them a people who are jointly interested in justice, in healing the brokenness of the world, in celebrating the great mysteries we behold, The interconnectedness of creation. The power of love coursing through the cosmos. Jesus is very clear to his disciples.
If you find like minded people like this out there, consider them not fellow consider them fellow laborers, not competition. Not competition, but sojourners. Do not judge, lest you be judged. The uneasiness we have about our faith is understandable. Everywhere we see the brokenness of the world, we see Christians use the words of Christ to do the opposite of what Christ did and what Christ calls us to do.
But sometimes, we use this uneasiness to justify holding our faith at arms' length. We worry that jumping in with both feet might betray or implicitly judge others who worship very differently or don't worship at all. And I confess to you that right here we seem in the middle of a great riddle. I don't know exactly how to navigate it. But I've got a suggestion, humbly.
Take it or leave it. If you're gonna be a Buddhist, be a great Buddhist. If you're going to be a secular humanist, be a great secular humanist. But if you're going to be a Christian, then jump in with both feet. Because the brokenness around us needs people of great faith and courage.
People willing to call out idolatry, even when our most powerful leaders embrace it. John himself in the book of Revelation says that being lukewarm is the worst. Build bridges, welcome the stranger. When we fail, ask for forgiveness and always always risk the way of love, then then we will behold the lamb of God. Amen.
