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| 2nd
Sunday After The Epiphany
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lamb of God, Son of God, Rabbi, and Messiah. Three weeks ago at the very beginning of John’s Gospel, we heard in the evangelist’s synthesis of poetry, theology, and philosophy perhaps the most famous answer to the question, “Who is Jesus?” You recall the passage known as the Prologue of John, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God…” and so on. Well, in today’s Gospel, also found in the first Chapter of John, the evangelist answers the question, “Who is Jesus?” once again. However, whereas in the Prologue, John the Evangelist declares who Jesus is thoroughly and concisely through the magic of verse, he achieves the same end through prose, through narrative, through a story in today’s Gospel. Who is Jesus? We’ve just heard that twice in as many days, John the Baptist proclaimed that Jesus is the Lamb of God. This refers to God’s obedient servant described in Isaiah and the one whose life would be the sacrifice that would purify God’s people and usher in God’s kingdom. The Baptist also proclaims that Jesus is the Son of God. John’s disciples call Jesus “Rabbi,” one with the authority to teach the ways of God to His people. Finally, they declare that Jesus is the Messiah, the one who would redeem and rule and establish God’s people as a holy nation and a royal priesthood here on Earth. Lamb of God, Son of God, Rabbi, and Messiah. In short, according to John and his disciples, Jesus is everything that God’s people could be waiting for. Any true prophecy any Godly expectation, that is Jesus. But all this is declared by John the Baptist and his disciples. Jesus never presents his credentials. Here at the beginning of this Gospel, Jesus doesn’t begin his ministry by shoving John the Baptist aside or claiming his territory or making grand assertions about who he is. The first words on the lips of Jesus in the Gospel of John are a question and an invitation: “What are you looking for?” and, “Come and see.” What are you looking for? The Lamb of God? Come and see. The Son of God? Come and see. The Teacher? Come and see. The Messiah? Come and see. In other words, Jesus demands to be experienced. Sure, we can talk about Jesus. We can and do study him: Jesus the man, the historical Jesus, the miracles of Jesus and on and on. I doubt any historical figure has generated as much ink as Jesus. And studying Jesus is no sin. We can name him with exalted titles, as John and the disciples do in today’s Gospel. “Crown Him with many crowns,” as the hymn says. There’s no sin in that either. But study and exaltation of Jesus are no substitute for experiencing Jesus. Jesus demands to be experienced: “What are you looking for? Come and see.” We can guess, we can hypothesize, we can theorize, but if we really want our questions about Jesus, our expectations of Jesus fulfilled, we must experience him, we must embark on his journey, we must go and see for ourselves. I suspect that this is because none of us truly knows what we are looking for, we can’t know what we really want Jesus to do or be for us until we have experienced him. The experience of Jesus opens our eyes to who he truly is and why we truly need him while simultaneously satisfying that need. Yes it satisfies that emotional need or neediness for him and replaces it with love for him. No wonder, Andrew went to get his brother Simon. As we continue with this Eucharist, Jesus will become available to us in a very special way through the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. Thanks be to God, we can experience Jesus, who asks and invites us as he did those first disciples. Thanks be to God He is revealed and we are healed in this our experience of Him, just as our forebears all the way back to the Apostles were in their experience of Him in their day. So, returning to the question, “Who is Jesus?” Lamb of God, Son of God, Rabbi, Messiah? What are you looking for? Come and see. Amen. |
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