Sermon - Rev. Judith Perry 

Let us pray. 

Perfect Light of revelation, 
as you shone in the life of Jesus, 
whose epiphany we celebrate, 
so shine in us and through us, 
that we may become beacons of truth and compassion, 
enlightening all creation with deeds of justice and mercy. Amen. 

This week we are reading from John’s gospel. Next week we’ll get to back to Matthew. Last week we heard about the baptism of Jesus.  

This week we hear John remembering and recounting the baptism from his prospective. He says that he sees God’s Spirit descend of Jesus like a dove. There’s that pigeon again. 

Then it goes on to say that Jesus stuck around, and the next day two of John’s disciples were with John who pointed out: Here is the Lamb of God.  

The two, one of  whom is unnamed, but the other is Andrew, go and join up with Jesus. 

Then Andrew goes and searches out his brother Simon, whom Jesus later nicknamed Peter. The next day more young men join them. 

The following day we read that they all go off to a wedding. 

Now hold that thought because after last week’s baptism Jesus goes off in the wilderness for forty days. Then he begins his ministry and searches out Peter and Andrew who are fishing. 

We’ll hear the reading about Jesus calling the fishers next Sunday 

Hey, wait a minute these accounts are radically different. How come? 

The gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke recount variations of this same story: the baptism, the forty days in the wilderness and then eventually Jesus calling his disciples, including Andrew and Simon who are out fishing. 

Stay with me. Mark is the earliest gospel. We know this because Matthew and Luke both copy him. There are only a few verses from Mark that Matthew leaves out.  

Matthew then forms his story to corelate with some references in the Hebrew scriptures. He was writing for a Jewish community. 

Luke is writing for Gentiles. Rabbis didn’t explain their parables, but Luke has to explain them for his Greek audience. 

But John is different and most scholars think that it was written later than the others and is a different account, like we saw today. Most of it does not line up.   

While the dialogue attributed to Jesus is short and easily remembered in the three gospels, but in John the dialogues are long and poetic, however the vocabulary is quite limited. 

This is all New Testament 101. So, what do we do with it? We take a passage and do not compare or analyse but listen to what God is saying to us where we are. 

Here we have young men with seeking God, and they have gone to hang out around John the Baptiser. John is the forerunner, and he points out Jesus who is also in John’s entourage. 

“Behold the Lamb of God”, and at once they seek Jesus out, they will never leave him again. In their excitement they seek out their relatives and friends. 

Jesus holds an irresistible magnetism, and once you encounter this Divine Presence you will never be the same. 

So, there are three layers. Firstly, there is the text which is what the author called John describes what happened at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry. 

The second layer is the original audience. Who was John writing for? We think that it may be Christians living in Ephesus in Asia Minor, now Türkiye. 

Many are new followers who see themselves as coming after those first disciples. Jesus has called each of them out of their Greek past into a new fellowship of believers. 

Further following Jesus had become increasingly difficult. It was downright dangerous.  They knew that the disciples in the Jesus story had all, perhaps except for one, had been executed. 

But we don’t read the scriptures as a historical relic. The gospels are a present reality.  

So many live ordinary mundane lives, we enter maturity, and life maybe fairly smooth, and then a sense of unease begins, and we become seekers, not knowing what or who we seek. 

In the present spirituality marketplace, there are a number of options. You may try out a one or two, but the unease is only abated for a season. 

Then unexpectedly you hear a reference to the Lamb of God, or some contemporary equivalent. When you do find the Divine Love realized in Jesus, the course of your life is changed forever. 

Jesus said “Come and see.”, and they stayed with Him. 

Jesus says ”Come and see.”, and you stay with Him. 

You meet Jesus who has been waiting for you since before you were born. Meeting Him you have found everything that you have been waiting for. 

But life may have become more dangerous. Certainly. the political climate is becoming more frightening by the day.  

Earlier this week a bishop, Episcopalian, Anglican, addressed his clergy as well as the members of their parishes.  

“I have told the clergy of the episcopal diocese of New Hampshire, that we may be entering into that same witness, and I’ve asked them to get their affairs in order. To make sure they have their wills written. Because it may be that now is no longer the time for statements, but for us, with our bodies, to stand between the powers of this world, and the most vulnerable.” 

This was Bishop Rob Hirschfeld, at a candlelight vigil for Renee Nicole Good. She was shot by an ICE agent earlier that week. Goons have been weaponized and set loose in American cities. 

Those early disciples who heard John pointing to Jesus and saying “Behold the Lamb of God” and who went after Jesus who said to them. “come and see.”, they went with him to the crucifixion. 

Becoming a follower of Jesus means “picking up your cross”. This is the way of Christ. 

So pick yourself up, strengthen your resolve, and follow the Christ wherever He may take you. 

The spiritual journey is filled with peril, as well as adventure. 

We are here this morning because we are following wherever Christ may lead. 

 Let us pray: 

Most wonderful God, most faithful Friend, please remove from us the rowdy chatter of the world, and open our ears to the still small voice of Your Spirit as You witness to the truth of Christ Jesus. Enable us to hear clearly, to understand profoundly, to respond freely, to serve lovingly and to worship with delight, For Your name’s sake. Amen!