SPEAKER_00 0:00

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, to him who loves us and has washed us clean from our sins with his own blood and made us to be a kingdom of priests to serve God and his Father. To him be all glory, honor, and dominion forever and ever. Amen. You know, it's very telling to the world around us how we act when we found something special. Strike gold, discover a lost artifact, maybe even find a lost puppy, and we'll quickly want to tell the world around us. We're driven by our hearts to tell everyone about it. If we found something golden, then we'll happily spend all our energy describing its splendor. It's no different than a kid on Christmas. At first opportunity, they will tell all their friends about what they've received under wrapping and a bow. And that's what we see in today's gospel. John the Baptist can't help himself. The world has got to know. What he has witnessed, he just can't hold in. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me. I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel. John did not find Jesus. Jesus found him. Jesus found John, and the Father revealed Jesus in his baptism to John by his own voice and spirit. As the Spirit revealed, so John must also reveal. As the Father has pointed, so John must also point. And the disciples must follow the finger of John the Baptist. John the Baptizer could not help the overflow of the joy of his heart. What he had witnessed, he could just not keep to himself. God in the flesh before him, whose sandals he was not worthy to untie, who he leapt in the womb for at the very moment when the Virgin Mary's voice came to his own mother. But now John has called Jesus something different. Something special. Something we've not heard before in John's Gospel. The Lamb of God. Which, by the way, is not just any title. But what does it mean? And who's listening? Earlier in the second chapter of this gospel, I'm sorry, later in the second chapter of this gospel, John was questioned. Are you the Christ? If not, why do you baptize? And John tells him plainly, he's not the Christ, but the one who prepares the way for the one who is to come. And the one who is to come is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. How important is this title for those who hear it? Jesus was the one who the prophet Isaiah had prophesied about. He says, He was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was like a lamb who was led to the slaughter. No doubt any Jew with an earshot of John would take note of this title. Not only is Jesus the Messiah or Christ in Greek, as later Andrew would say and tell Peter in our reading, but he's more. The fact is the Jews expected a Messiah to come who would return glory to Israel. But the Lamb of God? The Lamb of God is Jesus was the fulfillment of what the Jewish Day of Atonement had always looked forward to. The Jewish Day of Atonement was a sacrifice that only happened once a year, a very special sacrifice to cover all the sins of God's people. This is how it worked. On the sacrifice of the Day of Atonement, there was always two lambs or two goats, as it were. One of them who remained alive, for the priest to speak all the sins unto, he would put his hands on the head of the goat, and he would speak all the sins of the people on the scapegoat. And then he would cast it out into the wilderness into the hands of the devil. Or as the Hebrew would say, Azazel. And the other they would take and sacrifice on the altar of God, and half of its blood would be poured on the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies before God by the high priest. And then the other half the blood he would sprinkle on God's people, thereby making atonement between God and man. The title, The Lamb of God, meant something infinitely more than just Messiah. It meant that God was bringing the sacrifice this time for the atonement of sins for all people. As God poured out all the sins of the world unto Jesus in his baptism, when he who knew no sin was submitted to a baptism that was meant for the forgiveness of sins, and then immediately was cast out into the wilderness into the hands of the devil. So God would also send Jesus to be sacrificed on the altar of the cross. And his blood would be the atonement for all people between God and man. And the blood of Jesus is then sprinkled on us in our baptisms. There is no doubt that this Jewish Day of Atonement and these two goats foreshadowed the Lamb of God who would fulfill both roles and take away the sins of the whole world for all who believe. John the Baptist knew the presence of Jesus meant everything, and John couldn't be more excited to tell the world about it. But there's also something very telling about the events of this story. Two things, really. First, God must come to where we are. He must tabernacle with us, and he did in flesh and blood. And second, he reveals himself to us according to his word and his sign. Why is this so important for us to understand? Well, it's not as though the right hand of God is not everywhere, it certainly is. But the right hand of God has not revealed himself in every place under every rock and every tree. Rather, he has taken on flesh and become a man. God tabernacling with his people. But when the ascended Lord tells his people, who are marked with his own name, to find him in the places where his word promises he will be, and covered with the signs where his own word directs them, then those are the places we should go. Dear baptized, all the signs, word, and sacraments flow from the wounds of the Son of God, the Lamb of God. If we don't consider those to be the highest treasure of our worship, then we are no different than the people of Israel who at the time of Hosea wanted to worship God in every other place and way than where he had come to them and given himself to them. The preaching of the word and the presence of the sacrament depend wholly on the presence of Christ. If they are devoid of Christ, then they're nothing. As Jesus revealed himself to the disciples, let us now then look to where our Lord reveals himself to us. The next day, again, John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, Behold, the Lamb of God. It's a second time. The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, What are you seeking? And they said to him, Rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying? He said to them, Come and you will see. So we must follow the finger of John the Baptist to Christ, in order that we too can see. So that we too can point others to where Christ is staying and has come to meet them here and now. Where his gospel is purely preached and his sacraments are rightly given, he promises to be present for you, dear baptized. This is true and faithful worship. But if we're telling people to look somewhere else for Christ, their own hearts or under that tree or rock, then where he promises to be with his own word, then we're directing them to someplace else. This is not true worship. We need to speak to everyone what God's word and spirit have testified to. Yes, Jesus should be in our words to all the people around, just like John the Baptist, just like Andrew. But when they ask for Jesus, we should be telling them, Come, and you will see. Our finger must point to no other place than where Christ our Lord arrives near to us. Here, this very day, this Lord's day, with his own word and his own spirit, his own body and blood given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of all your sins. We should be filled with true excitement and joy, because the Lamb who was slain has begun his reign and deigns to come to us under such humble means. The eyes of flesh may only see water and bread and wine. Our ears may only hear the sounds of a spoken language. But the eyes of faith see what the Word of God speaks into our ears and into our hearts. It sees the holy absolution of God's voice, which has driven away our sins from us. He reminds us of our baptism by which you were all named with the triune God and made his own, and washed clean. The holy sacrifice of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, given and shed for you to eat and drink at this very altar, so that you, dear beloved, know beyond a shadow of a doubt what Christ has won for you on the cross, and you receive it on your own lips. Dear baptized, we've been given something so special because we have witnessed Christ come to us. We really should want to point, like John the Baptist, to all the world and say, Here, here Jesus shows up. Here Christ comes to you. Come and see. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He comes here for you. He only comes for sinners. Why? Because only Christ has come to forgive you all your sins and make you his very own. To make you holy unto himself. He's here for you today. Amen. Now, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. We rise and confess our Christian faith in the words of the Nicene Creed.