Who Have You Found?

Scripture: John 1:29–42

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 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 descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

35 The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 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?” 39 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 four o’clock in the afternoon. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). 42 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).

Questions

  1. John calls Jesus the “lamb of God” what does he mean by this?
  2. Andrew says he has found the “Messiah (anointed one)” what does he mean by this?
  3. What is your favorite title for Jesus and why?

Background

Related Scriptures: Isaiah 49:1-7; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9;

Origen: There are five animals that are offered on the altar, three being land animals and two winged. It seems worthwhile to me to ask why the Savior is said to be a “lamb” by John and none of the rest. But also, in the case of the land animals, since three types of animal are offered according to each species, why did he name the lamb from the species of sheep? Now these are the five animals: a young bull, a sheep, a goat, a turtledove, a pigeon.

And the three types of sheep are a ram, the ewe and the lamb.… It is the lamb, however, that we find offered in the perpetual sacrifices. … What other perpetual sacrifice can be spiritual to a spiritual being than the Word in his prime, the Word symbolically called “lamb”?… But if we examine the declaration about Jesus, who is pointed out by John in the words “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” from the standpoint of the plan of salvation when the Son of God bodily lived among the human race, we will assume that the lamb is none other than his humanity. For he “was led as a sheep to the slaughter and was dumb as a lamb before its shearer,” saying, “I was an innocent lamb being led to be sacrificed.”[1]

Reflection

Have you ever thought about the various titles for Jesus? Have you ever sat down and thought about what John means when he says, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”? What does Andrew mean when he says, “We have found the Messiah”? These are common titles for Jesus in Christianity, but do we ever stop to think about what they meant to the people who first used them. What does it mean to the person standing by the river preaching cleansing through his baptism that Jesus, not baptism, will take away the sins of the world. What does it mean for Andrew and Peter that Jesus is the anointed one. What are these people looking forward to and how can that help us meet Jesus? After all, we today are still trying to meet Jesus and introduce him to others who need to meet him.

On one hand these titles are very easy to understand John sees Jesus as a lamb, something sacrificed to find purity. Andrew sees Jesus as the anointed king. But the more I think about what these confessions mean the more I am forced to wrestle with the idea that neither person could have known what the title meant. I am sure that John came to Jesus because he genuinely wanted to see Israel purified. Likewise, I am sure that Andrew wanted to see the king who would rule Israel. And so, when they described Jesus with these titles, they genuinely meant them. I also know that these are true titles for Jesus and that they are the kinds of titles we should use for him. Why do we use these titles? Because they help us understand what the concepts look like. John wanted purity, he valued repentance and so seeing Jesus in this light could direct him toward what repentance and purity looked like. Andrew wanted a king and continuing to see Jesus as “the king” would help him to understand what ruling was. The things these men were looking for in the world, they found in Jesus.

So, the question is what is important to you? What do you need what do you believe in? We invest in what we believe in. John believed in repentance and purity, he invested his life to seeing these accomplished in the world and so when Jesus came to him, he saw the culmination of that work. Andrew wanted a king to bring about justice and God’s rule in the earth. He invested himself in Jesus to make that happen for his own life. Think about this in two ways, first what do you think is important to you and second where do you invest. What are the priorities that you consider important? How does Jesus fit into those priorities? What titles for Jesus bring you comfort? Is Jesus the Prince of Peace, the Lamb of God, King of the World, high Priest, Creator, Arbitrator? Yes, Jesus is all of these, but one or more probably has special meaning for you today. When you, like Andrew, say to your friends and family that you found Jesus, what title do you use? This is who you want Jesus to be and at this point we need to allow Jesus to be that person and guide what we understand about the world. Andrew had to learn what it meant to be the Messiah (king) by watching Jesus and so do we. We need to learn to see Jesus by the titles that we have used for him and allow him to determine what those titles mean so we can live into them. The second thing that is necessary after identifying who Jesus is, is to evaluate who and what you invest in. Where do you invest your time, talent, and finances? Do your investments match what you believe about Jesus? Do your priorities show who Jesus is? What would people have thought of John and his message if he proclaimed Jesus “the lamb of God who takes away the world’s sins” and then seemed to put his trust in some other form of repentance? This is just as true for us; we need to identify the person we have found in Jesus and then live consistently with that identity so that others will trust our testimony. And that again leaves the one basic question for each one of us to answer, “Who did you find?”

[1] Joel C. Elowsky, ed., John 1–10, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture 68–69.

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