John 1:29-42

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! 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 descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Chosen One.”

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 four o’clock 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).

Sermon Text

When is the last time that you were filled with awe? I’m talking about the sort of thing that you see and suddenly have every thought in your head rush away as you are suddenly left looking at something beyond words. Was it nature? Was it something you saw in a person? Was it something altogether different, something that could only be explained as coming from God, straight out of heaven?

Awe is something we seem to lose track of in the modern world. Looking around at the rush that we are always in, I’m not terribly surprised. At any moment you can pick up your phone and see every piece of music, every bit of news, and every opinion flash in front of your eyes. Fast editing is made to keep your brain from wandering too far from the next big thing, and we are caught up in a loop of highs and lows of dopamine that mean that we are not people who wonder or who seek out more substantial encounters – only more numerous and more easily digested ones.

Awe, and the ability to be awestruck, is something we cannot afford to lose as a species. We are, in many ways, defined by our ability to engage with things larger than ourselves. Animals only seek to survive, to reproduce to another generation, but we are able to dream and wonder and see the majesty of God around us. Ovid, a Roman poet, describes humanity as the last thing that God created, and when they were created they were unique precisely because, “whereas other animals bend their looks downwards upon the Earth, to Man he gave a countenance to look on high and to behold the heavens, and to raise his face erect to the stars.”[1] We are a species defined by our ability to look, to behold, and to be filled with wonder.

In scripture, two words are used that are translated as “Behold!” “הִנֵּה” (Hineh,) in Hebrew and “ἰδού” (idou,) in Greek. Both of them literally mean, “Here!” but carry a deeper connotation. To shout either is to call special, almost divine attention to the thing being talked about. When Abraham tells God, “Here I am!” He is not just saying where he is, he is saying he is fully available for whatever God has to tell him. To “Behold!” or to be present is to offer up all of ourselves and our attention to the object of our declaration. It is to be in awe of the thing in front of us.

When John the Baptist sees Jesus, he sees more than just a cousin or a devotee. As Jesus makes his way across the banks of the Jordan into the water, John sees the salvation of the world. Christ is no longer, in his eyes, just a person, just a relative, the Spirit inspires John to proclaim who he really is. “Behold!” Means more than just to look at Jesus as he comes down into the water, it is an invitation to be in awe of who Jesus really is. “The lamb!” Born into the world to die for others. “Of God!” Not only of God, but from God, who is God. “Who takes away the sins of the world!” Not only in their consequence, but in their power and reality, in totality and not only partly.[2]

John made himself available to Jesus in his declaration. The baptism which we discussed last week was made possible because John submitted completely to God’s will, even if it was as unorthodox as baptizing God himself. The awe that John has regarding Jesus is not just for the moment of his baptism, but seemingly for each time that John saw him afterward. John not only cries out for people to “Behold!” Jesus when his realization of Christ’s divinity, but when Jesus walks by his disciples on a seemingly normal day.

I wonder, if we let ourselves, how often we might have a similar response to the moments we see God pass us closely by. How often are we in awe that we can kneel in prayer and find God is listening to us? How often do we come to the table of God’s grace and really feel in our heart what a wonder it is that God is present with us in that meal? How often do we notice what God has done, those coincidences that must be something more than mere happenstance, and take a moment to truly look in wonder at the God who made them happen?

For John, the presence of Christ that clued him into what God was doing was physical and obvious – Jesus was literally walking by. For us, we need to look a little harder, feel a little deeper, to catch sight of what God is doing. Moving back to our intro, to Ovid’s description of humanity as creatures that can “look up,” I recommend a simple means to see what God is doing: Look around! In a world full of distractions, take some time to remove yourself from the noise. Turn off the screens, in your hand and on the wall. Take time to drive without the radio or Spotify. Look around you as you walk through life and through the world!

Pray as well. Whenever you can, take time to pray. Prayer is a direct way that we call out to God, “Here I am!” Which, you will remember, is the same thing as yelling, “Behold!” We call to God to see us, and in the process we see God. The mutual moment of acknowledgement, the opportunity to be truly available to God and for God to be fully available to us… That is the promise of prayer.

In your life, I ask you to look for ways to be filled with awe. God is at work, Christ is with us, the Spirit has filled us fully. With all that presence of God in our lives, then we ought to be in awe every now and again, shouldn’t we? Let us go into the world, looking for God, and never shy away from declaring God’s salvation when we see it passing nearby. – Amen.

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[1] Ovid. The Metamorphoses  tr. Horace Gregory. (New York, New York: Signet 2001) 33

[2] John Wesley. “A Farther Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion.” In The Works of the Rev. John Wesley. (New York, New York: J & J Harper 1827) 219