January 16, 2011John 1:29-42;Isaiah 49:1-7 O God, Open our hearts and minds to hear the story of Jesus and his friends.Holy Spirit, give us the grace to see and to be your life-changing Light. ******** Two passages from today’s readings caught my attention.The first one is from the Isaiah: I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation shall reach to the ends of the earth.This reminded me of two different images: The first one is at my home parish in Colorado.It is a fairly new building, built in the late 1950's or early 60's.The front of the church is very tall, maybe about twice the height here, with a canopy high above the altar and a space on the wall for beautiful hangings, many of them designed by the chair of the Art Dept. at Colorado State University. One of the things I miss because I am here is the annual opportunity to see the Epiphany hanging, which is my favorite.Imagine, a beautiful green, shimmering fabric, with the globe of Earth in blues. Up above, towards the canopy, is the Bethlehem star, and from it, long rays of gold and silver reach down and surround the globe. And the other is that familiar song, “This Little Light of Mine.”We just sang it at the Friday service at EDS, so it’s in my mind.Two radically different images, but both about being a light to the nations.Keep these in mind as I talk about the other passage. During one of the many incidental conversations I had with my daughter over Christmas break, she was remarking on how interesting it was that all the schools she had attended had large and ferocious cats as their mascots: Elementary school: The Linton Lions and the St. Joseph’s Cougars; junior high: the Preston Pumas; and at the town’s newest high school, an amazing extinct beast: The Fossil Ridge Sabre Cats!(Short, no doubt, for sabre-toothed tigers)Then I reminded her that she had attended the city’s original high school for only one semester, and had been thoroughly embarrassed by their mascot, the Lambkins. “What were they thinking?” she asked, and I explained that it was in honor of and out of respect for, the mascot of the University that was established there even before the first high school-the Colorado State Rams. I’ve heard a couple of other stories about Lambs in the past week or so.The first one was about a little two-year old, Emily, who had a children’s book about the Christmas story.“Walk, walk, walk.Mary and Joseph were going on a long journey,” was how it began.The little girl loved this book very much, and her mother had to read it to her repeatedly.One day, not wanting to read it one more time, the mom asked the child to “read” it to her.“Walk, walk, walk,” Emily began, then after a pause, she went on, “Mary had a little Lamb.”Yes, a comical combination of two stories about someone named Mary, but containing theological insight:Mary had the Lamb of God. The second story I have in mind is of course, today’s gospel lesson.Here we have Jesus, all grown up and beginning his ministry in the world.I’m amazed every Epiphany season at how fast Jesus grows up.First he’s born, then the Wise Men come to see him, and then he’s an adult, baptized, and setting off to work.Other than the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt in Matthew, and the story of Jesus teaching in the temple at age 12 in Luke, the gospels don’t give us any information about Jesus’ childhood and growing-up years.But, as a mom myself,I do often wonder what they must have been like, especially as to what He must have been like as a teenager! Anyway, here is Jesus, out in the wilderness in the same place as his cousin John the Baptist.From what we know about the story from the other gospels, we assume that Jesus came out here so that John could baptize him.But in this version, we don’t get that story, instead we hear John’s powerful testimony of how the Spirit descended onto Jesus like a dove, how this is the Son of God, the Lamb of God.How did he know that?From family visits while the two were growing up?No, he says “I myself did not know him,” but the one who sent him to baptize, the Holy Spirit, told him so-John’s purpose is to reveal Jesus.John’s job is to shine the light to point towards the Lamb of God. And so the next day, doing his job, John says again to his own disciples, “Behold, look, here is the Lamb of God!”What does that mean?Possibly the Passover lamb, whose blood kept the Angel of Death from killing the firstborn of the Israelites on the eve of the exodus from Egypt; or, the suffering servant lamb in Isaiah, who bears the iniquities of the people.Not a mighty, powerful image, like a lion or a sabre-toothed tiger, as many expected, but rather something mild and sacrificial, like a Lambkin. John reveals Jesus simply, almost mysteriously, always repeating that phrase, “Look, See, here is the Lamb of God.”His two disciples must have been intrigued by this idea, drawn to the Lamb, because they followed him.And Jesus noticing this, asks them “what are you looking for?” Here and elsewhere in the gospel of John, that is the major question: “What are you looking for; whom do you seek?”The answer is for them, the same as it is now-we seek Jesus, the Lamb of God.And Jesus invites them to “come and see.”They follow Jesus, they go to see where he is staying, and they remain with Jesus, they hang out with him for the rest of the afternoon and evening. They must have liked what they saw, because they come to know great joy and a great love for Jesus, andthey pass along gentle, but excited encouragement to others: the next day Andrew invites his brother, Simon, to “come and see.”And the day after that, in the passage following today’s reading, Philip invites Nathanael to “come and see.”And it goes on that way till Jesus has assembled his band of followers, and they continued to pass the message along.The ones who were looking, who saw, and were transformed, become the next revealers, the ones who shine the light, those who invite someone else to “come and see.” That is why we are sitting here today, because those who had seen the Light revealed it to another who was seeking, and the chain reaction was passed along through the centuries. You may have a very clear memory of someone who was the revealer for you, or you may have been brought to “come and see” as an infant or a small child and decided to follow Jesus before you could even understand it.However that happened, you are now called to be the revealers, to be the Light of the world, to point to the Lamb of God. How do we go about that?That could be another whole sermon on call, and your baptismal ministry.But for now, I think I have a simple, easy-to-remember formula:Be Christ to others, and see Christ in others.Not easy to do, but simple to start with, and, according to my experience shopping yesterday, seeing Christ, looking for the him in those you encounter, makes it easier to be Christ to them.A smile, a thank you, a bit of patience with someone slow or a noisy kid. It comes around back to you in a smile, a feeling of peace, a wave from a baby, and more.Here is the idea, in a quote from an old Advent meditation book I almost threw away: Seeing Christ in others is the work God has given us to do.We are called to love one another as Christ has loved us.We who long for someone to delight in us are called to delight in everyone we meet, as if Christ lived in each relative, in each passing stranger.We who long to see a face light up when we enter a room are called to light up our faces at each encounter. If we will accept our calling, the world will be bathed in light, and people far from God will be drawn to God, because God dwells in us. That’s the Lamb’s name isn’t it?Emmanuel - God With Us. Amen.