John 1:29-42

Sermon Study for January 23rd, 2011.

JOHN 1:29

29 Τῇ ἐπαύριον βλέπει τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐρχόμενον πρὸς αὐτόν, καὶ λέγει, Ἴδε ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου.

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

With the words Τῇ ἐπαύριον "the next day" John first introduces the topic of a week's chronology. Similar references are peppered throughout the rest of this chapter up to the first verse of chapter two. These things are given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and when we take them at face value we arrive at this chronology of this first week of our Lord's ministry among us. Like the final week of his ministry, there is a "silent day" about which we are told nothing.

■ Day 1 (John 1:19-28) — John is questioned by the Pharisees. He denies being the Christ.
■ Day 2 (John 1:29-34) — John proclaims Jesus as the Lamb of God.
■ Day 3 (John 1:35-42) — Andrew (and John?) are sent by John to Jesus, and Peter (and James?) join them.
■ Day 4 (John 1:43-51) — Jesus leaves for Cana and calls Philip and Nathanael.
■ Day 5 (John 2:1) — Not described; passed over for "the third day" after day 4.
■ Day 6 (John 2:1-11) — Jesus attends a wedding at Cana and performs his first miracle (the wedding may well have taken more than one day; Jesus uses the image of a wedding banquet several times in his ministry).

A question that needs to be answered about this week is, was Jesus baptized at this time (perhaps during "Day 2"?), or had this taken place already? John the Apostle does not actually describe Jesus' baptism; it may well have taken place before this. In fact, since Mark tells us that Jesus was driven into the wilderness "at once" (Mark 1:12) after his baptism, it seems likely that Jesus had been baptized a little more than forty days before this week. Perhaps this week in John's Gospel marks Jesus' return from his 40-day temptation in the wilderness by Satan (Mark 1:13).

JOHN 1:30-31

30 οὗτός ἐστιν ὑπὲρ οὗ ἐγὼ εἶπον, Ὀπίσω μου ἔρχεται ἀνὴρ ὃς ἔμπροσθέν μου γέγονεν, ὅτι πρῶτός μου ἦν. 31 κἀγὼ οὐκ ᾔδειν αὐτόν, ἀλλ' ἵνα φανερωθῇ τῷ Ἰσραὴλ διὰ τοῦτο ἦλθον ἐγὼ ἐν ὕδατι βαπτίζων.

30 This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel."

John explains now that even he didn't know who the Christ would be, but the purpose of his baptism was that the Christ would be revealed to Israel. The other Gospels tell us that when John had baptized Jesus, something remarkable took place.

This kind of a riddle is called a mashal. It seems to have either a double meaning or a hidden meaning. You could call it a riddle or an enigma. Typically, a mashal's meaning eludes its hearers the first time they come into contact with it. Although John the Baptist uses a mashal, and the Apostles are not opposed to using them in the Epistles of the New Testament, Jesus himself preferred another more illustrative and expansive saying: the parable.

In this mashal, it might be easy for us to see the meaning, since we've been led by John the author up to this point.

Ὀπίσω μου ἔρχεται ἀνὴρ "A man who comes after me" (that is, after John the Baptist) is Jesus, and this makes complete and perfect sense when we remember that John was Jesus' forerunner, just as Malachi had foretold (Malachi 4:5-6).

ὃς ἔμπροσθέν μου γέγονεν, "...has surpassed me," From our perspective, this would almost be giving it away: Who else could surpass one of God's prophets but God himself? However, in the culture of the first century AD, the prophets' glory and respect for them grows the further back in time we go. In other words, Malachi was greater than John because Malachi lived 400 years before John. And Isaiah was greater than Malachi because he lived about 400 years before Malachi. And David was greater than Isaiah because he lived about 400 years before Isaiah. And Moses was greater than David because he lived about 400 years before David. And Abraham was greater than Moses because he lived about 400 years before Moses. Don't get caught up in my ball-park "400 year" tallies--the point is that the longer ago the man lived, the greater he would be considered to be. And yet, John says, the one who was coming after him had surpassed him.

ὅτι πρῶτός μου ἦν "because he was before me." The "before" here is πρῶτoς (protos), "before" in the sense of chronology. If John had meant that Jesus was "before" him meaning "standing right in front of," he would have said pros rather than protos. Jesus is before all of us in time, because he is our Maker. He is God.

John used this enigma to carry out his task as the messenger of God, the prophet who foretold Jesus, and yet without saying anything that would in any way limit or constrain Jesus. John's task was to point to Jesus, not to tell Jesus what to do. In view of the Apostles' confused ideas of who and what Jesus was even at the end of his ministry ("Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom of Israel?" Acts 1:6), and in view of John's own confusion (Matthew 11:2-3), it was better that he just carried out his task faithfully. he pointed to Jesus.

Our witness to Jesus begins there, pointing him out. This is our Savior, who came to take away our sins. And in him, we have freedom from death and hell and from the devil himself. And so we ask God to help us in our other freedom: The freedom to resist temptation; to say no to sin, through Jesus. His blood bought us, and we look to him for our strength and for healing.

The baptism took place in the water of the Jordan River (this seems to have been late summer or early autumn of 26 AD, when Jesus was 30 years old). As Jesus was wading out of the water (Matthew 3:16) and looking up to heaven saying a prayer (Luke 3:21), heaven opened and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove flew down and landed on him, and God the Father said, "You are my Son, whom I love. With you I am well pleased" (Mark 1:11). This sign, all three Persons of the Trinity together at once and the voice of the Father speaking, was an epiphany showing John and everyone else present that Jesus is truly the Son of God.

A little over three years after this incredible week, at the end of another incredible week, this Lamb of God would indeed take away the sin of the world.

JOHN 1:32-34

32 Καὶ ἐμαρτύρησεν Ἰωάννης λέγων ὅτι Τεθέαμαι τὸ πνεῦμα καταβαῖνον ὡς περιστερὰν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ ἔμεινεν ἐπ' αὐτόν: 33 κἀγὼ οὐκ ᾔδειν αὐτόν, ἀλλ' ὁ πέμψας με βαπτίζειν ἐν ὕδατι ἐκεῖνός μοι εἶπεν, Ἐφ' ὃν ἂν ἴδῃς τὸ πνεῦμα καταβαῖνον καὶ μένον ἐπ' αὐτόν, οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ βαπτίζων ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ. 34 κἀγὼ ἑώρακα, καὶ μεμαρτύρηκα ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ.

32 Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' 34 I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God." (NIV)

Τεθέαμαι, perfect middle indicative 1 sg θεάoμαι "See, notice" almost with a sense of "with my own eyes--this was no vision or dream." We get our word theater from this root word, a place were we see a play or vision or speaker without needing it to be described by someone else.

καταβαῖνον pr m ptc, the participle relates an action John witnessed, and the aorist ἔμεινεν "remaining, lighting, landing" depicts an action John relates as a simple fact. The Spirit (as a περιστερὰν, a dove) actually landed on the Lord.

κἀγὼ in verse 33 is a negative, "But I..." leading into οὐκ ᾔδειν, "had not known him" (pluperfect indicative, 1 sg oἶδα, know, understand a report). This is one of the best examples of the definition of a pluperfect in Scripture because it is so clear that John means that before this he didn't understand something, but now he does.

John was a witness to the entire Trinity, visible and present at the baptism of Jesus. He knew that this was yet another proof that Jesus is the Son of God. Martin Luther used this testimony from John to warn us not to listen to people who scorn baptism:

"One must be on one’s guard against (those) who speak sneeringly of Baptism and [say] that it is mere water and of benefit to no one. They gaze at this sacred act as a cow stares at a new door. For they behold a poor preacher standing there, or, in an emergency, a woman who baptizes. They take offense at this and say: “Well, what can Baptism accomplish?” They also claim that whoever does not believe is not baptized. Thus they slander and blaspheme the most venerable Sacrament, and that merely because they do not see farther than a horse or a cow; they see only the water. The thing they take note of is that the persons, the preacher or the midwives, are lowly people who dip water with their hands and sprinkle it over the infant. A sow or a cow can see that much. They are befuddled. Consequently, they blaspheme about Baptism.

"But it is recorded here that all three persons of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, together with all the elect angels, were present at Christ’s Baptism, although invisibly; and heaven was open for the occasion. In fact, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit still attend our Baptism today. Otherwise few people witnessed Christ’s Baptism, and it passed without any fanfare. John the Baptist’s hand, which performed the Baptism, was there; nevertheless, the heavenly hosts of the angels were also present." (Sermon on John 1:32-34).

Dr. Luther also used the testimony of John to describe the most important teaching of the Bible:

"The first and chief article is this: That Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for our sins, and was raised again for our justification (Romans 4:25). And he alone is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29); and God has laid on him the iniquities of us all (Isaiah 53:6). Likewise, all have sinned and are justified freely and without their own merits by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, in his blood" (Luther, The Smalcald Articles, Second Part, Art. I,1-3). The Son of God came to save us. That's a message to which we all need to witness.


JOHN 1:35-37

35Τῇ ἐπαύριον πάλιν εἱστήκει ὁ Ἰωάννης καὶ ἐκ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ δύο, 36καὶ ἐμβλέψας τῷ Ἰησοῦ περιπατοῦντι λέγει, Ἴδε ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ. 37καὶ ἤκουσαν οἱ δύο μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος καὶ ἠκολούθησαν τῷ Ἰησοῦ.

35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" 37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. (NIV)

This was now the third day of this first week of Jesus' ministry. Once again, John pointed to Jesus and said, Ἴδε ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ "Look, the Lamb of God!" John's message did not change. John didn't go on to explain everything about Jesus' coming ministry; he didn't know any more than the Holy Spirit had told him. His task was to point out Jesus.

Now two of John's disciples understood. Their teacher had been John for a short while, but now that the Savior was here, they followed Jesus. One of them was Andrew, the brother of the Apostle Peter.

If we could learn something about the theme of each of the four Gospels by the first words Jesus speaks in them, we ht find that in Matthew there is a tendency to show the fulfillment of Scripture. The first thing Jesus says there is "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness" (Matthew 3:15).

We might find that in Mark there is an urgency about the gospel message and a call to repentance. The first thing Jesus says there is "The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" (Mark 1:15).

We might find that in Luke (written for a man named Theophilus who was undoubtedly looking for answers to questions about Christianity) there is a plain honesty about the message of forgiveness. The first thing Jesus says there is "Why were you searching for me? Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" (Luke 2:49).

And what do we find in John?

JOHN 1:38a

38 στραφεὶς δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ θεασάμενος αὐτοὺς ἀκολουθοῦντας λέγει αὐτοῖς, Τί ζητεῖτε;

38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?"

More literally Jesus asked, Τί ζητεῖτε; "What are you seeking?" These are Jesus' first words in this Gospel. I think that a study of the first thing Jesus says in each of the Gospels seems to reveal something of the character of that Gospel, but I would not go so far as to say it was the intention of the authors to do so.

Lutheran Pastor Abraham Calov (1612-1686) said, "We are accustomed to seek what we have lost, or what otherwise is beneficial or desirable for us. But what was there more desirable, more longed for during forty centuries past on the part of so many illustrious men, the patriarchs, judges, kings, prophets, and all the saints of the Old Testament, than this Lamb of God, which John's testimony on the heights between the Old and the New Testament declared to be present at last?"

How many people are seeking things they shouldn't? And how many people are not seeking the things they should? We need to understand that Jesus asks this question to us; not just to Andrew and his friend. Jesus didn't ask the question out of a yawning boredom or a gruff indifference to these men. Jesus asked it the way you would ask a new friend about his life. What is it you do? What is it you want? What brought you here? What are you seeking? And Jesus already knew what they were seeking, but more importantly Jesus also knew the answer, the way to get what they were seeking.

And it is Jesus himself who is the answer, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus holds out the whole promise of the gospel in those words, "What are you seeking?" Those words are like the words of a mom smiling over a huge Thanksgiving Day table spilling over with food: "What would you like, my darling?" It's all there for us, offered by our loving God. We don't have to dig to get it; we don't have to lock ourselves away in a cave to realize it. We don't have to starve ourselves to unlock its secrets. "What are you seeking?" It's Jesus himself and his forgiveness, and here he is, offering himself.

Lord, I want to go to heaven. I want my sins to be washed away. I don't want to sin anymore. I want to worship God with a clean heart. I want to be a child of God.

This is what we seek. And he will answer: Come and see.

JOHN 1:38b-41

οἱ δὲ εἶπαν αὐτῷ, Ῥαββί {ὃ λέγεται μεθερμηνευόμενον Διδάσκαλε}, ποῦ μένεις; 39λέγει αὐτοῖς, Ἔρχεσθε καὶ ὄψεσθε. ἦλθαν οὖν καὶ εἶδαν ποῦ μένει, καὶ παρ' αὐτῷ ἔμειναν τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην: ὥρα ἦν ὡς δεκάτη. 40Ἦν Ἀνδρέας ὁ ἀδελφὸς Σίμωνος Πέτρου εἷς ἐκ τῶν δύο τῶν ἀκουσάντων παρὰ Ἰωάννου καὶ ἀκολουθησάντων αὐτῷ: 41εὑρίσκει οὗτος πρῶτον τὸν ἀδελφὸν τὸν ἴδιον Σίμωνα καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ, Εὑρήκαμεν τὸν Μεσσίαν {ὅ ἐστιν μεθερμηνευόμενον Χριστός}:

They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" 39 "Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour. 40 Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). (NIV)

Later in his ministry, Jesus would call these same men to follow him as his disciples, and still later he would send them out as four of his twelve Apostles. But for this day, just the third day of his ministry, he simply spent the day with them. Andrew and his brother Simon Peter were two of these men. And the other two? One is probably James, and the other we can assume to be the John who wrote this Gospel. His clue to his own eyewitness of the event is the time: the tenth hour (about four in the afternoon). John remembers even the time of day when he met Jesus and Jesus called him.

The Apostle John downplays his own part in his Gospel. Matthew records the day when Jesus called him away from his table as a tax collector (Matthew 9:9-13). Mark may possibly tell us about himself in his unique and certainly humble mention of the young man who fled in the Garden (Mark 14:51-52), and his mother may have owned the house in whose upper room the Last Supper took place (Mark 14:12-26; cp. Acts 12:12). Luke says "we" in his account of the Acts whenever he himself was present (Acts 16:10, etc.). John would rather be vague ("the disciple Jesus loved") than pepper his Gospel with mentions of his own name.

Maybe we can learn something from John. Like the Baptist, John the Apostle wants to point to Jesus. That's what Andrew did, too: "We have found the Messiah!" Of course, the reality is that the Messiah has found us, but we can excuse Andrew's exuberance. How can we help but jump and shout about our Savior? Go find your brother, or your friend, or your mom, or your old friend from High School, and deliver the news: We have found the Messiah! The Messiah has found us! And that means eternal life.

JOHN 1:42

42 ἤγαγεν αὐτὸν πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν. ἐμβλέψας αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν, Σὺ εἶ Σίμων ὁ υἱὸς Ἰωάννου: σὺ κληθήσῃ Κηφᾶς [ὃ ἑρμηνεύεται Πέτρος].

42 And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter). (NIV)

The previous section also ended with a ἑρμηνεύεται "being interpreted" statement (vs. 38, "which, when translated, is Teacher").

The Hebrew language has a wonderful way of accommodating its expressions to the limits of the language itself. Hebrew has difficulty being precise in its grammar, and so the people who spoke Hebrew--the writers of the Old Testament--tend to describe a teaching or a fact more than one way, often through parallel statements. Sometimes this can be cumbersome for the reader, but we can appreciate that by talking in a sort of circle all around a subject, the Hebrew authors drew lines around what they meant: "This, but not that."

On the other hand, the Greek of the New Testament is one of the most precise languages in history. To say something in Greek is not like walking around the perimeter of an idea; it's more like shooting an arrow into the exact center of the idea: "This, and only this."

The Greek of verse 42, for example, tells us in clear language that Jesus looked at Andrew's brother Simon on this day and said (let me be clumsy but accurate in translating): Σὺ εἶ Σίμων ὁ υἱὸς Ἰωάννου: σὺ κληθήσῃ Κηφᾶς "Now (at this time) you are Simon. But (in the future) you will be Cephas / Peter." From the beginning, Jesus shows that he is a prophet. Within a few years, the whole church would be calling this man Peter rather than Simon.

The name Κηφᾶς Cephas is Aramaic for the Hebrew word כֵּיפָא Kephaʼ, "stone, rock." Simon and his brother must have wondered what would bring on this new nickname. More than a year later, when asking his disciples about who people thought he was, and who they themselves thought he was, Jesus would receive this answer from Simon: "You are the Christ, the Son of God." Perhaps by then Andrew's brother had forgotten about this prophecy altogether, but Jesus hadn't forgotten. "(Now) You are Peter (Greek masculine Πέτρος petros "rock"), and on this rock (Greek feminine Πέτρα petra, "bedrock") I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it" (Matthew 16:18).

Peter's confession, You are the Christ, is one of the bedrock foundations of the Christian church. Even though Peter himself was not always very solid, the facts of Jesus' perfect life and his atoning sacrifice are all that we need. They are the bedrock we stand on for all eternity. He truly is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.


________________________
 
SPECIFIC SIN / LAW: The world is sinful and needs the Lamb of God
SPECIFIC GOSPEL: Jesus is the Lamb of God whom came to take away the sin of the world.
TELIC NOTE: "What do you want?" (Jesus' first words).
 
 
          Theme: What Do You Want?
          1. Do you want a Saver? (someone to get you out of trouble)
          2. Do you want a Savior? (the one who rescued you from all your sins)
 
          (I'm not happy with this theme and parts -- I'll keep working at it).