St. John’s Lutheran Church, Toluca, IL – 2nd Sunday after Epiphany
Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40:1-11; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-42
Gospel: John 1:29-42
29[John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!30This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ 31I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33I 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.’ 34And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
35The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” 37The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38When 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?” 39He 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. 40One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). 42He 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).
NRSV
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Light Given
Grace to you, beloved of God, and peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I was not expecting anything, to be perfectly honest. I was 28, and I’d already found what I had been looking for several months then. My wife had started working at U of I, and I was excited to have her back, sharing our little things in life as we used to.
Ana had been invited by her brand-new boss to drop by his church, St. Matthew in Urbana, after a conversation about Martin Luther. Consequently, I was there 8:30 am on a Sunday morning, sitting in a pew and holding a bulletin, trying to figure out how it compared with the Roman Catholic Mass in Portuguese. I was just accompanying my spouse, slightly annoyed, in what I thought was just part of her process of fitting in. I wasn’t looking for the Messiah. I had not even been spiritual since I left high school.
Well, I took communion, gathered in fellowship, took some more communion, participated in bible studies – it was awesome to argue scripture, by the way – more communion, and here I am. This is my story of how I found Christ and became a follower.
So, when I think of the biblical experiences that transformed common people into Jesus’ first disciples. I kind of relate with Andrew and the other follower of John the Baptist in this scene, all in into something else. My responsibilities and aspirations focused on something else. It took the mantra that when mom is happy, everybody is happy. Years of being pointed to, there he is, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, to find not what I was looking for, but what I was supposed to do for the Light of the World.
I accept the criticism that says, Mauricio, you are not like Andrew! That is OK, there are only so many discipleship calls in the gospels, and we are all so unique. It is not unusual to have a hard time figuring out where we fit in on these stories about Jesus and his disciples. Chances are we don’t fit in but were called, nonetheless, alongside all the other saints of every place who somewhat cannot resist the presence of Christ, to be a light for others.
Beloved of God, we look closely at what it took to be such a light, someone bound to none, yet a servant of all with no place to lay our heads, and we say, shoot! I will not lie. There is a lot of friction. It takes grit, resilience, and faith. It may take walking away and returning to open arms. It may take years of listening to the Voice of the Lord, transforming, equipping, comforting, loving, and moving us. We may not even live to see the beloved community God dreamt for us on earth, where Jesus is pleased to dwell and remain forever. Until then, we rejoice with those who walked with us, we share tears and hugs, we celebrate unbreakable bonds, and we empty ourselves so the Messiah can be found. Thanks be to God. Amen
Bridging Faith 