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Sermon on John 1, verses 35 to 42: Listening to the Word of God can change our lives
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all! Amen.
Our grandson, Francois, is always happy when he is picked up from the Kindergarten. He has already seen me and is running to fetch his bag. I've got my hands full to keep the 17-month old Jean in my arms. He just wants to get down, but I know he'll run away. I really do not have the courage and time to run after him. Meanwhile, Francois is busy scratching in his bag while he arrives. "Grandma," he shouts aloud, "Grandma, guess what happened!" and comes to me with a picture, his face beaming with joy. "I cannot guess, please come," I reply, moving to the door with the impatient Jean. "Grandma, you’re not hearing". "Yes, I hear you," I say, trying to type in the gate’s code. "But Grandma you do not hear with your eyes."
The way we listen to each other and talk to one another is a clear indication of what the other person means to us. Whoever listens to another person and lends him his ear, and thus also his attention, takes his listener serious and makes him feel important. "A good listener not only perceives the spoken words of the other, but he also tries to understand the unspoken message of the heart." This was the message on my motivational calendar in my kitchen last Wednesday.
Today's Bible text informs us about a meeting - a meeting that takes place at the edge of the road, not a really exciting or unusual occurrence. I read verses 35 to 42 from the first chapter of the Gospel of John:
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.
38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” 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 they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.
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).
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).
Lord, grant us proper speech and hearing. Amen.
John the Baptist stands at the Jordan River. He has had to answer many questions of priests, Levites and his followers during the past few days. Again and again he has had to declare that he is not Elijah, that he is not a prophet. That he baptizes with water, but that there will be someone who will come after him who will baptize with the Holy Ghost. Two of his disciples are with him. Again and again they have heard John preparing people for the Messiah. The day before, John had said of Jesus, who had come to him, "Behold, this is the Lamb of God that carries the sin of the world." He repeats precisely these words when Jesus passes by the men this morning: "Behold, this is the Lamb of Good that will be sacrificed!"
I am not sure whether the disciples understood the Baptist’s words. I am not sure whether the readers of the Gospel of John understand these words about the Lamb, for the image of the Lamb aims at the cross, towards the suffering righteous one who sacrifices his life for man. This innocent and suffering Lamb is the Saviour, the Messiah, the Anointed.
A meeting at the edge of the road, a picture that is very briefly described. Much remains unsaid. Yet we can learn a lot from this encounter – then, as well as now. A story with which we can have an experience of faith that is full of encouragement. An experience that changes the lives of the listeners.
Every Sunday has its own theme that is indicated in the different readings that we hear during a worship service. Firstly, today we heard a reading from the Old Testament, the story of Abraham's departure from his homeland: "Go from your fatherland and from your kinship, and from your father's house to a land that I will show you." During the reading from the New Testament we heard the story about Peter, who, though he had laboured in vain all night, went out onto the lake again after Jesus had instructed him to do so, and then caught so many fishes that two boats almost sunk. Both these stories are about incidences where people hear God or His Word, and when they follow it, they experience significant changes - so it is all about the fact that hearing the Word of God can change our lives and the life of one or many people.
I have “googled” the meaning of the word "hearing", as well as synonyms for it. It is quite fascinating what I found. "An acoustic perception, listening attentively." "Determine something with your hearing. Recognize, accept, and take note." Two words that immediately caught my eye were “accept” and “listening attentively”.
What happened in the Kindergarten that day? I did not accept what Francois was saying and I did not listen attentively, so I have no idea what I should have heard or seen. I'm also sure that Francois must have been disappointed and that I missed something important. The way we listen to each other and talk to one another is a clear indication of what the other person means to us. Whoever listens to another person and lends him his ear, and thus also his attention, takes his listener serious and makes him feel important. After hearing comes recognition. In this case, at first it is not about hearing, but more about seeing, knowing, registering.
John the Baptist’s two disciples immediately understand this. They leave the Baptist and follow Jesus. Why? The seeking disciples see the man, the rabbi, the suffering lamb, the anointed. They recognize something. It is the goal of their lifelong search.
Jesus, however, has already noticed them and he turns around and asks: “What do you want?” At this point one has to be careful not to once again just read over these words. Why? These four words, “What do you want?" are the first words that Jesus himself addresses to man in the Gospel of John. “What do you want?” This is the first question that Jesus asks of all of us! Well, good question! Who of us would immediately know what to answer? Because we realise that the question means more than just searching for our keys or our glasses. What do we want in our lives? Happiness, fulfilment, freedom, adventure, health, peace and justice. And peace and quiet in the end? More questions follow: Where do we come from, where are we heading and who are we? And once we find answers to all of our questions, we start searching again: Where will we stay (as asked by the disciples in our sermon text), not just overnight, but also where will we “stay” after our deaths? So, the question is posed to all of us: “What do you want?” We want to take this question with us from today’s service!
“What do you want?” “Where will you stay?” Then Jesus’s answer: "Come and you will see!" A search story, like so many other search stories in the Gospels. “Whom are you looking for?” Jesus’s question at the Mount of Olives when the armed soldiers approach him to take him captive. “Whom are you looking for?” The angel’s question when he addresses the women, who are overwhelmed with grief, on Easter morning. “Why are you looking for?” This would be our question to the shepherd, who leaves his 99 sheep behind in order to search for the one lost sheep.
What are we looking for/do we want on our way through life? Are we looking for/do we want anything at all? -
As we wander through the times, we constantly look towards achieving temporary objectives, or we are always looking for new opportunities. Sometimes we wait and hope that something new will happen, that new encounters with other people may arise.
Never, but never at all, do we reach our target. We never really arrive and find what we have been looking for. This is part of being human. This is why we continue searching - sometimes we are hardly aware of it - and are happy when we find what we have been looking for.
That is what matters in life. That is the answer to the question, “What do you want?” To realize that God loves us, just when we are threatening to sink into the darkness of life, that he always remains in us and we in him. This is the only relationship that brings about healing.
There still is a small detail to be clarified in this story. It is quite obvious that all these things are only indicated, that one has to uncover them oneself. We are only told that the disciples spent the day with Jesus, not more detail. However, it is important that they spent the time together, that they ‘stayed’ together, that they had communion with Jesus. The first letter to John expresses it in chapter 4, verses 15 and 16: “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them."
Every story has an end, ours too. One of the disciples, named Andreas, tells the whole story to his brother Simon. Simon does not immediately put aside everything. He takes a while, and eventually his brother has to take him by the hand and lead him to Jesus so that they can meet - just as we must sometimes be led by the loving hands of others to the truth in our lives, to our salvation, from our tribulations and suffering.
When they see each other, Jesus says, ”You are Simon, the son of John, you will be called Cephas ... the rock". Thus, the passive listener becomes the active ambassador of the good news to the people.
So it is with us today - that we do not just leave this service as listeners, but become active messengers of the truly liberating and life-changing message of Jesus Christ. God loves me, he is in me and I in him. May God's Holy Spirit confirm these words in your hearts so that you not only hear them, but also experience them in everyday life, so that your faith may increase and you will finally be saved through Jesus Christ our Lord.
I will conclude with a prayer by Karl Bart:
"Lord, our God! We thank you that in Jesus Christ your living Word came into this world and also to us. Let us continue being LISTENERS of your Word and be renewed every day. Give that it awakens the sleeping, that it comforts the afflicted, that it provides the drifters with direction, that it covers our sins and calls us all to a life of love and hope." Amen.
And the peace of God, which is higher than all our reason, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.