Isaiah 49: 1-7
NPMC
Psalm 40 2
Epiphany
I Corinthians 1: 1-9
January 20, 2008
John 1: 29-42
Anita Retzlaff
What are you looking for?
Grace and peace to you from God the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus the
Christ! In our moment of silent prayer this Anabaptist Sunday let us give thanks
for a tradition grounded in servanthood and discipleship. As we give thanks to
God for a witness over the centuries calling Christians to action and
accountability we also ask for strength, courage and awareness so that we might
actually live what we preach. Let us pray… Lord, in your mercy and compassion,
forgive us where we have forsaken our calling and encourage us to be faithful
stewards of peace on earth. AMEN
Patrick spoke last Sunday about baptism, Jesus’ baptism and conversations he,
Patrick, had with others about the meaning of their baptisms. At our board of
deacons meeting on Monday we spent time together talking about church membership
and how we might appropriately extend the invitation to those not yet members of
our congregation. Baptism and church membership are covenants, vows that graft
us on to the Body of Christ. We become a community committed to each other and
to a particular mission. This can be a scary proposal when we are not quite
certain to what we are committing ourselves.
So let’s go a little deeper and see whether we can answer the voice of Jesus
asking us, “What are you looking for?” What is it that brings you to commit to
the gospel proclamation that Jesus is Lord? What are you looking for here at
Nutana Park Mennonite Church on this Anabaptist Sunday? And what are you casting
around and hoping to find in other places?
The writer of the fourth gospel reports that as Jesus walks by, two men follow
along behind him. John 1:38: “When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said
to them, “What are you looking for?” Let’s set the scene for this encounter.
John the Baptizer is traveling the countryside preaching hellfire of a sort,
predicting coming judgment and baptizing people who seek repentance and
forgiveness of sin. In the midst of this ministry John the Baptist recognizes
Jesus to be the One sent from God who will bring about a new reality on earth.
So John is heartily proclaiming his discovery of Jesus as our story unfolds.
And The Baptizer is really in your face! Twice in today’s story it is written
that he declares and exclaims, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world!” and “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” Then, the two men, disciples
of John the Baptizer, hearing this testimony and probably curious, follow along
after Jesus. And here it is that Jesus turns around and asks them, “What are you
looking for?” I imagine Jesus means something like, “What are you expecting? If
I am the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, what is that to you?”
Are you sure you want to know more?
They do. They ask Jesus, “Where are you staying?” Such basic questions: rather
strange as epiphanies, great insights go. Stranger yet the reply! “Come and
see.” When we take a closer look at what has transpired in the story we are
suddenly confronted with the reality of our own lives. Most of us are looking
for meaningful encounter, something that takes us out of ourselves, gives us new
perspective. Part of that search is a need to rid ourselves of guilt and sin of
old wrongs and old themes and be opened to new things and maybe even a totally
new direction. We wait, as the Psalm says, until we find the desire of our
hearts, an outlet for our passion, an intimate connection that is to be found
ultimately in something much bigger than ourselves, our happiness or our petty
wants: something that is found ultimately in God. “Come and see, “ Jesus
invites.
So when we hear John the Baptizer proclaiming that he has found the One, the
answer to our search for meaning, the One who will take away our sin and set
things right, the One who has been set apart by God as the Spirit descends upon
him like a dove, we are intrigued. We want to know more or maybe we would like a
piece of the action and so we follow. “Where are you staying Jesus? Where do you
live? Where does your heart reside?”
We are all searchers. We long for fresh starts and new visions. We will repent
to get a chance at a new start, one more crack at a meaningful existence. That’s
what we are looking for. That is what the very first Anabaptists were after; a
new start on an age-old truth. Patrick told the children last week, the story of
Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, Georg Blaurock and others who gathered together and
in defiance of the church and the state, on January 21, 1525, baptized each
other upon confession of their faith. They desired to be true to their
understanding of Jesus’ call and in so doing started off in a new direction.
They respond to the call “Come and see.” The two disciples slip along behind
Jesus hoping to discover what this offer holds. And sometimes, as they will soon
discover, we too discover that we travel a fair way down the path of
discipleship before we realize where following will actually lead. The early
Anabaptists knew that they would be risking their lives but I wonder if they
really knew the price they would ultimately pay and the many martyrs that would
follow after them. Certainly the disciples of Jesus kept missing the point and
impact of Jesus’ teaching. They believed, and to the best of their understanding
followed, but they were surprised time and again by what they encountered.
Jesus invites us too: “Come and see.” We start out following along, curious
about the potential of Jesus’ promises because we are truly looking for a
meaningful relationship with God. But somewhere along the way - maybe we haven’t
all slammed up against this yet - we discover that following Jesus is not what
we expected. What we are actually looking for in Jesus turns out to be, not a
powerful leader who brings the public to its knees, or a spiritual leader who
compels and convinces the world to live at peace once and for all, what we are
actually looking for turns out to be, quite simply, the image of a lamb.
Through the self-giving of the Lamb of God we learn that what we are looking for
comes to us as servant leader and a call to sacrifice. Through the power of love
for the world our search leads us into a life of discipleship and non-violent
resistance to evil. Our new start, the meaning that we seek, is discovered and
obtained ironically by losing, yielding, repenting and giving. The image of
victory is a lamb, like the one you see printed on our bulletin cover and the
lamb on our hymnal. The reality of following, the end run of Jesus’ invitation
to “come and see” is service and self-sacrifice.
If you are looking for something to shake you out of the everyday and light a
fire under you, read this little book. It is called “The Irresistible
Revolution: Living as an ordinary radical” written by Shane Claiborne. On this
Anabaptist Sunday I want our ears to be filled with his passionate call to
peacemaking. This young man’s words have been recommended to us by the likes
of Aiden Enns, contributor to The Canadian
Mennonite, editor of Geez magazine, Brian McLaren, Ronald Sider, Tony Campolo
and Tom Sine all people who have a strong countercultural message for society
and for the Church.
What I wish to share with you now are excerpts from Claiborne’s closing section entitled, “To Iraq.” Let this be a reminder to us on this Anabaptist Sunday: a response to Jesus’ invitation to “come and see.”
I am going to Iraq because I believe in a God of scandalous grace. If I believed terrorists were beyond redemption I would need to rip out half of my New Testament Scriptures for they were written by a converted terrorist. I have pledged allegiance to a King who loved evildoers so much he died for them (and of course, the people of Iraq are no more evil or more holy than the people of the US), teaching us that there is something worth dying for but nothing worth killing for. While terrorists were nailing him to the cross, my Jesus pleaded that they be shown mercy, for they knew not what they were doing. We are all wretched, and we are all beautiful. No one is beyond redemption….
I am going to Iraq to stop terrorism. There are Muslim and Christian extremists who kill in the name of their gods. Their leaders are millionaires who live in comfort while their citizens die neglected in the streets. I believe in another kingdom that belongs to the poor and to the peacemakers. I believe in a safe world, and I know this world will never be safe as long as the masses live in poverty so that a handful of people can live as they wish. Nor will the world be safe as long as we try to use violence to drive out violence. Violence only begets the very thing it seeks to destroy. My King warned his followers, “If we pick up the sword, we will die by the sword.” How true this has proved to be throughout history. We armed Saddam in the conflict against Iran, and we armed Bin Laden in the struggle against the Soviet Union. Timothy McVeigh, the most terrifying domestic terrorist in US history, was trained in the Gulf War, where he said he turned into an animal.
I am going to Iraq to stand in the way of war. Thousands of soldiers have gone to Iraq, willing to kill people they do not know because of a political allegiance. I go willing to die for people I do not know because of a spiritual allegiance. The soldiers have incredible courage, courage enough to die for something they believe in. I pray that Christians would have that same courage….
I am going to Iraq as a missionary. In an age of omnipresent war, it is my hope that Christian peacemaking becomes the new face of global missions. May we stand by those who face the impending wrath of empire and whisper, “God loves you, I love you, and if my country bombs your country, I will be right here with you.” … May our lives interrupt terrorism and war, in small ways, in large ways, in moments of crisis, and in everyday rhythms. These are extreme times. And I go to Iraq as an extremist for love.”[1]
Here are the words of a young American, an ordinary radical, a Christian who believes in peace. What are you looking for? Come and see…
[1] Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution: living as an ordinary radical (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2006), 365-367.