John 1:29-41
We have found the Messiah
I spent a considerable amount of my teenage
years working on construction sites.
Mother had a cousin who owned a commercial painting business and I began
working with him when I was thirteen.
You meet an interesting group of people working construction, especially
if your contacts are with those on the lower end of the pecking order. I wasn't up in the offices overseeing what needed
to be done, I was down in the trenches, scrapping cement off the door frames and
sanding the shelves for supply closets.
Conversation, that
activity engaged in to pass the endless hours of monotonous work, usually moved
to the lowest possible level. You can
figure out what I mean. One day, Bubba
surprised us all, by announcing that he didn't want to hear any of that kind of
talk anymore. He announced, "I went
to the tent meeting last weekend and I was saved." There was a moment of intense silence, and then
Audie looked at him with a questioning stare and asked, "Saved from what?" Things only got more confusing as we looked
back to Bubba and realized he had no response. He had been "saved", but he wasn't
real sure what that meant.
In our gospel
lesson for this morning, Andrew comes to his brother with his own
announcement. “We have found the
Messiah," he tells Simon. It would
have been interesting to see how he would have responded, had Simon asked him
"Messiah of what?" But we
don't expect the disciples to be unclear.
It is assumed that they understood and knew what all these phrases and titles meant, right? When Andrew comes to his brother announcing
that the Christ has been found, of course Simon knew what he was talking about. Didn't he?
John's gospel is
written in two languages. By that I mean
that throughout the text we have the Hebrew word followed by its Greek
equivalent. In the last verse of this
morning's reading we see this. The text
reads: “Messiah” and then in parenthesis we have the explanation “(which means Christ)”.
Messiah is the title Andrew, a Jew, would have used. But John's readers, many of whom were Gentiles,
would have been more familiar with the Greek word "Christ".
At issue is
whether Andrew and Simon (who later is renamed Cephas (in Hebrew), or Rock (in English)),
at issue is whether or not they understood.
What was it they thought this Jesus could do for them? When they called him Messiah, what did that
mean?
There are two
clues: 1) What does the title Messiah mean; and 2) What has already been said about this
promised one?
The word,
"Messiah", means anointed or anointed one. It is a reference to the expected liberator
of the Hebrew people. From about the time
of Israel's collapse in 587 B.C., there emerged a prophetic voice within
Israel. A promise was made to them that
God would again establish them as a beacon to the world, a light to the nations. It was the Messiah, the anointed one, who
would lead Israel into this new era. Is this what Andrew thought he had found in
Jesus? Was he expecting Jesus to be the
one that would begin the chain of events destined to culminate in
the reestablishment of a powerful Israel?
The tradition of Israel's prophets would have instructed him that this
is what Messiah represented.
That's what we
learn from the title. But what of that
which had already been spoken regarding Messiah? We know that Andrew was a disciple of John
the Baptist. He was with John as the people
of Jerusalem began to make their way to the wilderness to hear him. John's message has been straightforward; he
has acknowledged that he is not Messiah.
But, he insists that he is preparing the way for Messiah. John, however, doesn't say what this Messiah will be
like. All he says is that he is unworthy
even to untie the shoes of the one who is to follow.
So what did Andrew
mean, as he went and told his brother, “We have found the Messiah”. Did he think Jesus was going to become a great
warrior, leading the Jewish people into victorious battle? Did he think Jesus was some spiritual
manifestation of God, too holy to even approach? Did he think of Jesus as the one who would
call Israel back to repentance and make them a light to all the nations?
We don't
know. All we know is that Andrew
attributes this title to him. And in so
doing, he turns over to this Jesus complete control of his life. Somehow, what he saw in Jesus was enough to
convince him that everything he could ever want or desire was going
to be realized in this man. Somehow, he
saw through everything else and realized nothing more was needful.
I venture to say
that Andrew did not fully understand.
For in John's gospel as elsewhere, all the disciples, even Andrew,
abandon Jesus when he begins to make his way to the cross. They could not see how this would be the
appropriate completion to the mission they had set out to accomplish. Andrew did not fully understand what was
going to happen to Jesus and what it would mean. But that does not negate the confidence which
came in his first confession.
“We have found the
Messiah" he tells his brother. And
from that day forth he gives his life over to this Jesus. Even, when the directions taken by Jesus run
contrary to those Andrew might have expected.
Jesus was his Savior, even when Jesus saves him from things which he
didn't expect to be saved from.
My construction
coworker, Bubba, came back to work with a fire in his heart. It is really too bad, that as he began to share
the light of that fire, another should douse him with water. Maybe it is the assurance of Salvation which
matters and not an ability to list out the things we are saved from.
I know that
salvation is real, constant, unchanging.
But if I had to come with a listing of what salvation means for me it
would be far from unchanging. I used to
worry primarily about death. I was
afraid of being buried and not being about to communicate with those I
loved. A few years ago my big fear is
that I would be found out and that others would realize I had neither the intellect nor
the spiritual presence to be a pastor. Now
I worry that my children have not experienced the blessing which would allow
them to live confident lives.
My list has
changed over the years, but the one who fulfills my expectations has not. Christ makes it possible for me to accept the
grave. Christ allows me to see that it
is not my own capabilities which matters.
It is the power of Christ's love which assures me that my children will
be cared for by the same community which has given me the assurances I need.
What do you mean,
when you say "Jesus is Lord"?
What have you found, when you acknowledge that Christ has given you a
valuable gift? What does the
"Beautiful Saviour" save you from?
We can't accept
another's responses. Each of us has to
acknowledge what it is about our lives that needs redeeming and then we must
come to understand how it is that Christ effects this salvation.
We have found the Messiah,
and it is the assurance of salvation which matters the most. But if we are to give God thanks for that
which God has given us, we should stop and consider what it is that God has
really saved us from.
Amen.
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