+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: John 1:29
Theme: Drawn to the Highest One
Dear followers of the Saviour,
Jesus made judicious use of miraculous intervention. His mode of operation was not one of unshackled omnipotence. Prudence was necessary to maintain a balancing act between showing Himself as the Messiah through miraculous signs and keeping people from getting the wrong idea. He did not come to make minor adjustments to human society so that it could continue indefinitely as we know it, but with some improvements. Yes, His restoration of brokenness was certainly evidence of God’s intervening presence in fallen creation- think of all those He helped and healed. Through His miracles Jesus drew people to God, but His work was preparatory for a new creation. Life in the world is temporary. We are mortal. Coming to terms with these truths affects and informs the entirety of our existence.
Today, John the Baptist humbly, but powerfully identifies this Jesus as the One who constitutes existence. John the straddles the threshold between the first and second covenants. He is a transition figure moving the narrative of God’s plan of redemption from that of prophetic voice to apostolic witness. The longed-for Messiah has arrived, and John is here to announce it: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”1 It was a decisive declaration. It was a momentous assertion. It was an announcement loaded with history and pregnant with intention. This ordinary man is identified as the Son of God.
Preceding John’s identification of Jesus was his call to repentance. Some things would have to change- idols deposed, sin repudiated. Humanity would need to acknowledge its brokenness. Nothing is different now. The devastation of the recent bushfires illustrates the best and the worst of human nature. The sacrifice and heroism employed to save, protect, aide and support others is an extraordinary commentary on the human spirit. Tragedy pulls people together. Compassion is among the most virtuous of human traits. Conversely, experts believe fully half of all Australian bushfires, on an annual basis, are started by arsonists. Some people specifically choose times of high visibility and drama to perpetuate evil. Others cleverly wait for opportunity to disadvantage the vulnerable when they think no one is watching.
Dear friends, we all have the proclivity to preference ourselves to the detriment of others. The essence of fallenness, of sin, is summed up in our failure to love God above all things and to love our neighbour as ourselves. The sinister side of human nature cannot be dismissed as insignificant, selective, or manageable. Because God doesn’t need anything directly from us, our obedience to the first part of the command (love God) is directly realized in our pursuit of the second (love your neighbour). We can’t truly love God as independent, isolated beings. We love God by showing compassion to our neighbours and that includes a particular concern for their spiritual well-being. Churches in our society are emptying, in part, due to lack of concern for the spiritual wellbeing of others.
God isn’t content, of course, to give in and give up. The Scriptures say the Holy Spirit can be grieved2, but God ever becomes exhausted or demoralized. We cannot break His spirit. His life-giving power continually undoes the pathology of sin and death. It’s not something we should take for granted. The fact that there is a single true believer in this place right now, me included, is a miracle. That’s not a comment on the quality or genuineness of anyone’s faith or lack thereof. It’s a statement of theological and existential fact. God created the entirety of the universe out of nothing- a mind-numbing truth to get our heads around- but His creation of spiritual life is no less astounding.
(The fact that Isaac is being confirmed today is the culmination of a series of miracles. Not that any of us believed Isaac was destined to go off the rails from the moment he could walk.) It is, nevertheless, miraculous when anyone is sustained in the faith. Human strength and capability alone could never endure the continual assaults against the gift of faith which Satan so vehemently despises. The attacks against faith are manifold in their scope and relentless in their nature. Doubt…apathy…temptation…false security…arrogance...depression…. despair, self-centredness, and the list could go on endlessly. Divine power is required in defence. Otherwise, life inevitably becomes futile.
The philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once said if a person’s life is “busily employed with what makes a noise indeed at the moment but has no echo in eternity”, if life’s not to “be dozed away in inactivity or wasted in bustling movement, there must be something higher which draws it.”3 The continually relevant question for the disciple of Jesus, for the one striving daily to carry the cross, for the one seeking true purpose in life (for Isaac) is: What draws you? What motivates, moves and inspires you? If self-interest and self-glory circumscribe the answer, to what end will that lead? But Jesus said, “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself.”4 He leads to a different end. Again, He says, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.”5
From whence does Christ draw? Christ draws people from the highest place accessible to humanity. That place is not the top of Mount Everest, or the International Space Station. And, that place is not the right hand of God in heaven either. True enough, Christ reigns from the heights of heaven at the Father’s side. He is victorious over death. His majesty and glory are immeasurable. But this mystery is not penetrable to us by sight or conception. It is an article of faith and will remain so until we cross the threshold of mortality. The height from which the Saviour draws us is the cross. Lifted up on the cross the Son of God becomes a public spectacle showing the true nature of God. Repulsive and repugnant to those who believe God to be far above entanglement with sinful mortals, the crucified Jesus draws people on high by plumbing the depths Himself. Sin plunged Him, the sinless One, into the abyss so that believers might be raised to the gates of heaven. Death took Him so that we might have life. God entangled Himself with us in the person of Jesus.
Christ draws from this altar where His shed blood and broken body are offered. His body once sacrificed becomes the food of immortality while still being possessed by Him in eternity. His blood, once poured out for sinners, sustains the faithful until their journey’s end. Christ draws from this font, where baptismal water, empowered by the word, pulls people from the clutches of Satan and the shadows of darkness and escorts them into the kingdom of light. Christ draws from this pulpit and that lectern when the absolving gospel releases people from the servitude of sin and gives them liberty beyond any humanly achievable freedom.
People may be free in our society to pursue a wide degree of self-determination. They are even ‘freed’ by the laws of the land to transgress the higher laws of God. But no one is freed from the fear of death and the condemnation of judgment until the comforting promise of the almighty God, through the work of His Son and the presence of His Spirit cheers our hearts and pacifies our souls with the unassailable treasure of His forgiveness. The Bible says, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”6
We are freed to love without impunity from God. Still, our motivations are often complex. God understands that. Interacting with people is messy. That’s why the Spirit is always tugging us towards clarity and purity of motive. And He will not fail to give us opportunity both to see and to participate in the mode of operation of the Messiah among us. Two weeks on a man returned to one of the world’s largest casinos where he had spent five days and thousands of dollars. Surprised to see him so soon some of the regulars asked what drew him back. “Was it the prospect of winning big?” “Was it the lavish food and drink?” “Was it the party atmosphere?” “No,” he said, “It was the conversation of a cleaner that I overheard while heading to the bathroom. Without even knowing it I think she’s changed my life. My world of affluence is more broken than her world of poverty. I’ve come back to give her a grey chip.” (A grey chip is worth $5,000) What draws us?
The Good Shepherd is drawing Isaac along His path, along the narrow road. He doesn’t promise the road won’t be rocky or that he won’t stumble, or even suffer pain and loss. The promise of prosperity as our culture defines it is not the gospel. The Saviour never abandons us on the journey though. Jesus Christ is drawing you too. And the One who draws is the One who takes that He might give. He takes our sins to give us life. “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”7 Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Second Sunday After Epiphany
19 January 2020
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 John 1:29 2 see Isaiah 63:10
3 Training in Christianity 4 John 12:32
5 John 6:44 6 John 8:36
7 John 1:29
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