| The Foundation of Lady Katherine Leveson at Temple Balsall | ||
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St
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Revelation and Witness John 1: 29 - 42 Sermon preached on Sunday 16th January 2005 by In John's Gospel the baptism of Christ is an occasion of divine revelation. What John has is a word of promise which enables him to discern that the one on whom he sees the Spirit descending is the one who will usher in the new age of the Spirit. Three dimensions of this passage strike us. First, a knowledge of Christ always comes as an occasion of revelation, as a divine gift, as a manifestation of the Spirit. What happens here brings recognition and witness. When revelation happens it results not from the perceptive powers of the human mind, nor from the ability that some people have to be in touch with reality, nor from a keen intuition. It is a sheer gift of grace. Second, the event of revelation takes on the character of an expanding witness. The revelation does not remain the private possession of John only to nurture his own faith and experience, but becomes the opportunity to tell and share it with others. How do you share your faith with others? In his passion to witness - both in terms of a correct assessment of himself (verses 19 - 28) and his positive testimony of Jesus (verses 29 - 35) John gives us an example. He is remarkably reticent about himself; we are given no elaborate biographical information; we are not informed of the details of his personal experience. What seems to matter is the person of Jesus, not the person of the witness. It is a self-effacing witness, as the narrator tells us: John speaks, and his disciples hear him but follow Jesus. John points beyond himself to Christ. And so must we in this community. Third, John's witness consists of a confessing as to who in fact Jesus is. First he is described as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (verses 29, 36). Jesus is identified as the one who for the whole world breaks the dominating power of sin, who in the place of bondage, rejection and disfranchisement brings freedom, acceptance and belonging. A community of believers cannot act like a privileged enclave, assuming that God loves them and condemns the rest. It is God's redemptive action for the whole world and becomes the basis and motive for the community's mission to the world. This place is never the property of any individual, group or faction - it is for all - everyone. We give way so that others can find their place. The second title, the' Son of God' (John 1. 34) - the way the title 'Son' has already been used in the first chapter tells us that John becomes this voice, the first human voice in fact, announcing to the readers of the text the distinctiveness of Jesus. These two titles belong together. On the one hand the Son, the decisive revelation of God, is also the Lamb that takes away the world's sin. What is revealed is not a deity aloof and disengaged, apathetic to human bondage, but a saving liberating presence of love and mercy. We need that because human wisdom is so hopelessly ensnared in the clutches of the sins' control, and there can be no revelation without freedom, otherwise, all our gods are merely reflections of our own slavery. For your prayers and reflections:
The Reverend Dr James Woodward |
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