The Proclaimed Word
Preached by the Reverend Canon Durrell Watkins at
the Sunshine Cathedral on
Sunday, January 20, 2008, at the 8:40 and 9:50 am services.
As a discipline, I try to preach from the lectionary, and I try to present
the biblical texts from an historical-critical perspective and I also try to
offer a contemporary, practical application. I want to share both the
historical and cultural contexts from which the scriptures come, and I want to
demonstrate how these texts are still relevant to post-modern, critical
thinkers. It’s a bit of a challenge, but one that I quite enjoy… usually.
Today’s gospel reading is fraught with challenges that I would probably
bypass if not for my personal commitment to preach from the lectionary and to
try to do justice to the text. The translation that I use the most presents
our gospel reading this way:
[The day after Jesus’ baptism, John] saw Jesus coming toward him and
said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’
Now, when we hear phrases in our liturgies, in our hymns, in our sermons
from the time we are four, we become so familiar with them that they lose
their power to disturb. We assume we know what they mean, and we are
comfortable with our assumptions. But when I allow myself to hear this phrase
in a new way, as if I’m hearing it for the first time, it stings. It disrupts
my comfort. It brings to mind more questions than answers. It robs me of my
myth of certainty, and replaces it with ambiguous hope and multiple
possibilities.
The Lamb of God? What does that mean? We might think of the story of the
Passover where the people were instructed to drip lamb’s blood on their
doorposts as a sign for the angel of death to pass over them, leaving them
unscathed. Now, the story of God sending plagues of destruction, and not
knowing who to spare from the destruction without the aid of blood magic
offends my 21st-century sensibilities; but it was a powerful story
of hope and liberation in the worldview that produced it. Is John comparing
Jesus to the Lamb that was slaughtered to magically save ancient people from a
plague? If so, then Lamb of God is a symbol of hope and liberation,
because that Passover event preceded the Exodus, the flight from oppression
into a new future and the hope of freedom.
Another image that comes to mind when we hear the word lamb is a
gentle, non-threatening beast. Lambs are powerless, and yet this Lamb of God
has the power to lift people out of sin (whatever that is). Is John saying
that real power comes from gentleness, from playing fair, from being kind and
generous and using power with others to lift them up rather than power over
others to control or manipulate them?
Of course, in Revelation the Lamb is enthroned! It is a royal figure… the
sheep becomes the Shepherd… the last is made first, the weak becomes strong,
the victim is the victor. Is John using Lamb in this way in today’s gospel
reading? Is John saying that God has a preferential option for the least and
the lowly? People who struggle against illness, or poverty, or who have been
victimized by racism or heterosexism or classism… is John saying these are the
people in God’s economy, in God’s realm who are actually uplifted and blessed?
Is the Lamb of God a symbol of solidarity with the forgotten and downtrodden?
Luke says that followers of Jesus will be sent out like lambs among wolves?
Does John agree? Is John saying the Lamb of God, and those who follow him, are
choosing a life of risk? Is the Lamb of God a symbol in opposition to power
and privilege? Is the Lamb of God a symbol of those most despised among us,
and so to follow the lamb is to renounce our own selfish ambitions or to stand
with those who still struggle?
Or is the Lamb of God a symbol of value and significance? In the Song of
Songs, the most erotic book in the bible, the lover says to his beloved, “Your
hair is like a flock of goats streaming down from Gilead. Your teeth are like
a flock of sheep which come up from the washing…” That writer uses sheep to
say that someone is beautiful, desirable, well cared for, and appealing. Is
Jesus’ teaching or character so appealing that he is like a Lamb? Is true
worth, true value found in the love and hope and justice for which Jesus
continually stands?
Historically, the Lamb metaphor was often used to imply innocence. Was John
remembering Jesus’ crucifixion and saying that it was unjust and that Jesus
was innocent, like a Lamb, regardless of how he had been accused, tortured,
and killed?
Of course, astrological images find their way into our bible. Could the
Lamb of God be a cosmological image referring to the constellation Aries?
Aries was the god of war. Might it have been an act of sedition to use “their”
god as a symbol for “our” messiah? And Jesus wasn’t powerful or war like by
worldly standards! To use the war-god image and apply it to someone who was
executed for rebellion but who in fact never raised an army or commanded a
militia might be a way of redefining power. In God’s realm, power is measured
by love and justice and courage, not by wealth or political standing or
physical might.
Behold the Lamb of God! What does that mean? The possibilities are many. It
could mean any of the things I’ve suggested, or something I haven’t mentioned,
or it could mean more than one thing. What are we supposed to do with such
wonderful, miraculous, extravagant ambiguity?
John puts these words in Jesus’ mouth: Come and see for yourself.
That is meant to be the answer to the question, “where are you staying?” But
it can also be the answer to “what are you all about?” It might even be a clue
to what John means by “Lamb of God”.
Maybe John intentionally uses a term that can be understood in multiple
ways. Rather than saying, “this is the only way, the only option,” maybe John
is saying, “do your own seeking, and find out what it means for you and how it
can make a difference for you.” Where are you staying, Jesus? How can we pin
you down? YOU CAN’T! But you can explore and search and find the truth that
you need in the moment that you need it. Come, see for yourself. And John’s
disciples followed Jesus. They didn’t believe a certain thing, they followed
Jesus’ leadership. They explored new territory. They answered the call to come
and see for themselves.
By calling ourselves progressive Christians, we mean that we are
Christians who have found an approach to God though the life and teachings of
Jesus
. One of those teachings is “Come and see for yourself.” Following
Jesus isn’t about having the answers; it isn’t even about being right. It’s
about exploring the possibilities, and trusting that the journey will lead us
to where we need to be, and that wherever it leads, God will be with us.
In my office, I get the phone calls, the emails, the drop-ins… people whose
families have disowned them. Some people can no longer accept uncritically the
faith of their childhood but they can’t leg go of faith either. They feel
conflicted and torn. Other people call or write to say that they are suffering
grief from a profound loss in their lives. Some people are literally fighting
for their lives in one way or another — battling disease or addiction. And I
wish I had a magic answer, a word or phrase that would make the pain go away.
I wish I could assure them that things would be easy from now on, but I don’t
have access to such magic. I have my experience. And I have the sacred stories
of our tradition… stories like this one, stories that don’t give easy answers
to difficult situations, that do not promise ease, that do not even remove
pain or the sting of fear… the stories just say, “Look! There is something
amazing in our midst, and we are free to explore it and to see for ourselves
how it can make a difference in our situation, in our experience of life.”
Explore the possibilities… one may offer the blessing you need most.
Behold the Lamb of God that can lift you up, somehow, and reveal
possibilities to you that you may not have considered before. Behold the Lamb
of God, I don’t even know what that means, and yet as a progressive Christian
I believe it offers possibilities right where we are in life. And so, without
saying what it must mean, I embrace this teaching and I invite you to join me
in exploring it… let’s come and see for ourselves how this Lamb of God can
offer us hope right where we are today. This is the Good News. Amen.