The Old Testament Lesson appointed for last Sunday (Isaiah 42:1-9) has a name; . . . the Old Testament Lesson appointed for last Sunday is called “The First Servant Song.”  And the Old Testament Lesson appointed for today (Isaiah 49:1-7) is known as The Second Servant Song.  . . . Each of these two songs has a very interesting pattern.  They each begin by talking about a Servant Saviour Whom God will send to redeem His chosen ones; Whom God will send to redeem the tribes of Israel, . . . but each song ends by talking about how Israel is to become God’s servant as a consequence.  And so, each of the Servant Songs begins by saying (in the singular),

“Behold my servant, whom I uphold, . . . I have put my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations … that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth”,

. . . and then each Servant Song concludes by declaring (in the plural),

“Thus says the Lord, . . . I have given [all of] you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations . . . [so that] Kings shall see [all of you] and arise; princes [shall see all of you], and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord, . . . who has chosen you.”

Now what do you suppose the prophet Isaiah is trying to tell us by prophesying in this fashion?   . . . Well, I’ll tell you the thing it suggests to me; . . . it suggests that the Lord God Almighty wants us to understand that He makes Himself known to us . . . in order to make Himself known by us!

    And that is the very thing Saint John the Evangelist is trying to get across to us in this morning’s Gospel Lesson:  that by the Incarnation of the Living Word of God . . . we have seen the Truth.  But we have seen the Truth for a purpose.  We have seen the Truth in order that we might be conformed to the Truth . . . and manifest His power and glory to the world.

    Last Sunday we heard Saint Matthew’s dramatic account of the baptism of Jesus by John in the River Jordan.  . . . It’s a terrific story.  We have the heavens parting and celestial light and the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus like a dove so bright it hurts to look at Her, and we have the voice of God, rumbling with kindly thunder so’s your teeth rattle, . . . we have the voice of God saying, “This is my beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.”  . . . The story John tells, on the other hand, . . . the story John tells in the Gospel Lesson appointed for today is not so dramatic.  . . . In fact, it’s somewhat silly.  Because here is John the Baptizer hanging out with his disciples . . . just standing around . . . watching Jesus walk back and forth . . . while John makes commentary on Who this fellow is, Whom they are watching walk up and down the road.

    The story isn’t very good because its purpose is not to entertain; . . . its purpose is to enlighten.  And so, Saint John the Evangelist reports that Saint John the Baptizer says three essential things about Jesus which are indispensable to appropriating the Truth . . . so that you might become Truth; . . . so that your living and speaking might be an articulation of the Truth Who is Christ Jesus.

    First, John says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”  It is a statement of Relationship.  It is a statement of the relationship which the Lord God Almighty has with His people particularly as it is represented to us by two solemn Jewish festivals:  The Day of Atonement . . . and the Jewish Passover.  You can read about The Day of Atonement in the Book of Leviticus, Chapter 16.  In that rite, the high priest lays his hands upon the head of a goat and confesses all the sins of the community.  In this way all the sins of the People of God are loaded onto the goat, which is then taken into the wilderness and driven off, . . . removing the sins of God’s People.  But John also wants us to understand that the effect of God’s providing for the removal of our sins is life-saving, . . . and so he says that John the Baptist calls Jesus “The Lamb of God” . . . putting us in mind of the Passover.  Just as the blood of the lamb at the first Passover in Egypt saved the lives of all the first-born among the Jewish People, . . . so the effect of the bloody death of Jesus upon the Cross not only takes away your sin, but it saves your life as well.  . . . In other words, the taking away of sin which Jesus does is not simply forgiving; . . . it’s not simply crossing out your offenses from some celestial list in some celestial book, so that anyone who looks at the list can see you’re a louse, judging from all the scratch-outs on your page.  . . . Oh no.  Jesus is “The Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.”  In other words, the death of Jesus upon the Cross has ripped your page out of that celestial book!  . . . Because your baptism into Christ’s atoning death has made you a new creation(!); . . . in Christ you are a new person.  . . . In Christ Jesus you are in relationship to God as a son; … you are in relationship to God as His daughter; . . . in Christ you are in relationship to your heavenly Father as a perfect image of Himself.

    The second thing that John says about Jesus is that “he was before me.”  This is a statement of ontology; a statement of Being.  It is a statement about who we truly are; . . . that we did not create ourselves, but are, instead, alive because someone greater than ourselves has bestowed upon us the gift of life.  We are alive because the Word of God brought us into being; . . . the Word of God has brought us into being and fashioned our humanity in the Father’s Image.  Therefore, there is no man; . . . there is no woman; . . . there is no child who has been, is now, or is yet to be; . . . there is no man; . . . there is no woman; . . . there is no child who has an idea . . . or who has spoken a word . . . or who has done a deed greater than Jesus, the Incarnate Word.  Because, they all owe their very being to Him; for, He was before them.  And so, . . . however inspired our plans may be . . . and however many words any one of us might have to say, . . . here, in the presence of Christ, it is essential not to lecture God and tell Him everything He must do to be successful or to make us happy; . . . rather, it is essential that each one of us be still before the Lord; . . . it is essential that each one of us be silent and attentive before Jesus . . . so that we might be instructed by Him Who was before us, and Who is the origin of our being;  . . . so that each one of us might be conformed to Jesus; . . . might become and be God’s beloved Child.

    The final thing that Saint John the Baptist has to say about Jesus is that John “saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him.”  This is a statement of Existence.  God has not only conferred being upon humanity, . . . but in Christ the Lord God Almighty has conferred upon us the privilege of an existence which is more than slavery to Creation.  . . . Do you remember the story of the Fall from the Book of Genesis?  The undoing of Eve (and, hence, of Adam); … the undoing of Eve is that, rather than obeying God, . . . she listened to the counsel and took instruction from a mere creature, . . . a snake, of all things.  But by your Baptism into the atoning death of Jesus, God has provided you with the counsel of a Dove.  . . . The Lord God Almighty has conferred upon us the privilege of living according to something greater than biological instincts and biochemical imperatives; . . . of living according to something greater than the advice of snakes.  At our creation God breathed His Life into us, to be sure.  But at our recreation -- at our Baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus -- . . . there was breathed into us God’s very Self:  a cooing dove of divine love and simplicity and discipline which makes us more than animals constrained by appetites and energies; . . . which makes us, as Saint Paul puts it, neither male nor female, Jew nor Greek, slave nor free; gay nor straight; . . . rather, in Christ we have a cooing dove of simplicity, detachment and focus; . . . of poverty, chastity, and obedience; . . . a cooing dove Who empowers us to die to ourselves and be refreshed by the joy and vigor of the angels . . . to be refreshed by the Life of Jesus.

    We read in the Gospel appointed for today that when John the Baptizer had made these three declarations of Relationship, Being, and Existence as they pertain to Jesus . . . two of his disciples leave off from following John . . . and begin to follow Jesus.  . . . And Jesus turns to them and asks, “What do you seek?”  And because those two disciples have taken to heart everything that John has said about Jesus . . . they do not tell Christ that they are seeking happiness . . . or wisdom . . . or self-fulfillment . . . or healing . . . or world peace . . . or any of the other minor benefits of believing in God.  Rather, the two disciples answer the Lord by asking, “Rabbi, where are you staying?”  . . . where are you abiding; . . . where do you live . . . for, we would be there too.  The very heart of the Christian Life is to abide with Christ.

    But it doesn’t end there.  For, what does the disciple named Andrew do?  He goes out and finds his brother, Peter, and tells him, “We have found the Christ.”  We have found the center of the universe and the meaning of our lives.  . . . And so, to abide with Jesus is not to rest in some wonderful place of spiritual self-fulfillment.  To abide with Jesus is to be so filled with His Truth and His Life . . . as to communicate it to others; . . . it is to be “as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations”, . . . because, as I said when I began:  God makes Himself known to us . . . in order to make Himself known by us.