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The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.' 31I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel." 32And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' 34And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."

35The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" 37The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" 39He said to them, "Come and you will see." So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ).

Dear Friends in Christ,

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” These words of John the Baptizer are well known and significant in the Christian church. I don’t think I can hear the words said without hearing the song from Handel’s Messiah in my head. These words also form the basis of part of our liturgy in the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God, that we sing right before Holy Communion. But the significance of these words is more than that. It is John the Baptizer fulfilling his call to prepare people for the coming of the Messiah.

John the Baptizer testified concerning Jesus’ preeminence and preexistence, His grace, and his deity. John was not the Christ, not Elijah nor the prophet; he was “the voice” who called, “Make straight the way for the Lord.” He baptized and he defended his baptizing as preparatory work for the One much greater that himself. John drew attention with his appearance, his diet and his activity, but it was only in order to direct his hearers to Jesus. That was his calling. And now in our text, two times he points at Jesus and says, “Behold the Lamb of God.” Again, fulfilling his calling.

But what about you and me? What is our calling? Actually, while our individual vocations or callings are all different and the specifics of those callings are all different, we are all as Christians called to direct people to Jesus. In our text, we see both John the Baptizer and Andrew the disciple doing just that. Let us look closer at this text and learn from it to fulfill our calling to direct people to Jesus.

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.' 31I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel."

This was the day after the Pharisees had challenged John in regard to his baptizing. We are not told explicitly why Jesus was coming toward John. However, His purpose is clear when we hear what John said. Jesus came toward John so that John could identify him for all present. And John’s first words are really a summary of the Gospel. For the Jews the religious connotations of “lamb” were sacrifice for sin, atonement, and the Passover deliverance from death. Here was God’s Lamb, sent by Him to carry out His purpose. And that purpose was to “take away the sin of the world.”

So John begins with summarizing the Gospel and then he gives his testimony. 32And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' 34And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God." In order to be able to direct others to Jesus, you must first see and know for yourself what He has done. Before we tell others, we have to know ourselves, we have to be fed. We are fed with the Word of God when we come here to Church and hear the Word read and preached, and when we receive the Sacraments. We are fed when we open up that Bible on our own or with our family and friends. We see and know what Jesus has done – we have Good News to share.

But just like the events of that first day were not the end of the story, so also seeing what He has done is not all there is to our calling. 35The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" 37The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" 39He said to them, "Come and you will see." So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. Implicit in John’s announcement was the imperative to follow and learn from and trust the Lamb of God. John was doing the highest service any person can perform for another: pointing these two disciples to Jesus. John repeated the good news from the day before as the faithful witness ought always to persist.

The two disciples acted on the implied imperative in the Baptizer’s words and followed Jesus. And the King of Kings demonstrated hospitality and gave generously of His time – they stayed with him the whole day. It is easier to gain an audience with Jesus than with anyone. He is always ready to listen, always ready to teach. And these disciples did the second step needed to direct people to Jesus. We are not only to see what He has done, but we are also to Hear what He says.

Again we grow in our knowledge and our faith as we see what Jesus has done, and we hear His Words in the Scriptures. The Words and Deeds of Christ: truly the central teaching of the Bible and what form our testimonies, what we have seen and heard, that we share with others. Often times Christians don’t see the need to come to church regularly. They say that they can be Christians just fine at home as they read their Bible or as they pray on the Golf Course or whatever. But we are called to more than just to hoard the Good News to ourselves. And just because we know and believe in Christ now doesn’t mean that we can’t fall away. We need to be constantly fed by the Word of God – not just for ourselves but also so that we can have something to give others. In the Divine Service, God comes to us in Word and Sacrament and gives us His gifts of faith and life and Salvation. And He gives us the words to say to others and the courage to say them.

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

32And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.

36and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!"

40One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ).

In these verses, both John the Baptizer and Andrew demonstrate the last step of fulfilling the calling to direct others to Christ. It’s much simpler than most people make it out to be. Evangelism or outreach is scary to many people because they make it harder than it has to be. It is simply sharing what you have learned. John and Andrew saw what Jesus had done, heard what he said, and then shared what they learned. John pointed out Jesus to the disciples and said “Behold, the lamb of God,” and then explained what he had seen and heard when he was baptizing in the Jordan. Andrew, after he spent the day with Jesus, ran to find his brother, Simon Peter, and told Him, “We have found the Messiah.” And we can imagine that Peter asked him about what Andrew had seen and heard and that Andrew shared with him the experiences of that two day encounter with the Lamb of God.

You and I and all Christians have a calling from God to direct people to Jesus. And we do that best when we first see what He has done and hear what He says in the Word of God. You see that is the great part of this whole thing. God doesn’t call us to do something without also equipping us to fulfill that calling. So when we say the words of our final prayer and ask the Lord to “Lay some soul” on our hearts and to use us as instruments to “win that soul” for Jesus, we acknowledge that through Word and Sacrament in the Divine service, He has been equipping us to go out and share that Good News and like John the Baptizer and Andrew, fulfill our calling to direct others to Jesus.

In the name of Jesus,

Amen.