+The 29th verse of the 1st chapter of John’s Gospel, which we just heard, reads: “John saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, ‘Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’ “
In the most recent edition of The Christian Century Dean Lueking, pastor emeritus of Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest, IL asks, “when and where and under what circumstances in 2011 does it ever happen that Christians, ‘see Jesus (The Lamb of God) coming’ and call out (take away) the ‘sin of the world?’ When do we have a John 1:29 moment, a Jesus coming toward us, moment?
It’s Epiphany---a season when we celebrate and attempt to live out the manifestation of Christ…the showing of Christ in the world. But what Lueking asks is, when we experience something or someone being truly Christ-like, do we recognize it as a “John 1:29” moment, a Jesus moment? Moments when we can exclaim, “Here’s a manifestation of Christ, in plain sight, for all to see.”
Manifesting Christ is looking up and out from ourselves, noticing Jesus coming toward us.
Some of these moments, while amazing, aren’t all that surprising to us:
Firefighters running into burning buildings, soldiers drawing enemy fire to save a buddy, police officers walking into who knows what, each time someone dials 911. These are certainly Jesus moments but, it’s easy to brush them off as people doing their jobs.
But then, then there are those amazing and wholly unexpected scenes where, when we look up, we see Jesus manifested in ordinary people doing extraordinary things:
Haitians who while digging to rescue family, friends, neighbors and strangers from the earthquake devastation, were singing. Singing songs-- songs of thankfulness and praise— remembering that, in spite of the devastation, loss and pain, God was with them. They sang because they knew that, within their lamentations—their tears, moans and cries—was God.
God was there. Crying with tem. Their songs of thankfulness and praise, manifested Christ. In the singing of those faithful people we all witnessed a Jesus moment, a manifestation of Christ in our midst.
When, where and under what circumstances have you seen Jesus coming? Have you witnessed a Jesus moment?
Perhaps it was hearing the story of Dorwan and Mavy Stoddard.
Mr. and Mrs. Stoddard grew up together in Tucson and were boyfriend and girlfriend in grammar school. Reconnecting after the deaths of their respective spouses, they married 15 years ago. Last Saturday, as the horror in Tucson unfolded; Dorwan covered Mavy’s body with his, own shielding her from the gunfire, being mortally wounded in the process. Dorwan died as he had lived, loving Mavy.
Perhaps you saw Jesus coming in the bystanders who tackled the very disturbed gunman, preventing him from taking any more lives. These people are heroes.
Heroes have a tendency to manifest Christ in their actions. When we hear of heroes, we see Jesus coming.
But, as the President remarked this week, heroism doesn’t require special training or physical strength. Take Patricia Maisch, one of the bystanders in Tucson---a senior citizen---who lead the tackling of the gunman. Or like the 14 year old boy trapped by the flood waters in Brisbane Australia who told rescuers to first take his ten yr old brother to safety. When the rescuers returned for him, it was too late.
Heroism is all around us, in the hearts of so many, just waiting to be summoned. Heroes—those who go beyond the pursuit of their own interests, realizing that our common welfare depends on the toil of each of us, are the manifestations of Christ. They embody a Jesus moment.
Jesus’ actions were about this earth and God’s people here. And now. To manifest Christ is to harness the feelings of unity which occur following a major tragedy like Tucson, Sept 11, Haiti, but it also means to harness the good will which overtakes us during less dramatic events. Like one of our big snow storms, or during the holiday season, or on those first warm days of spring when everyone comes out of hibernation and works in their yard, walks in the park or grabs an ice cream cone at The Hatch, Hannah’s or Sweet Tooth.
Manifesting Christ is looking up and out from ourselves, noticing Jesus coming toward us.
The second half of verse 29 in today’s Gospel references taking away the sin of the world. Not our individual sins, our personal missing of the mark, but the sin of the world,
the world’s collective alienation from God, and from one another .
By manifesting Christ in our day-to-day lives, we obliterate the alienation between us. And by obliterating that alienation between us we bridge any remaining gap between us and God.
For that’s all God really wants from us—to manifest Jesus in our lives, to love, respect and care for one another—not just in moments of great public tragedy or misfortune, but everyday.
And there is only one way to accomplish this.
By doing it.
This week we celebrate the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr. Many communities use the day off from school as a day of, for and about service. About doing a good deed for others. When two of John’s disciples decided to question Jesus about his ministry, Jesus didn’t regale them with stories about his plan, or about his theology. Jesus simply said, Come and See.
Because Jesus Moments—even the original Jesus moments, are not something to discuss, they’re something to experience.
It’s all fine and good to talk about all of this, but the reality is that until each and every one of us decides that we will be the Jesus moment in our world, that we start doing that which we proclaim to believe in, then the famous martyrs of the world the ---John the Baptist’s the Jesus’, the Gandhi’s, the Martin Luther King’s— the singing survivors in Haiti, the Dorwan Stoddard’s, and all the people who have lived and died loving their neighbor as Jesus would have us do, have died in vain.
There are many Jesus moments just waiting to be had—all we have to do is have them. +
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