MPC 29th May 2005.John 1:19-51 - "In the Presence of Greatness"
Garnet Swann MPC 29th May 2005.
I remember when I came into the presence of greatness. In 1982 the Queen of England and Prince Phillip came to Brisbane and my Mum and I went out to City Hall to see them. So imagine - all these people lined up behind the barrier and there was me, this 8 year old boy - all excited, very cute mind you - sitting cross-legged on the ground at the front - waiting to see these famous people go by. The Queen and the Prince came along and the ladies started shouting and waving their flags. There was electricity in the air that day. But the Prince came up next to me to talk to some of the people. And while he stood there - I reached out, and touched his shoe. Yes - that was my contact with greatness. That was my moment that I'll always cherish. I was there that day. I saw the Prince and I touched his shoe.
I guess Prince Philip doesn't rate as highly as he used to, but it's funny how we respond when in the presence of greatness. In my childish way - I wanted to touched the guy's shoe. When anyone comes face to face with a famous and great person we might respond in all sorts of ways. Maybe we try to get their autograph. Maybe we just want to talk to them. Maybe we get shy and don't want to talk to them.
But I raise the issue of being in the presence of greatness because it takes us to the heart of this passage we're looking at today.
Last week we looked at the introduction section that John wrote - often called 'the prologue' which paints a picture of Jesus in a beautiful, poetic way. And we saw - Jesus is great. But in this passage - we'll see that Jesus' greatness is announced as people meet him in person. And as they respond to his greatness - it teaches us some very important things about our response to Jesus as well.
Now the section that we're looking at this morning starts at v. 19 and the first section of this passage is all about John the Baptist. Now I just said that we're going to be looking at the greatness of Jesus. But we go to John the Baptist. What's going on here? But if we can understand John - we do understand something of Jesus' greatness.
So what do we learn about John the Baptist?
The religious authorities go out to John to find out who he is. They're a bit curious about this guy who doesn't fit into the religious establishment. He's baptizing people in the river but he hasn't gone to bible college, he's not ordained. So in v20-21 - John answers their questions about his identity. But in his answers, John is highlighted by who he's not.
He says, "I am not the Christ"
They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?"
He said I am not.
Are you the Prophet?
He answered "No"
John wins no prizes for sparkling conversation. But the point here is that he's at pains to keep the focus off himself. He's saying - it doesn't really matter about me.
And we need to understand that at the time, expectation in Israel was high. The Jews were excited that the one promised by God - the Christ - or 'the anointed one' was about to come to lead and deliver the people. And Elijah and the Prophet are figures from the OT that were expected to come with the arrival of this Christ. I'll say more about this Christ person in a moment. Just lock the term Christ away in your memory and we'll get back to that.
But John says - I'm not the Christ. I'm not Elijah. I'm not the Prophet.
So who is he? Well John goes onto say something about himself - but again - there's nothing in what he says that makes out that he possesses greatness - in fact what he says puts the focus on another.
In v. 23 John says that he sees himself as merely a voice.
I am the voice of one calling in the desert. Make straight the way for the Lord.
John's just a voice. It doesn't matter about him. He's come to testify about the greatness of another.
You know - on Wednesday night, with the State of Origin game, the pre-game hype at Lang Park was to introduce 25 of Queensland's Origin Greats. And one by one these players were introduced to the crowd. We were told something about them. But at the stadium - this all came from an announcer - a voice coming from somewhere in the building. The voice gives information but no one actually cares whose voice it is - the purpose of the voice is to point to others.
Well, John's like that, he's an announcer, with a message, a voice to be heard and understood. But it's a message not about himself. It's about another.
So in all these ways - stating who he's not and stating that he's only a voice - John is putting the focus off himself - and putting it upon the great one whose about to come.
That's John - well let's now have a look at Jesus. You might have picked up already that this passage covers a series of days - throughout it says, the next day, the next day, the next day - it's the way its usually broken up in your bibles. Over these days a number of people encounter Jesus - it is from their lips that Jesus' greatness is revealed.
John said he's not the Christ. Have a look at v. 40 - two disciples of John become the first two disciples of Jesus. One of them is Andrew. And v. 41 tells us that the first thing Andrew did was find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah (that is the Christ). John the Baptist insists that he himself is not the Christ. But Andrew has discovered that Jesus is.
To say a bit more about this title of 'the Christ' - we need to remember that it means 'the anointed one'. In the history of Israel - during the coronation ceremony of the kings or priests - oil was poured out upon the person and this anointing symbolised that God was giving him authority to lead. And Israel had had its fair share of anointed kings and priests. But the history of Israel is that they failed to lead properly. Their failure was shown in the fact that the nation was now under the bitter rule of the Romans. But expectation was high that one day, the Christ, or the anointed one - would finally come to rule and rescue God's people. This anointed one would not be symbolically anointed with oil - but truly anointed with God's own spirit to rule with the absolute authority of God.
It's hard to understand how alive with expectation Israel was at this time. At the time - the air was thick with excitement that God's Christ was going to arrive and set things right. And Andrew says to his brother Simon - Jesus is the one. He is the Christ.
With Jesus, we come into the presence of greatness.
He is the Christ - but Jesus is also the Lamb of God. Have a look at what v. 29 tells us. John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
You know, I can imagine those who were listening to John were absolutely silenced by these words. OK, John, you're the voice pointing us to the one to come. And the one to come is the anointed powerful ruler - the Christ. We get that - but a Lamb?
Sort of like when you're promised you a night out at a restaurant and end up at McDonalds. Big let down. You were expecting much, but this is what you get!
And for the Jews - they wanted restored national glory, a powerful ruler, freedom from the Romans. So a lamb?
But let me say - it will be shown right through this gospel - but this is the greatness of Jesus. He is the Christ and He's also the Lamb
Lambs were sacrificed everyday in the temple - to remind people of the seriousness of sin and to show that sin needs to be punished. And a passage written hundreds of years before Jesus - Isaiah 53:7-9 says:
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.
See - Jesus is this person who was led to the slaughter to take the punishment for our sins. He suffered to deal with our guilt.
See this is Jesus' greatness. His greatness is in his sacrifice to take away sin.
But I can imagine so many there when John the Baptist said these words about Jesus not really getting it. If God's Christ is going to come to earth - then do great things for us. Restore our nation to its former glory. Give us prosperity. Give us peace. Take away the bitter rule of the Romans, but a lamb who takes away sin?
You know and in a way - I don't blame them for thinking that way - it's so easy to think that God's greatness should be displayed in the things that make life better. God - take away poverty, take away sickness, take away our hardships. I had a friend in Sydney who died two weeks ago. Doug was in his early 30s - he had it all before him - and then he was wiped out by cancer. And so many of us can say at that point - take away cancer, God!
But the real greatness of Jesus - is that through his sacrifice - he takes away the sins of the world.
Doug knew that. See, Doug was a Christian - and as he faced death - he had a level of comfort and peace. He was about to die - but he knew he was free from condemnation - he had nothing to fear from God. Doug knew and trusted in Jesus - that he was the lamb who takes away the sins of the world.
Over these few days - Jesus greatness is announced. Andrew says to his brother - this is the Christ. John the Baptist says - this is the Lamb of God. And I just want to look at one more. And that is - the guy Nathanael says to Jesus - you are the King of Israel.
I'll read from v47.
When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false." "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you." Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."
It's a strange sort of thing that happens. Nathanael approaches Jesus. Jesus obviously knows Nathanael - much more than Nathanael would expect. And Jesus seems to show some supernatural knowledge of Nathanael sitting under a fig tree. But this all leads to Nathanael's statement of Jesus' greatness - you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel.
From the Old Testament, the Jewish Scriptures, the Christ, was very much connected with being the King. It says in Isaiah 11:1-4:
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse [that's a description of someone to come from the chosen kingly line of Israel]. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him, the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD - and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy...
That's a description of a Spirit empowered King - the Christ King.
And as we work our way through John - we'll see that Jesus presents himself as the leader of the people. He will say that he's the one to judge all as ruler. But as we get to the end of his life - we will see Jesus hanging on a cross - with a sign hanging above him which reads "King of the Jews". See, Jesus is truly the King - but he's the Lamb of God whose led to the slaughter. He's the King who dies to take away our sin.
You know - it's funny how rulers will try to exalt themselves and make themselves to be great. I found out this week that whenever the North Korean leader Kim Jong meets other world leaders he wears 12 cm platform shoes to give him more height? He's a very short man - he's just crazy really.
But with Jesus - he doesn't feel the need to make himself more impressive. He's the Christ. He's the King. And in fact he's not about showing himself off. In fact he's the servant king who sacrifices himself for the sake of the world.
With Jesus - we come into the presence of greatness. He is the Christ. He is the Lamb of God. He is the King.
Well, we've looked at John in this passage, we've look Jesus. But let's lastly have a look at those others that meet Jesus. And what we'll see is that in the presence of the greatness, in the presence of Jesus - they respond to him. What I mean is they just don't touch his shoe. They just don't think - wow - isn't this special - we've met Jesus. No, they respond in a radical way.
Firstly - once they find Jesus - they follow.
Have a look with me at v. 35:
The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
Or go down to v43 - with the next day.
The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me."
'Follow' is a big word in this passage. In fact every person who encounters Jesus follows him. Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip and Nathanael.
And the point of John the writer of the gospel showing us this is - it is such a natural thing to do. Following Jesus is in fact the right thing to do.
You know, it isn't easy to follow leaders and rulers. Of course we've got to follow the boss - we've got to obey the teacher. But so often it - doesn't come out of us easily. It's not like it comes from the heart. Following is so often a compulsory thing and forced thing, a thing we have to do.
And just to add into the mix - we can be so skeptical of leaders - where is their integrity? Where is their service?
But with Jesus - he's different. Jesus is the Christ. He has all the authority of God - to command. He's the ruler of all the world. But this man Jesus who these people met over the course of a few days didn't come across as a corrupt dictator, but obviously as a compellingly powerful, humble person. In fact they came to realise that this Christ came as a servant for them - to be a lamb - to die for the sins of the world. The one who leads and has authority is also the one who cares and provides and sacrifices. Jesus is the best sort of leader to follow.
There are many Christians here who are following Jesus and that's why they follow. Not because they have to. Not because they were forced into it. But because they want to. Jesus the ruler, is also their savior. So keep following Jesus. It's worth it.
That's following Jesus. But another response we see from these men is that because they find and follow Jesus - they also want to find other to be followers of Jesus as well.
Have a look at v. 40:
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.
And have a look at v. 43:
The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me." Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote-Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
Andrew becomes a follower of Jesus and finds Simon Peter.
Philip becomes a follower of Jesus and finds Nathanael.
And the point here is that this is a stunningly loving thing to do. They've found the Christ, the Lamb of God - why wouldn't they want to tell others about him and bring those they care about to Jesus?
And I find it wonderful to think about the chain of people who have discovered Jesus of the centuries. Andrew found Jesus so told Peter. Peter told found Jesus so told Joes Bloggs. Joe Bloggs found Jesus so told……. and it goes on. This chain has kept going - across nations and continents, through wars and depressions. And if you're a follower of Jesus yourself - it's finally come to you. It's an amazing thought. If that's too mind-blowing just think about the last link in the chain before it came to you. Who told you about Jesus? Might have been a parent, might have been a Sunday school teacher or a neighbor, a classmate, maybe it was someone here in this building.
We can be so thankful for those people, can't we? As they found Jesus, they found us - to tell us we should follow Jesus as well. Let's be thankful for what Andrew and Philip did and all those who've followed in their path.
And it means - let's keep being encouraged to be a link in the chain ourselves. If you're a KidzBiz leader, it's worth it. If you're someone whose trying to share your faith with a work colleague, it's worth it. If you're trying to say something about God and Jesus across the azaleas with your neighbor, it's worth it. What a wonderful thing it is to not only find Jesus, but find others to follow him as well.
Well, lastly - in the responses to the greatness of Jesus - we see that an invitation is offered to discover Jesus.
See when the two disciples of John the Baptist, (Andrew's one of them) start to follow Jesus, Jesus says something to them. I'll pick it up in v37:
When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" "Come," he replied, "and you will see."
I don't think its Jesus simply saying - come and check out the hotel where I'm staying tonight, but, come and investigate, search deeper about me and you will discover.
Or v45-46 where Philip goes to Nathanael to tell him about Jesus of Nazareth. And Nathanael expresses doubt that anything of worth can come from Nazareth. We all have our geographical biases I guess. I don't know what would be ours - whatever I say would get me in trouble I'm sure. Can anything good come out of Sydney? See, I said it - got me in trouble!
But in v. 46, Philip responds to Nathanael's scepticism with "Come and see". And what makes Nathanael's scepticism a healthy sort of scepticism is that he's willing to accept the invitation and investigate Jesus further.
What a wonderful approach to telling people about Jesus. Not - here's the truth - you gotta believe. Not - abusing someone for not following Jesus, but, "come and see".
It was wonderful to see friends and family along to the Food For Thought evening on Thursday night. That was a fairly light and easy, "Come and See" night. Well done for inviting people along - even if they didn't make it. And we've got this Simply Christianity course coming up. It'll go a bit deeper. But again, it's a "Come and See" opportunity. There might be people you could invite to come along and you come as well to make them feel comfortable.
But I think this is a wonderful approach to tell people about Jesus - "come and see" Take the next step, learn more about Jesus. I want to say to everyone hear whose taking first initial steps to lean about Jesus, well done, keep going "come and see".
You know we're always inviting to check things out by others. Last year Kirsty and I were invited to check out a holiday spot up north - Woodgate Beach it's called - friends said it's really nice, should give it a try. So we decided to give it a go. And we've already been back another time since then. Some time when your invited to investigate further, it's even better than you imagine.
Jesus is the Christ, the King, will all authority. But he is also the serving sacrificial King who died for you and me to deal with our sin. "Come and See".
This passage takes us into the extraordinary beginning of Jesus public interaction with people. It's the beginning of his public ministry. And this passage covers just a few days; but what an extraordinary few days.
There's John - but he's there to point to Jesus' greatness. And Jesus' greatness is announced by those who meet him. He is the Christ, the Lamb of God, the King of Israel. With Jesus we certainly come into the presence of greatness.
And with this great one - there are good ways to respond to him.
Follow, find others to follow and even give the invitation to others to check out Jesus for themselves.
With Jesus, we're in the presence of greatness. Let's respond appropriately to him.