There are many images of Jesus in the New Testament and our Gospel reading brings us to one of them. Here is an excerpt of the text for this Sunday about the words spoken byJohn the Baptist:
"The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, 'Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'" John 1:29-30
Jesus is referred to as the Lamb of God. Certainly, this way of referring to Jesus is rich in meaning especially as derived from the Old Testament Passover sacrifice of a lamb as well as to the conquering lamb in apocalyptic writings.
Two of John's disciples begin to follow Jesus and a brief conversation takes place between them and Jesus. The disciples ask Jesus where he is staying and Jesus responds by saying, "Come and see." How readily are we willing to give an invitation to someone who might be unchurched and is searching? Maybe we can't fully explain the gospel in a way we would like or can't fully explain the experience of our worship! Yet, we can extend the invitation to others to 'come and see.' There is so much to the good news to understand, let alone to our own worship. Yet, it might take time and someone just has to come and see; i.e. actually experience worship itself.
Andrew as one of the two disciples left and found his brother Peter and brought him to the Lord. We also have the challenge of inviting others to come and experience all that Jesus has to offer. I would encourage you to consider what you would say to someone about what Jesus offers to an individual and also about what your church has to offer. You might give a quick answer, but I would ask you to think deeply about this in preparation for worship this Sunday.
Pastor Marty
"The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, 'Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'" John 1:29-30
Jesus is referred to as the Lamb of God. Certainly, this way of referring to Jesus is rich in meaning especially as derived from the Old Testament Passover sacrifice of a lamb as well as to the conquering lamb in apocalyptic writings.
Two of John's disciples begin to follow Jesus and a brief conversation takes place between them and Jesus. The disciples ask Jesus where he is staying and Jesus responds by saying, "Come and see." How readily are we willing to give an invitation to someone who might be unchurched and is searching? Maybe we can't fully explain the gospel in a way we would like or can't fully explain the experience of our worship! Yet, we can extend the invitation to others to 'come and see.' There is so much to the good news to understand, let alone to our own worship. Yet, it might take time and someone just has to come and see; i.e. actually experience worship itself.
Andrew as one of the two disciples left and found his brother Peter and brought him to the Lord. We also have the challenge of inviting others to come and experience all that Jesus has to offer. I would encourage you to consider what you would say to someone about what Jesus offers to an individual and also about what your church has to offer. You might give a quick answer, but I would ask you to think deeply about this in preparation for worship this Sunday.
Pastor Marty
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