Focus on Jesus.
Epiphany 2
January 15, 2023
Fr. Tim Nunez
May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Right now, I’ve got your attention. Of all the places you could be, you are here, or you are watching online, (or you are reading this sermon). Your attention could be on an infinite number of things, anything, perhaps a few things but not everything.
And I’m doing something a bit different this morning, standing at what we call “the cross.” Normally I’d be up in the pulpit, but I wanted to stand here just a few minutes to highlight how this room is set up visually.
Everyone in the nave is oriented forward. We have the lectern and the pulpit up and out just a bit from the chancel, with the choir and organ up here, which helps them lead worship. Further back and further up is the altar. Above it is that beautifully carved Christus Rex, or Risen Christ, then above that is Jesus as the Good Shepherd, for which we are named. The highest point articulates our vision of this body of Christ. The same applies in the chapel.
Our liturgy follows that flow. We process in behind the cross up here. The liturgy of the Word happens up here, then we move to the Eucharist up at the altar.
I highlight these visual steps as we look at the flow of events in today’s Gospel. The Apostle John brings us to this scene in Galilee, sometime after Jesus was baptized in the Jordan and after his temptation in the wilderness. We’re most likely on the northwest side of the lake, near Capernaum and Magdala.
John the Baptist is up in Galilee too, continuing his prophetic ministry and testifying to Jesus in several ways.
First he calls him “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” which is a loaded phrase. We very quickly recognize that a Lamb is a sacrificial animal. These Jewish fishermen would hear the “of God” part and think about the ram which God provided to Abraham when he was on Mount Moriah about to sacrifice his son, Isaac.
Do you know where Mount Moriah is? It’s at the heart of Jerusalem. It’s the mount upon which they built the Temple over the very rock where Abraham set up his altar. Today, the Dome of the Rock is built over that very spot. “Lamb of God” brought all of that to mind in Jesus’ time – and it should for us too.
Jesus is being introduced by John the Baptist as an atoning sacrifice, for what? To take away the sin of the world. Not “sins” but “Sin,” to deal with the very heart of our natural tendency to choose our will over God’s will.
That phrase, “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” may – should –sound familiar as it’s called, “The Agnus Dei,” Latin for the Lamb of God. We use it in our liturgy during Advent and Lent after we break the bread (his body), in the very moment where we join him in his atoning sacrifice for the world. John the Baptist is foreshadowing all of that in a moment, and it would and did surely get their attention.
Then John testifies to Jesus as the One for whom John was preparing people through his baptism of repentance. He affirms the Holy Spirit rested on Jesus and that he is the Son of God. That’s quite an introduction!
John the Baptist has attracted Andrew and (most likely) John. They have heard his call to repentance and taken it seriously enough to be called his disciples. Now John is directing their attention to Jesus, again with that “Lamb of God” phrase.
Look at what is happening here. There is a seismic shift in focus, in attention for these men. They had heard John the Baptist, understood his call to repentance and added that to their ongoing lives as fishermen. That would no doubt help them to be better men, and to this point they would continue to fish. You can tell because it’s 4:00, so they’ve had time to fish, sort the catch, clean the nets and so forth.
But now they are turning to Jesus. “What are you looking for?” he asks them. They may not even be sure at this point, they want to spend some time with him.
This issue of attention and focus is central to our lives. I’ll ask you the same question, “What are you looking for?” when you come to church? You may be looking for a good word about living a better life, a life of virtue and achievement, of good morals and grit. Those are good and you will hopefully gain those blessings in the liturgy of the Word. You’ll hear a solid dose of scripture and some hopefully useful reflection on it. You’ll pray and hear great music with great lyrics.
And hopefully all of those point deeper. “Rabbi, where are you staying?” Jesus said, “Come and see.” Encountering Jesus for a while. Then we see how the faith spreads, relationship by relationship. “We have seen the Lord!” Andrew calls his brother.
Because there is much more to this than the teaching. And so we proceed in our liturgy from the spoken Word, and the written Word, to the living Word, further up, further in to encounter Him: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Now we find the true focus of attention for our lives.
He becomes our measure and means to deal with internal conflict. Whatever the issues may be, we bring them to him and find comfort in his truth, grace and love.
He becomes our means to deal with community conflict. Whatever the issues, we always find re-grounding and refocusing on Jesus is our path to healing relationships and reconciling disagreements.
John the Baptist is remembered because he prepared the way for Jesus and pointed others to him. John, Andrew and the other disciples are remembered because they bore witness to Jesus and brought others. The authority of Simon, also known as Peter “the Rock” and Cephas “the Head” rests in his relationship with Jesus.
While the Church exists to bear this witness forward, it’s not just the retelling of a history, it’s the reviving, the revival of an invitation to engage directly with Jesus himself, the first time, yes, and again and again, every week, every day, throughout your day. But the connection most often comes in a personal invitation, a personal witness. Who did that for you? You likely remember.
And we can then tell others, be that herald of truth, telling others “Come and see.” Invite someone to church to hear about Jesus? Sure. But the goal is to help them meet Jesus, somehow, some way. Be that witness.
AMEN