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sepiph205
Capturing
Hearts with the Heavenly Story drunkenmunkey bittorrent
Text:
John 1:29-42
Date: Epiphany II 
1/16/05
Jesus
has come as the King of all glory!
Heaven
and earth, oh, declare his great pow'r,
Capturing
hearts with the heavenly story.
Welcome
him now in this fast-fleeting hour!
Ponder
his love! Take the crown he has for you!
Jesus
has come! He, the King of all glory! [LW 78:4]
The
Epiphany hymn by Johann L. K. Allendorf describes the effect and
power of the coming of Jesus with the words “capturing hearts with
the heavenly story.” No sooner was the Christ Child born than the
Gentile Wise Men from the East were drawn by the message of a star
to worship the newborn King of the Jews. Throughout his earthly
ministry Jews, Gentiles and Samaritans, tax collectors and sinners,
lepers and the outcasts of society were continually being drawn
to Jesus. Today we hear of two of John the Baptist's disciples,
Andrew and John being drawn through the Baptist's testimony, and
Andrew's brother Peter being drawn through Andrew's testimony to
follow Jesus, the Lamb of God, the Messiah. For all of the effort
and plans and programs of evangelism we can devise to bring the
light of the Gospel of Christ to the world, finally, that's all
we can do—point others to Jesus, as John and Andrew did, and tell
them who Jesus is. The results are quite out of our hands. He himself
must take it from there. As Jesus would say later, “And I, when
I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself"
[John 12:32 (ESV)].
So
John, in the first chapter of his Gospel, begins with this first
step, laying the groundwork for the telling of the heavenly story
by introducing Jesus and telling us who he is. And it's quite a
complete list. He begins by describing our Lord's Divine origin
and nature. He is the Eternal Word, the Son of God, the Second Person
of the Holy Trinity by Whom all things were made at the very creation
of the world. Calling him the light of life already speaks of his
purpose, the salvation of the world lost in the darkness and death
of sin.
That
this salvation would involve a violent struggle John indicates with
the words, “He was in the world, and the world was made through
him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his
own people did not receive him” [John 1:10-11 (ESV)]. The rejection
of the Savior is an important part of the heavenly story. Already
the holy Prophet Isaiah spoke of the Messiah as the Servant of God
who would be “deeply despised and abhorred” [Isaiah 49:7 (ESV)]
and even “rejected by men” [Isaiah 53:3 (ESV)]. There were little
rejections and some not-so-little, leading up to his ultimate rejection
by all of us in his Passion and death on the Cross. Though that
part of the heavenly story is a few months away on our calendar
in Holy Week, John already predicts it here.
Then
John tells, as of equal importance to the Savior's Divine nature,
also his Human origin and nature. In the words, “the Word became
flesh,” the entire cosmos was shaken with greater power than even
the recent Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami; God taking our very
human nature into himself. Unlike the Law that came through Moses,
Jesus would display clearly the grace and truth of God.
In
this section of the first chapter of John's Gospel the Evangelist
continues to lay the groundwork, first, by the Baptist's identifying
of Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
And how did the Baptist know that for certain? “He who sent me said
to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is
he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and have
borne witness that this is the Son of God.” For, remember at our
Lord's baptism, the Holy Spirit descended and remained on Jesus
in the bodily form of a dove, and the Voice from heaven said, “This
is my beloved Son.”
If
Jesus really is the Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity,
then where did he come from? John the Baptist tells a little riddle
to answer. “After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he
was before me.” To the eyes of all who went out to John in the wilderness,
and of his own disciples, it appeared that John came on the scene
first, then Jesus. John was even born a half-a-year before Jesus
was. But, in fact, John says, Jesus “was before me” because He is
God.
Jesus
is called “the Lamb of God.” A “lamb” in the Old Testament has a
salvific, sacrificial meaning. The very first “lamb” mentioned is
when Isaac asked his father Abraham, as they were going up the mountain,
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