January 20, 2008
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The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church Pr. Per Inge
Vik In the heart of Southern Norway, in the municipality of Lom, Sandom, a beautiful Christian retreat center is situated. Retreats have been arranged there for more than 50 years. After I started to go there several years ago, I have become “addicted”. I was at Sandom for a week last summer, and I hope for a week also this coming summer. What draws more and more people there, can be explained from the goal that Sandom has set: “See The Invisible One” is the headline on their invitation brochure. Because we live in a tabloid time with flickering TV pictures, busy time schedules and a lot of activity, it is difficult for our generation to find spiritual peace and concentration. Thoughtfulness and delving deep are not being encouraged in our daily life. For that reason, meeting places are needed, where we can listen and see, smell and taste, and then have time to adapt, digest, even enjoy what we receive. Allow things to sink in, so we can feel that it nourishes our soul. In the middle of the ice cold winter, let us now take a summer picture. Have you ever stopped in front of a green meadow and watched a cow lying there, chewing its cud? It is an amazing thing! First the cow has wandered around, eating a lot of grass. Then it lies down to relax. As you know, the cow has 4 stomachs. What happens as the cow chews its cud, is that it enjoys the food one more time, and then lets it go to the next stomach. Come and see! The Epiphany time helps us to see the Invisible One. I wish that Mindekirken can be a place where people can see Jesus. Not with our physical eyes, but with our hearts and our imagination. The text for today is full of good incitements to seek the Lord. Look, here is the Lamb of God! says John the Baptist. It happens the day after he has baptized Jesus, and experienced the voice from up high, revealing who this candidate for baptism was. John states that he didn’t know Jesus earlier, either. He underlines it by saying it twice in today’s text. Well, know and know… Of course John knew who Jesus was, humanly speaking. The two were close relatives! Even so there was a main thing that he had not seen yet. As he baptized Jesus, the revealing thing happened, so he could make the connection. Jesus’ baptism was a baptism to suffer death. We heard last Sunday about this. John baptized people that came to him confessing their sins, wishing to start a new life. But as he baptized Jesus, something different happened. It was all about the presence of the Spirit. The baptism John performed, was not a baptism of the Spirit, but a baptism of conversion by water. The baptism of John didn’t convey the power of the Holy Spirit. That is a crucial difference from Christian baptism, which was established after Jesus’ resurrection. But the Baptist got an omen from God beforehand, that a special person would come to him. As he was baptized, the voice from on high spoke, and the whole thing was confirmed by the Spirit coming as a dove. The next day, the Baptist gives a testimony about Jesus. I like very much the testimony of the Baptist according to the new Norwegian translation that I read from the pulpit every Sunday. It underlines that this Lamb of God carries away our sins. So Jesus is not only one who bears sins. But our inequities are taken away by him. They are gone. They do not exist any more. This is the function of God’s forgiveness. The three first disciples are recruited within two days. John the Baptist provides the first two. Two of his own disciples are turned over to Jesus, while the Baptist himself is withdrawing. He sees his work as accomplished. I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel. That is the complete reason for John’s mission. Help people to see, reveal to them who Jesus is. They follow the instructions, and they get to see. By this the fervor is sparked. So, in the next step, Andrew passes the news about the Messiah’s arrival on further. He recruits his brother. The day after, Philip gets the calling of Jesus, follow me, and soon he recruits his friend Nathanael. This is conveyed in the next verses When Jesus sees the two disciples of John following him, he first asks them what they want. They answer by asking back where he lives. This seems a little bit strange. But Jesus understands well that it is not his room they are interested in. And his answer Come and see, is not an invitation to look at a house. But to come and find out who he is. So these two become the very first disciples of Jesus. We get to know the name of the one, Andreas. The other is not named. We talked about this at our Bible study last Tuesday. Who could the other be? Do we have any basis? Well, I wonder if something that is typical for John’s gospel isn’t the case here, too? Namely that John talks about himself indirectly, without mentioning his own name. This is repeated several times in the 4th gospel. John is so modest on his own behalf that you should almost think that he was a Norwegian… But one detail here can be revealing. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. By this information, John shows that what he conveys, is experienced by himself. Anyway, Andrew is named. He and the other disciple go with Jesus to where he is staying. This becomes a clear turning point for both of the young fishermen from Galilee. We have found the Messiah! the son of John declares as soon as he finds his brother and co-fisherman, Simon. Andrew is quick to recruit the one who was going to be the leader for the first Christian church. This seems to be Andrew’s most important contribution. He is not the leader among the disciples, but the one who conveys. He introduces, makes contact. An important and useful quality. Means of contact are priceless for Christ’s church on earth. They are needed as much as leaders are needed. Today we learn something about how people come to believe in Jesus. In what way people are being recruited to the church. And who are the best persons to gain new ones. If you thought that it is preachers and pastors, you are wrong. Only a few are being recruited through sermons. They are the exceptions. Several different surveys show the same result. Namely that the majority of those active in a congregation today, have been recruited through their family or their friends. Simply by being invited. That someone said to them, “come and see!”. So this is a telling story about how the Kingdom of God is being spread in the world. Let us then ask at the end: If everyone recruited as many—or as few—as you, what future would the church have in the world of tomorrow? Glory be to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, who was, is and will always be one true God from eternity to eternity. (Congregation:) Amen!
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The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church · 924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 · (612)874-0716 |