St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church
3800 East Third Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47401
(812) 332-5252
Sermon for the Second Sunday After Epiphany (January 20, 2008)
Liturgical Color: Green
Reverend Dr. Lyle E. McKee
A Brother's Witness
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Epiphany is the season of witness and mission. And, as you probably know by now, the Congregation Council has proclaimed 2008 the "Year of Global Mission" here at St. Thomas. Not least among upcoming opportunities to learn about global mission is the opportunity this coming Wednesday evening to hear from and dialogue with two of our ELCA missionaries from South America.
That Epiphany is the season of witness and mission is no coincidence. Light, John says in his first chapter, came to shine in the darkness of our world in the form of God's Son, and the world did not overcome it. We move from celebrating the coming of light into the world at Christmas to the truth and illumination that light brings. This light, and the brilliance it sheds upon our lives, is not something we can keep to ourselves. When we even begin to comprehend the illuminating power of the grace of Jesus Christ, It is something we want to proclaim from the rooftops.
Today's lessons speak of that proclamation. Psalm 40 declares:
Your righteousness have I not hidden in my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your deliverance; I have not concealed your love and faithfulness from the great congregation. (v. 11)
The psalmist has been faithful in declaring the faithfulness of God. He has not hidden his light under a bushel, but has spoken freely and openly of it in the congregation.
So too in the gospel we read of the powerful witness of speaking a simple word of the truth:
The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, "Look, here is the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesusthey remained with him that day. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter).
First, John the Baptist tells his own disciples that Jesus is the Lamb of God. How refreshing that John seems unconcerned when his disciples then turn to following Jesus. Unlike many, John the Baptist knew his place. And he is thereby able to proclaim Jesus "Lamb of God."
A bit later in the story, one of disciples, named Andrew, goes off to find his brother and witnesses to him. Here we have my theme for today—A Brother's Witness. All Andrew does is say, very simply, "We have found the Messiah." With this, the one who becomes known as the leader of the disciples—Simon Peter—becomes a follower of Jesus as well.
While this is not precisely the story that the other gospel writers tell of the calling of Andrew and Peter, it is a fascinating one. Simon Peter comes to faith by virtue of the witness of his brother. Peter gets all the press, but Andrew's simple act of sharing with his brother what he had discovered is laudable. His act deserves our notice and his name our attention.
And yet, when is the last time you heard a sermon or even read a devotional on Andrew, the first of the disciples? Other than that one distinction, there is little to be said. But he is the one who knows instinctively the blessings of the message that Jesus is the Messiah. It is he who then brings to faith the one who, following the ascension, becomes the leader of the early church.
The truth is that without witnesses none of us would know the Lamb of God. Even John the Baptizer needed a divine witness in order to know who Jesus was. Twice he says that he did not know him (1:31, 33), but God reveals Jesus by the Spirit who descends and remains on him, so that John can say, "I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God." and "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"
Christ as Lamb of God is a familiar title to us. In the Eucharist, at "the breaking of the bread," we usually proclaim in word or song what the Baptist said. Our traditional anthem is the Agnus Dei—Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us/grant us peace.
These words are more than something said or sung. In them we give expression to our deepest understanding of the identity and purpose of Jesus Christ as our Lamb and Lord. By his life of love and faithfulness, we believe and affirm that he is the one who came into a broken world to love and heal.
Here again a brother's witness comes to us. Our brother, the Christ, in the Eucharist, is a witness to us. He becomes for us the Lamb of God, and he offers himself to us in the bread and wine and in community. Through this grace-filled experience we are called to be partners and emissaries, empowered to enrich the world with expressions of God's word, justice, and peace. We are, in Holy Communion, commissioned by our brother, Jesus Christ, to be in mission as brothers and sisters to Christ.
Through our baptism into the Body of Christ we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses of a brother. Through the love of Christ, we are called to proclaim the gospel, to better the lot of God's people, healing the broken spirits of those who have been exiled from the possibility of hope, exiled from God's righteousness, or burdened by the yoke of spiritual, social, economic, or political dislocation. In other words, through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ we are called to empower the human spirit with identity and purpose, proclaiming that they too are brothers and sisters.
Talk of proclamation, justice, and peace reminds me that tomorrow, our nation honors the witness of another brother. I speak of Martin Luther King, Jr., who on August 28, 1963 delivered a speech that is among the most powerful of the brotherly witnesses of the last century. That speech was delivered at the March on Washington, D.C. for Jobs and Freedom. Permit me to quote briefly from that perhaps overused "I Have A Dream" speech:
"In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
"But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice...
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
The witness of brother Martin continues to inspire Americans to work for the full civil rights of all people, to put aside prejudice, and to be vigilant for signs of preferential treatment of one group over another. It is a witness that becomes relevant yet again more often that we like to admit.
In so many painful events, we observe how some brothers and sisters wrongly and abusively use the name of God for religious vendetta and revenge. We hear others, wrenched by heartache and disbelief question God's very existence. But we also see people acknowledge the spiritual bonds of human family and come together in crisis.
People from many faith perspectives respond to injustice and crisis with expressions of God's love through brotherly and sisterly witness-prayer, service, and acts of generosity. Whatever the pathway to faith or religious tradition, God is there, alive and active.
The Episcopal Bishop of North Carolina (Rt. Rev. Michael B. Curry), once said, "If Jesus is lifted up as Lord, you don't have to pretend to be." Too often in our enthusiasm for the Lord, we may unintentionally attempt to be the lord instead of daily seeking to follow the Lord. We raise pointing fingers of scorn at others unlike ourselves rather than extending a helping hand (of brotherhood and sisterhood) to people in need. Our call is to bear witness to him, to follow him, to testify to his goodness, and to pattern our lives after his."
As we go about our particular work for God in Christ, our witness to others needs to be respectful of the fact that God has made other ways of encounter and self-revelation. Whether it finds expression in a Muslim, Jew, Hindu or Buddhist, we must not constrain the work of our God into a neatly wrapped box. We speak of our light, and yet preserve space for God to speak love, truth, justice, mercy and forgiveness through the voices of cultures and faith traditions other than our own.
Andrew's witness today leads to our own, and our discipleship may well begin to flower and flourish when we ask ourselves the following questions: Who first pointed Jesus out to me? What nurtured and nourished me in the faith? When did I begin to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah, the Lamb of God, and the Lord of my life? And, like brother Andrew in today's Gospel, when was the last time I said to someone, "I have found a brother and friend in Jesus! He has transformed my spirit and my life."
Let me make just one more connection to my theme before I close. You may not know that this week, specifically January 18 through 25, is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, now a tradition for 100 years. It is also appropriate, then, that we remind ourselves of the witness that brothers and sisters of other denominations can be to us. I hope you will find some way to express our solidarity with other Christians or folks of other faiths tomorrow, celebrating the witness of brother Martin.
Andrew, John, the Psalmist, Martin, and Jesus have all provided for us the witness of a brother. Through them the Holy Spirit brought light where darkness once settled, love on the road where hate once traveled, and hope to the house where despair once dwelled. Now it's up to us. Amen.
May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord, unto eternal life. Amen.
