“Show and Tell”
Isaiah 49:1-6
John 1:29-42
My girls love it when it is show and tell day at school. They will search high and low in their room for that one special item to take to school to share it with their friends. For them, show and tell is a chance to show off something that they have, but in reality show and tell does so much more. What they don’t know is that when they do show and tell, they are revealing something about themselves and inviting others into a relationship with them. Show and tell is much more than just an act of showing off something, it is an act of giving of one’s self to another to create a bond between the one sharing and one hearing. In the sharing of something that has value to us, we learn about each other, what we like and dislike, what is important to us and not important, and even our hopes and dreams. In this act of sharing, we communicate to the other who we are and we invite the other into our world to see what gives shape to our identity and character.
Over the course of the last couple
of months, Scripture has been showing and telling us about Jesus. Through Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany,
Scripture has invited us into the time that has past to see for ourselves
Jesus’ true identity and character. We
have heard Jesus called the Coming Savior during Advent. We have heard Jesus called Messiah, the
Christ, Emmanuel at his birth. We have
heard him called the light of the world and the Word of God during the
Christmas season. We have heard Jesus called
the Beloved Son at his baptism. And now we hear him called the Lamb of God who takes away the sins
of the world.
These names have revealed to us
who Jesus is, and his purpose and mission in the world. These names have communicated to us something
about Jesus that reveals to us the true heart and character of God’s very self and invites us into a relationship that brings freedom,
acceptance, and belonging. It is God who
in the great act of sharing of his Son, in the sharing of God’s very self, that has created a bond between the one sharing and
the one hearing. It is God who has taken
the first move and has invited us to God’s self through Jesus Christ. It is God who has taken the first move and
shared with us that which is special and valuable and in the end life-giving
and eternal.
This act of giving has not been
just for us, it is for the whole world.
God’s act of giving of God’s self is for the world’s behalf, so that all
will come to know who God is and the heights and depths God has gone to bring
all people into relationship. In this
great act of giving, God has done for the world what the world could have never
done for itself. Scripture shows and
tells us that this Jesus is not only the servant long promised to the people of
Scripture shows and tells us that
this Jesus is not only the Christ, he is the crucified Christ. He is not only the Word of God, he is the
Word of God in the flesh, who suffered the depths of human pain and gave his
life for the sins of the world. Jesus is
not only the Son of God, he is also the Lamb of God, the one who willingly
sacrificed himself so that sin and death would not have the final say, so that
the chasm between God and humanity would finally and fully be bridged, so that
we would be able to come and have the liberating and saving relationship with
God. Scripture shows us and tells us
that the God we know in Jesus Christ is not an absentee God, but an
ever-present God who is with all those who are broken, disheartened, and
hopelessly ensnared by sin’s control.
But at some point, the rubber must
meet the road. The words of Scripture
must become embodied in the lives of the faithful. God’s revelation in Jesus Christ must go
beyond the words on the page and become the visible and tangible expression of
our lives. At some point, we too must
show and tell others about Jesus lest the words of Scripture fall on deaf
ears. The text from Isaiah reminds us
that the servant is more than just one person, but the community of God’s
people, and this servant community has a mission in the world – to be a light
to the nations so that God’s salvation may reach to the end of the earth. We must be a servant community who shows and
tells others about Jesus Christ. We must
be a servant community who points to the One who has revealed the heart and
character of God. We must be the servant
community who points to the One who is the only one who takes away the sin of
the world.
John the
Baptist didn’t keep his revelation about Jesus to himself. He made it known to others about who Jesus
was, and in his showing and telling others about Jesus he invited others to
come to the same knowledge that he had been given. John the Baptist is the model for the church
today. He is the witness of the gospel,
who readily takes second stage to the person of Jesus. It’s not about John, it’s about Jesus – it’s
all about Jesus.
When the church shows and tells
others about Jesus, we invite others to join into relationship with the living
Christ, and we make it known to others what is important to us, what we value,
and why. But we do something else as
well. We become a people who are willing
to give others the same hope, joy, and peace we have come to know. We become a people who are willing to let
others discover the freedom and acceptance and belonging that we have come to
experience. We become a people who are
willing to let others follow Jesus Christ and not ourselves.
John the
Baptist showed and told his disciples about Jesus and they followed Jesus. Too many churches today show and tell others
about Jesus with the purpose of increasing their own numbers rather than
allowing others to come and see Jesus through the ministry and mission of the
church. On any given Sunday, anyone can
walk into any church and hear about the saving work of our Lord Jesus, but will
they be able to come and see that saving work embodied in the lives of the
faithful. On any given Sunday, anyone
can walk into any church and hear about the forgiveness and reconciliation
Jesus gives, but will they be able to come and see that forgiveness and
reconciliation of Jesus at work in the lives of the faithful. On any given Sunday, anyone can walk into any
church and hear about the sacrificial, atoning work of Jesus Christ, but will
they be able to come and see that same sacrificial, self-giving work of Jesus
Christ in the lives of the faithful. On
any given Sunday, anyone can walk into any church and hear about the
compassionate and caring work of Jesus Christ, but will they be able to come
and see that same compassionate and caring work of Jesus Christ in the lives of
the faithful.
Showing and
telling about Jesus is not about just speaking the good news of the gospel, it
is about embodying the good news of the gospel.
Showing and telling others about Jesus is not about building our
kingdom, it is about building the Kingdom, its about inviting others to walk on
the same journey of faith that we walk on, its about inviting others to come
and see Jesus as we come and see Jesus in our daily lives, its about sharing
with others the true heart and character of God through the doing of Christ’s
work as his body in the world. Showing
and telling others about Jesus is not about our glory, it is about giving glory
and honor and praise to the God of our very salvation, to the God who first
loved us and called us God’s children, to the God who showed and told us
through the body and blood of the Son, just how much God loves the whole world
– you and me and even the people who do not yet know Jesus Christ.
Let us be a church who shows and tells others about Jesus every waking moment
of our lives. Let us be a church who shows and tells others about Jesus in the way in which
we embody his life and ministry in our own lives and ministry. Let us be a church who
shows and tells others about Jesus so that others will be able to come and see
and be forever changed by Jesus’ transforming, sacrificial love. Brothers and sisters, the Lamb of God is
here. He is here in the book we read,
here in the songs we sing and in the prayers we prayer. He is here in the love we share with one
another and the forgiveness we give one another in his name. He is here in our hopes and dreams and in our
fears and doubts. He is here in the
outworking of our faith in service and mission, and he is here in the worship
and fellowship of the community who gathers in his name. But most of all he is here in us, through the
Holy Spirit who was poured out upon us in our own baptism, and who has called
us to forever be Christ’s loving servants and faithful witnesses.
Let us go out of this church
building today, and be the church in the world, a church who
shows and tells others about Jesus. Let
us go and be a light to the nations and share the light of Christ in the valley
and beyond, so that God’s salvation may reach to the end of the earth and all
may come to know the One who is God with us, the One who is the Christ the
Lord, the One who is the Beloved Son of God, the One who is the very Lamb of
God who takes away the sins of the world.
Amen.