Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Sermons 

Title: "Lamb of God / Son of God"

Text: Isaiah 49:1-7 and John 1:29-42

a completely different picture of John the Baptist

than we see at most other places in the gospels.

Usually he is stern and uncompromising …

an angry ascetic,

filled with predictions of doom for sinners.

But in the brief portrait we’ve just seen, he seems happy,

dare we say – even excited –

about having encountered Jesus,

and having been shown who he is.

He bears witness to the one who is greater than he.

"Behold the Lamb of God," says John,

and, "This is the Son of God."

Now John probably didn’t think about this as he said it,

And we’re so accustomed to hearing

both of those phrases applied to Jesus,

that it may not occur to us, either.

But really,

for us, or John, or anyone at all,

to refer to Jesus as both the Lamb of God and the Son of God,

is truly a paradox.

 

"Lamb of God" is the role of a servant.

We usually think of it

in relation to Jesus’ ultimate act of service:

sacrificing his life in order to save our lives.

Of course, he served in other ways too,

like washing the disciples’ feet,

feeding hungry people, and so on.

But then, "Son of God" is the role of a leader.

Someone who has power and authority,

to heal diseases, to raise the dead,

forgive sins,

preach to the crowds,

lead a band of disciples.

Someone who gets referred to as

"king of kings and lord of lords,"

and "our great high priest."

Lamb of God, Son of God.

Servant and leader.

How can he be both?

And yet, even Isaiah, six hundred years earlier,

prophesying about one who is to come,

has painted for us a picture of the same sort

of dual, paradoxical role.

Listen to a few verses again,

and hear how the servant and leader images

are all woven together:

Beginning this time at verse 3:

"He said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel,

in whom I will be glorified.’

But I said, ‘I have labored in vain,

I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;

yet surely my cause is with the Lord,

and my reward with my God.’

And now the Lord says …

‘It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob

and to restore the survivors of Israel;

I will give you as a light to the nations,

that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’

Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,

to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,

the slave of rulers,

‘Kings shall see and stand up,

princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,

because of the Lord, who is faithful,

the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.’"

Though the servant feels he has labored in vain;

nevertheless, God will give him as a light to the nations.

Kings and princes will come, and bow down,

and acknowledge the authority

of the servant they had despised.

The paradox is true:

The servant is a leader,

and the leader remains a servant.

And as contradictory as that may sound even to us today,

how much stranger it must have sounded

to those in Jesus’ day.

After all, Roman society was quite class-segregated.

There were certain things the upper classes just didn’t do,

which was why you had slaves, to do those things for you.

And there were many things that the lower class

were not permitted to do;

things that were reserved for the privileged few.

And though Jewish society was slightly more open,

there was still a pretty wide gap

between servants and leaders.

The wealthy had servants,

who waited on them at table,

and washed the guests’ feet when they came to the house.

The religious leaders, like the Pharisees and Sadducees,

may not have been so wealthy,

but they had tremendous authority;

they were there to teach you and tell you how to behave,

not to serve you in any way.

So it’s no surprise that many of them

had a difficult time believing that Jesus was who he said he was.

The Son of God ought to act like

someone with power and authority,

not wander around from town to town,

all dusty and without a change of clothes,

consorting with tax collectors and prostitutes,

and saying strange thing like,

"blessed are the meek … blessed are the poor."

The Son of God should have a servant, not be one.

But that’s what he did,

and that’s who he was,

and that ought to tell us something

about what we are to do,

and who we are to be.

In the church, and, wherever possible,

in the world,

we are to be both servants and leaders.

Not in a carefully alternating pattern,

but simultaneously.

This is especially important for us to consider today,

as we ordain and install a new class of elders and deacons

to lead and serve this congregation.

Training new officers is always kind of fun for me,

because I get reminded of things

that tend to slip my mind during the year.

And one of the things that amazes me every time I see it,

is the long list of the duties of the session,

and the only somewhat shorter list for the deacons.

Our deacons and elders bear a tremendous amount of responsibility,

both to lead and to serve.

And they need to keep both aspects in mind

as they do their work.

We don’t elect them only to lead:

to issue orders that the rest of us

must leap up and follow.

Nor, however, do we elect them only to serve:

to burn themselves out doing all the work of the church

so that we can sit back and watch it run.

And so, those officers we install today,

and those who are continuing in their service,

always have to keep that balance.

Not to be too authoritarian on the one hand,

not to be doormats, on the other.

And those of us who elected these folks

also need to keep the balance in our minds, as well.

We Presbyterians tend to be so independent-minded

that we may be willing to elect

people to serve us,

but we are far more skeptical about having other lead us.

We would really rather lead our own selves,

thank you very much.

So for those of us not presently on the session or deacons,

keeping the balance will mean

working with our elected leaders in serving the church.

It is not their job alone …

if you don’t believe me,

check the Book or Order for the incredibly long list

of the duties and responsibilities of all church members.

It also means that there will be times when we must accept their decisions,

even though we weren’t able

to be in on the details of the decision-making process.

That seems especially hard

when we have been on one of the boards,

and then rotate off.

Having said that, though …

let me assure us all

that there are places in the church

for any of us who want to serve and lead.

If you’re interested in being more involved

in the inner workings of the church,

and the processes of goal-setting and decision-making,

I can introduce you to some committee chairpersons

who would love to have you!

If you are interested in serving people who need help,

in this congregation or in the community,

I can give you a long list

of people and groups that need serving.

It’s not just the elders, or deacons, or ministers of a church

who are set apart to lead and to serve …

and notice I said "set apart," not above.

All of us, in our baptism – remember last week! –

are called to lead and to serve in Christ’s church,

and in the world where God has placed us.

We are children of God.

We are servants of God.

Like Christ, who is both Son and Lamb.

Praise be to God

for giving us this ministry.

Amen.

© 2005 Julie Adkins (e-mail: DrJAdkins@trinitypresdallas.org)