A great idea, don't you think? For the moment the board has to advertise itself - and a contact number. However, its purpose isn't to draw attention to itself but to advertise other community groups and activities.
I rather get the feeling that this is a rare quality in today's world. We are constantly being told we have to look after "Number 1". There are some truly wonderful exceptions, but genuine altruism - with no strings attached -has become a scarce commodity.
John begins his gospel talking about the Word - with God and fully part of God, the whole principle behind creation, largely unrecognised by people, reaching out to the chosen people, Israel, through the prophets, yet largely not received and welcomed - the Word who became a human being and pitched his tent among us.
At that time, "God sent his messenger, a man named John, who came to tell people about the light, so that all should hear the message and believe. He himself was not the light; he came to tell about the light" (vv.6-8).
John was calling on people to repent - to turn around their lives to God's way - as a sign of this they should be baptised.
A little delegation of priests and Levites came up from Jerusalem. They came to test John, to see who he was and what sort of message he was giving the people. Some writers have suggested that this encounter was John's temptation, the point at which he could have so easily moved away from his mission. But his answers to their questions were quite definite. He affirmed that he wasn't the Messiah - or Elijah or the Prophet - but that the true Messiah was coming soon. The one coming is much greater than I am - I am not good enough to carry his sandals. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Matthew records John's hesitation to baptise Jesus, but doesn't tell what John thought afterwards. We find that out from the Fourth Gospel. Back in v.29 we read of something John said about Jesus, "There is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" It is not quite clear where the baptism of Jesus fits into this part of the story. It seems likely that he had previously baptised Jesus when he said this. He had been calling on the people to confess their sins. Now he recognised the one whose main mission in the world was to "take away the sin of the world" - the Lamb of God!
When John saw the visible sign of the Holy Spirit fluttering down like a dove and landing on Jesus, he knew that this was the one for whom he had been preparing the way. "I tell you that he is the Son of God." So the Father gave his witness in the voice from heaven - "This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased". The Spirit bore witness by the descent of the dove. And now here is one human being responding to what God is saying and doing, recognising that here is God's chosen one, God's own Son.
Now, on the next day, John sees Jesus again. This time it is two of his disciples who hear him say, "There is the Lamb of God!"
I am sure you will agree that they were glad of this new piece of factual information. Already they knew about the lamb of the daily sacrifice which was offered morning and evening in the Temple. Every year since childhood they had joined in the celebration of the Passover in which a lamb was killed and eaten. The Law said it could be a young goat, but mostly it was a lamb. And on the great Day of Atonement the priest took an animal and confessed his own sins and the sins of the people over its head. It was driven out in the the desert "to carry away all their sins with him" (Lev.16.22). Most of us have heard of a scapegoat. that's right, it was a goat! Isaiah had spoken about the Servant of the Lord "like a lamb about to be slaughtered..." (Is.53.7b). On one occasion, when Jeremiah heard of a plot against him, he spoke of himself as "a trusting lamb taken out to be killed" (11.19). Or perhaps I might leap back in my mind to that story I used to love as a child - the story of Abraham who had set off to sacrifice his only son Isaac. He had reassured his son that "God himself will provide the lamb for the sacrifice" (Gen.22.8). He had said this believing that his own son was to be the sacrifice - he hadn't told Isaac about that! And here is John, our teacher, telling us that Jesus is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"
My mind is spinning! It's just the piece of information I most needed to know!
But wait a minute! It is the piece of information that I most needed to know! If John is right - if Jesus really is the Son of God, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world - then he deserves my loyalty, my devotion, my life as no one else ever can or ever will!
So the two decide to find out about Jesus. They begin shadowing Jesus. That's how we might have described it. Just how do you go about finding out enough about someone without making your intentions known? You know the feeling when someone's following? Jesus turns and asks them, "What are you looking for?" - "What do you want?" (NIV) Now, you're caught! Your cover has been blown! You had better do some quick thinking! Um, um, um, um... "Where do you live?" "Come and see".
It was already four o'clock in the afternoon and they spent the rest of the day with him. Clearly, they didn't go all the way up to Nazareth (they set off for Galilee the next day). They went to the place where Jesus was lodging.
We are given no glimpse of the conversation of that afternoon. What we know is that, as a result of that encounter - having come and seen - they were quite convinced about the identity of Jesus as Son of God and Lamb of God and they began to want others to share in this too.
For Andrew, it was his brother Simon Peter whom he just had to tell, "we have found the Messiah." Jesus looked at Simon and said, "Your name is Simon son of John, but you will be called Cephas" - an Aramaic name that is the same as Peter and means "a rock". The real significance of this name change would only become obvious much later.
They moved back to Galilee and Jesus found Philip. It is just possible that Peter and Andrew had been telling Jesus about him - he came from their town, Bethsaida.
Philip found Nathanael - a real student of the Scriptures, so Philip finds appropriate words, "We have found the one whom Moses wrote about in the book of the Law and whom the prophets also wrote about." Now, those words at the very least grabbed Nathanael's attention and stirred his curiosity. "He is Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth." You've got it wrong, Philip! "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" It was not that Nazareth had a bad reputation, just that there was nothing special about it. Philip was not about to get into an argument that would soon be out of his depth. He simply says, "Come and see!"
As Philip and Nathanael are coming, Jesus says, "Here is a real Israelite; there is nothing false in him!" - there is no deceit in him. It is interesting to reflect back on Jacob the deceiver who became renamed Israel, the one who strives with God. Archbishop Temple suggested that this should be translated, "an Israelite in whom there is no Jacob!"
"How do you know me?" Nathanael is probably not suggesting, "You got it right first up, Jesus!", but rather, "What ever gave you that idea?"
"I saw you when you were under the fig-tree before Philip called you." Under a fig-tree was a private place. There were those who retreated to the seclusion of the fig-tree for prayer, meditation and study. We think of Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, contrasting the actions of the "hypocrites" with his expectations of his followers. They did all their religious duties publicly so that other people would be impressed. They made a big show of giving to a needy person. Their prayers were always offered in high visibility locations. Even when fasting, they neglected their appearance so that everyone would know they were fasting. These acts, Jesus was saying, are to be done as part of relationship with your heavenly Father - he will reward you. And here was Nathanael truly, sincerely and privately entering the presence of God - "an Israelite in whom there is no Jacob!"
But, Nathanael, your greatest discovery is still to come! "You will see heaven open and God's angels going up and coming down on the Son of Man." It was the old Jacob, fleeing the anger of his brother Esau, who had the unusual dream at Bethel. "He dreamt that he saw a stairway reaching from earth to heaven, with angels going up and coming down on it" (Gen.28.12). Heaven is open and the Son of Man himself is the stairway! That's rather incredible, isn't it?
Can any thing good come out of the Buderim Uniting Church? That's a provocative question! Come and see!
We aren't here on the corner of King St and Gloucester Rd to advertise ourselves, but Jesus Christ. As John the Baptist said later, "He must increase and we must decrease!" We would find the words to say to our own generation, "Behold the Lamb of God!" Come and see for yourself the truth of God's Word. Come and know for yourself the reality of what God has done for you in Jesus Christ!
Come to the Lord Jesus yourself. Don't depend on someone else's word. Don't react to someone else's picture of him. He came for you - now, you come to him! He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Come to him, repent of your sin and come believing. He gave his life to take away your sin. Come to him and let him do it - let him change you from the inside! You will see heaven open.
You will see Jesus, the one and only Way, Truth and Life.
Please consider! Come and see!
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