FINDINGS II

Epiphany II - A - January 16, 2011

John 1: 29-41

John 1: 29-41

The day after [John's contentious interview with those sent by the priests and Levites from Jerusalem], John saw Jesus coming toward him and said with confidence, "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one of whom I said, 'After me comes one who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.' I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be disclosed to Israel. And John averred: "I saw the spirit coming down from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'The one on whom you see the spirit come down and remain is the one who baptizes with the holy spirit.'  And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God." The next day John again was standing with two of his followers, and as he watched Jesus walk by he said, "Look, here is the Lamb of God!" His followers heard him say this, and they went after Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them he said, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which means one who teaches) "where are you staying?" He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was staying, and they 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 messiah" (which means the anointed one). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas" (which means Peter). (Translated and paraphrased by Harry T. Cook)

RUBRIC

The Revised Common Lectionary takes us on a one-Sunday detour into the Gospel of John for the purpose, perhaps, of introducing Andrew and Peter before the lections of Epiphanytide carry us away into the early career of the Nazarene sage. It is a complicated pericope [amusing note: my Word spell-check keeps correcting the immediately previous word to "periscope"] that also introduces John the Baptizer before the fourth gospel pretty much abandons him, having given him all of 18 mentions, ending with 10:41.  

WORKSHOP

The passage at hand is part of "the testimony" (marturia) of John that begins at 1:19 - a not-so-subtle act not unlike compelled testimony. There is some textual evidence that the Baptizer had a posthumous following along the lines of Jesus'. And since the documents that constitute the New Testament have as their agenda the proclamation of Jesus as messiah, it was necessary for the gospelers to establish Jesus' primacy. That is done in According to John as well as anywhere. Already in 1:20, the evangelist has John avowing, "I am not messiah." The Baptizer is then made to take the words of Isaiah 40:3 to account for himself: "I am 'the voice crying out in the desert places.'" The evangelist has already depicted Pharisees coming to him (as Matthew at 11:2 and Luke at 7:19 have John's followers come to Jesus) to ask if he is messiah. John is not, and says so. Who, then, is he? Elijah redivius? No. The prophet who is to come? No.

Still more questioning: "Why, then, do you do this baptism thing?"(1:25). This is the Baptizer's opportunity to connect Jesus' baptism with "one whom you do not know even though he stands among you" (1:26, which is a clear reference back to 1:10). The Baptizer calls him "the one who is coming after me" (1:27), thus bringing us to the passage at hand.

At v. 29, the evangelist depicts John seeing Jesus - a location is not mentioned and is therefore beside the point. John makes the following declarations about Jesus: 1) that he is the Lamb of God; 2) that he is before John even though he shows up later -- a hint at the pre-existence referenced at 1:1-21 and 8:58; and 3) that proof of the significance of Jesus came as John saw the spirit coming down upon Jesus. A fourth point is made at 1:33 to the effect that John did not know Jesus before the "event" he has just described, but that "the one who sent me to baptize with water" had told him that the one on whom the spirit came down and remained would be the one who would baptize people not with water but the spirit. So not only is John not messiah, not Elijah and not "that prophet," he is really not the baptizer, because, in the evangelist's analysis the baptism of the spirit will supersede that of water.

Meanwhile, after some time with Jesus (from 4 o'clock in the afternoon on?), Andrew becomes convinced that he is not only the Lamb of God but messiah as well, and tells Peter as much and brings him to Jesus. Thereupon, in a reprise of Genesis 17: 5 (Abram [exalted ancestor] to Abraham [ancestor of multitudes], Jesus re-names Simon "Cephas"( the Aramaic Qēph�, which means "rock."

With the recruitment of Cephas/Peter and a nod of gratitude to Andrew, Jesus is well on his way to Cana and from there to Jerusalem and the scene at the Temple - all of which begins the inexorable journey to the cross.

HOMILETIC COMMENTARY

The tangled skein of these 13 verses presents the homilist or the student with a stiff challenge. The orthodox theist will seize on the proclamation of Jesus as messiah. Those who wish to affirm the historic apostolate beginning with Peter have their text. Andrew is depicted as a pivotal, catalyst kind of character who seems willing to play a supporting role, who knows where the talent is and is willing to push it forward ahead of himself -- reminiscent of the Baptizer depicted as advancing Jesus over himself.

Somehow the life of the church at the mid- to upper-levels of the various hierarchies seems to be lacking that kind of humility. Why?