Sermon for January 18, 2026
Epiphany 2 A
John 1:29-42
Rev. Karl-John N. Stone
One of the most soothing sounds you’ll ever hear are when the birds sing. Maybe you’ll hear them when you hike in the woods, or walk through the park, or dig in your garden, or simply sit in your backyard—but when birds are singing it means they feel safe because there are no predators around. That’s one reason why we humans find birdsong so beautiful; when we hear the birds sing, we know intuitively that the world around us is at peace. Our response to birdsong is also a great example of how all creation is really interconnected—what happens to the birds, or to any species for that matter, has an impact on the well-being of everyone else.
Maybe this is why, when Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended upon him “like a dove”. With the presence of a bird, God revealed that Jesus is the One of peace; and that the way of Jesus leads to true peace by interconnecting us with God, with one another, and with everything else in all creation. True peace is more than the absence of conflict—peace comes when people see that their well-being is tied up in the well-being of everybody else. We don’t have to look very hard to see how far away we are from this kind of peace today. The world seems to love division more than ever; and the state of the world reveals that sin is just as entrenched as it ever was. We sure need to pray for the “Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world”, and for him to be in our midst!
What does the gospel of John mean by saying that Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”? This phrase harkens back to the seminal event in the life of Israel—the Exodus, the escape from their slavery under Pharaoh, until they reached freedom in the Promised Land. And the Exodus reached its climax with the Passover [Exodus 12]. The Lord gave instructions to Moses that each household among the Hebrews was to select a lamb for their meal that night (when they made their escape), and then to take some of the blood from the lamb and smear it on the doorposts of their houses. Because, God said, “I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you…” [Exodus 12:12-13].
The Egypt that Pharaoh ruled was a society held up by slavery, oppression, violence, gratuitous imposition of hardship—it was basically a place upheld by the powers of sin and death. It was a very hierarchical place as well—so who would benefit most from this structure? The firstborn; the ones who were first in line to reap the rewards by keeping the system of sin and death going. When the Lord sends the angel of death to strike down all the firstborn, the Lord is showing that the power of sin and death itself will die. And when the Lord tells the Hebrews that the angel will pass over their houses if they have some blood of the lamb on the doorposts, he’s promising that the blood of the sacrificial Passover lamb has the power to defeat death.
Put all of that together, and Jesus being “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” means that Jesus came to start a new Exodus; to put in motion a new rescue plan to save humanity from sin and death, and lead us to new life and salvation. Jesus would do this with a new kind of Passover—one that comes through the blood of his own sacrificial death. By his death on the cross, Jesus defeats sin and death forever! In him, God’s peace is on the way. The dove that descended at Jesus’ baptism was just the first of the birds to begin singing a new song of God’s peace; singing “we are saved in Jesus Christ. In Jesus we are safe.” More birds would sing later, in the garden, when Jesus rose again from the tomb.
The defeat of sin and death by death and resurrection—this is Jesus’ way of being the Messiah. And it’s why John the Baptist says “I myself did not know him, but I came…so that he might be revealed” [John 1:31]. This sounds like a strange thing to say. I mean, just last Sunday we heard about John baptizing Jesus in the Jordan River. How could John not know him? But notice that John didn’t say “I never met the guy”, but he said “I did not know him”—I didn’t fully realize what Jesus was all about. Like a lot of people back then, John had his own ideas about who the Messiah would be like. So, saying “I did not know him” was to admit, “hey, my idea of a Messiah wasn’t quite right—but I’ll keep an open heart and mind to learn from Jesus”.
John’s struggle was not unique to John or to his times. It’s still something Christians struggle with, which is the temptation to follow a Jesus who we’ve re-made in our own image—rather than follow Jesus as he defines himself and as he defines his mission. I’ve heard it said that when you think Jesus is in favor of everything you’re in favor of, and against everything you’re against, then “congratulations”, you’ve succeeded in re-making Jesus in your own image.
Jesus’ mission is to “take away the sins of the world”. What does that mean? Well, in the gospel of John, “sin” means being disconnected from God. So, Jesus’ mission is to “take away the disconnection the world has from God” – or more simply, to reconnect the world the God. Jesus reconnects us to God’s own life by inviting us to embrace how everything and everyone in God’s creation is interconnected.
When you want to turn back towards God, start by turning towards all the stuff that is interconnected with God. Turn towards love and service; turn towards justice and mercy; turn towards reality and truth; turn towards goodness and beauty; turn towards kindness and grace; turn towards healing and forgiveness; turn towards those who are suffering for Christ is with them, and turn towards those who offer their help or comfort; turn towards people, and turn towards our earthly home.
Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday our country celebrates tomorrow, saw very clearly the truth of Christ’s mission to reconnect the world with God. He preached about it on Christmas 1967, saying:
“…if we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. . . . We must develop a world perspective. No individual can live alone; no nation can live alone, and as long as we try, the more we are going to have war in this world. . . .
It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality.” [https://cac.org/daily-meditations/restoring-relationships-by-embracing-the-interrelatedness-of-all-life-2022-01-17/]
So, the next time you hear a bird sing, remember that God’s peace comes through the interconnections people have with God’s creation, and the interconnections people have with each other. When you hear the birds sing, think of it like they are singing about God’s promise of peace. Take that song into your heart by faith: it is the Holy Spirit’s call for you to follow Jesus as he goes about his great mission of reconnecting the world to each other, and to God. Amen.