Grace to you and peace from our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
Grünewald, Isenheim Altarpiece
The text for
our meditation is written in the first chapter of the Gospel according to St
John: Verses: 29 – 36:
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son* of God.”
35 The
next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and
he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
Some of
the greatest works of art were created as visual sermons for all who entered
the religious places and art galleries across the world. One of those works of art is the Isenheim
Altarpiece that Matthias Grünewald painted for the Monastery of St. Anthony
in Isenheim near Colmar in France.
Like most
altarpieces, the central focus of the piece is the crucifixion of Jesus. But one of the unusual things that make this
work so striking is that it shows John the Baptist at the crucifixion. The Bible tells us that John the Baptist was
long dead and buried by the time Jesus died on the cross. So, what is the message that Grünewald was
trying to convey in this work?
As you
study the figure of John the Baptist, the thing that stands out the most is the
index finger of his right hand. It is
pointing straight at the crucified Jesus.
This is John pointing at Jesus and saying, “Behold, the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world!”
This is the message of John that speaks to all people down through the
centuries. If we could understand everything there is to know about this sentence,
we would be worthy of the title Doctor of Theology many times over. This sentence from John the Baptiser is one
of the most powerful expressions of the Gospel in the Bible. Within the full meaning of these words are
all the sentences of all the Creeds of the Church.
Behold, the
Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! The word Behold
is an epiphany word. It means look
here; I want to show you something. John uses this word so that he can show Jesus
Christ, our Lord and Saviour, to his listeners and to us. He had already received an epiphany from
God. Last week we learned that after
John baptised Jesus, the heavens opened, the Spirit descended like a dove, and
the voice declared that this Jesus was God’s beloved Son. Now John is proclaiming this epiphany to his
listeners. He is doing the work of a
prophet and pointing to Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Saviour of the world.
Behold,
the Lamb of God, who takes away the
sin of the world! Now, although some Old Testament sacrifices
required bulls, goats, or birds, the lamb more than any other animal was
the animal required by most of the sacrificial regulations of the ceremonial
law. The word Lamb as it is used
in this sentence brings to mind the continuous flow of blood from the altar in
Jerusalem. Consider the multitude of
regular sacrifices: the morning and evening sacrifices, the purifications, the
sin and guilt offerings; there were many.
Then there are the many festival sacrifices: the Feast of Booths, the
Pentecost, the First Fruits, and let’s not forget the Passover. When John says the word Lamb the image
of all these sacrifices comes to mind.
All devout Jews knew that they were the ones who should be sacrificed. They knew that they had earned God’s eternal
wrath with their sins. Just as they knew
that sheep are amazingly helpless regarding the things of this world, so they
also knew that they themselves were equally helpless regarding the things of
God. This image was so strong that God
often referred to the people as His sheep with Himself as their shepherd. They understood that the sacrificial lamb was
taking their place. Now John was saying
that this man, who was the shepherd, had become a lamb in order to become the
sacrifice for them. The word Lamb reminds us of the sacrifice
that was made in our place.
Behold,
the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This Lamb
is God’s Lamb. The sacrificial Lamb of
Old Testament ceremony must not have any blemishes or spots. It was to be as close to perfect as is
possible on this sin filled earth. Its
sacrifice was to remind the people that one day God would send His perfect lamb
to make the sacrifice in the stead of all the sacrifices described in the
Scriptures.
John is saying that this man is God’s Lamb. He is not just close to perfect. He is perfect. He is the culmination of all the sacrifices
of all time. He is the sacrifice that
fulfils the first sacrifice that God made when he killed some animals to
provide the skins that covered Adam and Eve after they sinned. He fulfils the sacrifice that Abel offered
and He fulfils the sacrifices that Noah offered after he landed safely in the
ark. He fulfils the sacrifices of
Abraham including the sacrifice he made after he nearly sacrificed his own son,
Isaac. He is the one time for all sacrifice that all the other sacrifices lead up to.
Behold,
the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin
of the world! The words ‘the sin’ gather the wicked deeds
of generations of mankind into one disgusting mass of evil. It includes all the wars and murders and
rapes and thefts. It includes all the
sinful thoughts, words, and deeds that anyone at any time has ever had. It includes the sinful nature that we were
born with. It includes gossip,
complaints, grumbling and worry. It
includes every lie told, every malicious act, every unkind or immoral thought,
word or deed. It includes everything aberrant that our human nature has
inherited from the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Our original sin
flies in the face of God’s holy law and earns us eternal damnation.
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! The words of the world mean that the work of God’s Lamb, Jesus Christ is good
for the whole world, not just those who believe. The word for world in this sentence is the root for the word cosmos. This word means everything that
God has created, everything that God has brought into being by the command of
his word. God’s gifts are not confined
to one country, race or faith group.
They transcend all nations and people.
They are not restricted to the rich or the poor or the young or the
old. They are for all people in all
times and in all places. There is no sin anywhere by anyone that
this Lamb of God does not take away.
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
The words takes away are just one word in the
original Greek. That word means to lift
up and carry to another place. This
means that the Lamb takes the load, the curse, and the damnation of the total
massive amount of sin onto himself. He
lifts the awful burden from us and carries it to the cross. There our sin is crucified with the Lamb. There our sin is put to death. This one act of lifting and carrying away our
sin is good for all time.
The path
that Jesus took to carry the burden of sin on the cross, the sin of the world,
began when he was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. There in all humility He became truly human
and humbly submitted Himself to the authority of the law. John’s words tell us that it is Jesus’
vocation to carry away the sin of the world.
John’s words tell us that Jesus was already journeying to the cross of
shame, destined by God to carry the sins of the world, when he made his
declaration, “Behold, the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world!”
When John
said these words, he considered the taking away of sins to be a foretold
inevitability. The forgiveness of sins
that would come as a result of the Lamb’s sacrifice would be available to
all. All the saints of the Old Testament
received salvation because this Lamb’s sacrifice is good for all time and all
places and all people. God’s promise is
as if John had already heard Jesus declare his victory from the cross with the
words, “It is finished.”
Behold, the
Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! The word the before the word Lamb tells us that there is only one
Lamb. This Lamb that John points out is
the one and only Saviour. There is no
other. All the other faiths of the world
tell us that we must earn our own salvation, but, if we are truly honest, it is
easy to see that no one can earn his own place in heaven. No one is good enough. People can lead lives of desperation in their
sin, they can wear their conscience down to a pulp so they do not feel their
sin, but they can’t save themselves.
Only the Lamb of God can do
that.
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the
world! We respond to
John’s declaration in the Divine Service.
God reveals the presence of the Lamb in the Holy Sacrament of the
Eucharistic feast and we ask for mercy as we approach this altar in liturgical
song and confession of sins. At the
alter we eat the flesh of the Lamb and
drink his true blood and we join with angels, archangels, and the armies of
heaven to glorify God with the words of the ‘Sanctus’: "Holy, holy,
holy, Lord God of Hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in
the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the
highest. "
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the
world! This sentence
will stand forever. Long after this
world is gone – long after the world as we know no longer exists – long after
the creation of a new heaven and a new earth – we will gather before our Lord and
say, Revelation 5:12 “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive
power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!” and
we shall sing a new song, saying,
Revelation 5:9-10 “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open
its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a
kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the
world! When John the
Baptiser saw Jesus, and pointed at him, and said this short sentence, he said
more than I can possibly explain. When
God inspired John the Evangelist to
quote John the Baptiser, God gave us
something to think about and to comfort us for the rest of our lives and on
into eternity.
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the
world! Amen
The peace
and love of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep
your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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