Community Church Sermons
January
20, 2008
Second Sunday After the Epiphany
John 1:29-42
Dr. R. Tim Meadows, Associate Pastor
Listen to this Sermon!
In the early
portion of the twentieth century the celebrity of the day who commanded attention
similar to Oprah or Hannah Montana in our day was a diminutive, irascible,
scientist with really bad hair known simply to most people as Einstein. One
interpreter of the age says the work of Einstein, had the wondrous mix of HUH?
And WOW!, that could capture the public imagination.
From HUH? to WOW!, that was also the wondrous mix
of reactions among the first people who encountered Jesus. They were not
exactly sure who this new teacher was, or what his impact on the world as they
knew it would be, but they knew he was different. They knew he was provocative.
They knew something significant would come from this life.
From
HUH? To WOW!, is precisely the course that the gospel of John follows as it
seeks to tell the story of Jesus. They surely said HUH? when John the Baptist
declared Jesus as the Lamb of God, who would reconcile God and creation. When
John the Baptist said the Spirit of God rested on Jesus. When John the Baptist
said Jesus was the Son of God. John the Baptist himself said HUH? when his own
life was at risk because of his commitment to Jesus. Jesus said HUH? about the
mission of his life in the garden at Gethsemane.
HUH?
may be where you are with Jesus today. You may wonder what it all means? How it
all will play out? What difference it makes, anyway? HUH? is a natural state. A
state not so much of doubt, as of curiosity. HUH? is a state through which we
all pass if we are honest with God, ourselves, and our experience with Jesus.
HUH? is a state to which we often return, when life turns in unexpected or
difficult ways, that create a crisis of faith.
WOW!
was also a response to Jesus from many of those early disciples. As they
watched what he did, as they heard what he said, as they saw how he related to
people, they found him different from anyone they had ever encountered, and
that difference prompted a WOW!
WOW!
may be where you are with Jesus today. You may have been blessed by God’s
goodness. You may have experienced God’s peace. You may have been helped by the
people of God. WOW! is a state through which we all pass if we are honest with
God, ourselves, and our experience with Jesus. WOW! is a reaction to the
goodness of God that can help assure our faith.
From HUH? to WOW!, the reality of our experience
with Jesus is that we frequently alternate between the two. We have those
moments when Jesus makes no sense to us at all, and we have those moments which
only seem possible because of God in Christ. The important thing to remember is
that in whichever place you find yourself, God is there, God is big enough to
handle whatever you are feeling, and God loves you no matter what.
As
John tells the story of Jesus, the earliest disciples alternated between HUH?
and WOW!, often wondered where Jesus was going, but followed him, anyway, and
always seemed to want to introduce others to him. As we make our way through
the journey of life, may this also be true of our experience with Jesus. AMEN!