[Propertalk] 2 Epiphany a 2017 - Part 1

[Robert P Morrison]

	Here's part 1 of the draft for tomorrow.

	Bob

	THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER THE
EPIPHANY a 

	ISAIAH 49:1-7    15th JANUARY, 2017 

	1 CORINTHIANS 1:1-9    PSALM 40:1-12 

	JOHN1:29-42 

	 What a weird looking sheep that is in the bulletin illustration! 1 
I have to admit I did a bit of double-take myself when I saw it. I can
hear people saying, “Couldn’t you have found a better looking
animal. I mean, something like ones we have around here –
fuller-coated, better looking heads. I mean, c’mon!” 

	 But maybe that’s the point. Seldom does Jesus – God’s Anointed
One – seldom does Jesus look as we expect and anticipate. If He did,
we’d be all over Him, smiling, laughing at whatever He said,
crowding around Him, basking in the glow of being welcomed by Him.
We’d be willing to run for anything He asked, and to fetch whatever
it was, anything – from a glass of water, to a pillow, to the folk
from the next street over. 

	 But there’s something a little odd about Jesus. He’d never pass
a screen test, not even for one of the old biblical epics. He’d
probably get bounced off a plane – He might not even make it through
the TSA screening at the front door of any airport. 

	 I mean, call that a sheep? It’s like a horse whose mother
wouldn’t really love it. 

	 And yet. And yet, there’s something about it. It’s an ancient
mosaic, for one thing, so you have to get over the artistic style. And
look at those eyes – so full of wisdom and understanding, yet
already sensing loneliness, and rejection, and pain. THIS is what the
early church came up with when people thought of the Lamb of God. 

	 Perhaps it’s as well that we find ourselves taken aback by this
illustration. The words, the music that we use week-in-week-out can
make things so, well, so easy. We lose the pain of the title, we
don’t remember the fact that lambs were sacrificed. The words seem
to trip off our tongues with almost the same formality as, “I’ll
have a latte.” We lose the enormity of the call that Jesus accepted.


	 We need to see things with rough edges, with less than ideal ovine
characteristics, just as John’s disciples saw this non-descript
figure. It took two days, two separate remarks by John before the two
disciples took any notice and were able to pick Him out in the crowd
and, finally, to follow Jesus to check Him out. 

	 The really strange thing about Jesus’ ministry is that He might
not have been noticed much if people hadn’t started to follow and
hang around Him. 

	 “Was it something I said?” comes to mind as an expression Jesus
might have used when He saw those two very young men tailing Him
through the village market, or along the shore. In fact, that was
probably just about all that Andrew and his friend may have had to
have gone on: John’s words and whatever Jesus may have said or done.


	 “Take me at my word,” comes to mind. Not what anyone in her or
his right mind would do regarding a politician without a heck of a lot
of explanation, research and example on which to base our opinion and
trust. 

	 But, somehow, something gripped the minds of these two young men.
Something persuaded them, after at least twenty-four hours of thought;
something persuaded them to follow behind Jesus for a bit. 

	How often does that happen, though? If you’re really lucky, you and
I may have such an experience once, maybe twice in a lifetime.
Something about a person, something about a location, something about
an event touches our hearts and really excites us, really calms us,
really brings a feeling that, even in this world, this experience is
as perfect as we’ll ever find. 

	It’s not to say that there will never be questions. These are bound
to come up. In fact, asking questions and having them answered may
only increase our pleasure and acceptance of such an experience.
Having someone who, for a reason we can’t quite understand, we feel
we can trust implicitly, no matter what else is going on; having that
miraculous moment is not that common, but when we have it it’s so
settling, so comforting, so exciting that we simply go with it, or
with him, or with her. 

	It may be that your church life hasn’t been smooth. You and I may
decide to try another denomination, another congregation, and,
suddenly, something clicks. We may not even know how or what it is,
but we feel that we’re home. We’re going to be fed. We’re going
to be stimulated. 

	That’s how the greatest number of people in The Episcopal Church
become members. That’s what happened to me. That’s possibly what
happened to many of you. 

	And that’s only one part of our lives. Think of all the other
commitments we’ve made, and how they’ve affected our lives.  

	Did Andrew and that other disciple of John the Baptist’s have any
of those feelings? Who knows? They may have looked the first time,
perhaps not been able to pick out from the crowd exactly of whom John
had been speaking. They may have seen a market place, or a river bank,
or some other place filled with pretty non-descript people. Possibly
there was no one whom you or I might have picked out at a party and
thought, “THERE’S an interesting person. I want to hear what HE
has to say. I like the looks of Him.” In fact, if the way we look at
that sheep in the bulletin description strikes us today is anything
like the person to whom John drew attention, then we might even have
wanted to back away from Jesus. He may have looked too ungainly, too
much like the last person – perhaps not even like John himself, in
his own, wild-eyed, long-haired, roughly-dressed way. 

	
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