Good News!

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A Epiphany 2 – January 19, 2014

Text: John 1: 29-42

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today, I’d like to talk about how we talk about Jesus.

Like some of you, I grew up in the Bible Belt, so I am very used to hearing people talk about Jesus in all kinds of places and in many different ways. Very little about what I hear people say about Jesus surprises me anymore.

Many of you know that I grew up in the Episcopal Church, the daughter of a very faithful woman – who was also in ordained ministry. By virtue of both my denomination and also being the daughter of an ordained woman, I was doubly in the minority, growing up in Houston.

Once, when I was in high school, a friend decided to talk with me about Jesus. He was not Episcopalian – in fact, he didn’t really know what an Episcopalian was, but he was pretty sure we weren’t “normal” Christians (whatever that means) and so he felt it was his duty to tell me about Jesus, to make sure I knew the “real Jesus.”

This is someone I had been very good friends with all throughout middle school, but for whatever reason, when we hit high school, he got really on fire with sharing what he knew about Jesus. And so, he did share what he knew about Jesus – in a nine page letter – and he also let me know that I was on my way to hell for sure because I belonged to a denomination that didn’t really meet with his approval.

We didn’t remain close friends too much longer after that.

That experience stayed with me for quite a while, and even into college, it came back to me every so often when I would encounter someone who was particularly passionate in how they talked about Jesus.

Fast forward a few years, to when I was 19, and began discerning my call to ordained ministry. One of the biggest mental roadblocks for me was that, as a pastor, I would be required to tell people about Jesus – like, professionally! – and I didn’t want to be the kind of person who told others they were bound to be going to hell.

It took some time to get past that – and lots of Bible study, and prayer, and conversation, and lots of people showing me Jesus in very loving ways. I finally realized that telling people that they’re going to hell really had no place in any conversation I would ever have with someone about Jesus, because that isn’t my experience of Jesus at all. And whenever we talk about Jesus, we really should do so in a way that is true to our own experience.

The word “evangelism” gets a bad rap these days, but all it means to evangelize is simply to share good news. More specifically, I think of evangelism as first, seeing what God is up to in our lives and in the world around us, and then second, talking with others about what we’ve seen.

That’s really what’s going on in today’s gospel lesson with John the Baptist and Jesus and the first few disciples. Today’s story happens after John has baptized Jesus, and he begins to tell others what he sees God is up to: “And John testified, ‘I saw the Spirit descending 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, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend 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.”

John here is, of course, talking about the Holy Spirit alighting on Jesus at Jesus’ baptism. John sees the hand of God at work in all of this, and he begins to tell others about it – to tell others that this Jesus is the Son of God – or, using another image, the Lamb of God, come into the world to take away the sin of the world. This is what he sees about Jesus, what he knows to be true about Jesus, and so this is what he tells others about Jesus.

 Then, the next day, John’s standing there with a couple of his disciples, and Jesus walks by. He tells these guys about Jesus, too, and they follow Jesus – and then we he asks what it is they’re looking for, they want to know where it is he is abiding (the translation says “staying”) so that they can go abide with him, too. They have heard and seen enough to want to hear and see more.

After spending the day with Jesus, they begin to share the good news with others that they have found the Messiah – the anointed one – the one for whom they have been waiting. And more people hear this good news and decide to follow Jesus, and from these few first followers, we have the very beginnings of the Christian movement, and then the Christian Church, which continues to this day.

And all of this because some people in the First Century noticed what God was up to in their midst and decided to tell others all about it.

So, if I am to be an evangelist myself – I first must notice what God is up to, and then I must tell others about it. Where do I see God working? Most certainly here, among us – in how we care for each other during difficult times; in how we celebrate during happy times; in creative ideas for ministry and loving – although sometimes difficult - conversations. I see God working in and through my colleagues and friends – in the work they do to care for others in God’s name. And these, then, are some of the stories I share with others.

But I am not the only one in this room called to be an evangelist – for we all are called to tell others good news about what God is up to. It may seem daunting – and maybe it is, at times – to talk about God or our faith. But really, all that is needed is for us to first, notice what God is doing in our lives, and then second, to talk about it as we have opportunity.

When I talk about God with others, I think in terms of these questions: How is God taking care of me, or others around me? How is God leading me? For what am I thankful? These are the types of conversations that we can have quite easily with others before diving into deep theological inquiry.

And the conversations often move from there to other things, including where the other person sees God working - or maybe, where they don’t see God working, but they desperately want God to work.

My brothers and sisters, I challenge each you to be an evangelist in your own ways – to be ones who share good news – the good news that God so loved the world – that God so loved you and me and everyone out there! - that he gave his only Son, Jesus. The good news that God loved us then – God loves us still.

Amen.

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