Second Sunday after the Epiphany

Second Sunday after the Epiphany (A)

January 15, 2023

Text: John 1:29-42a

            Two things come to rest and remain on our Lord Jesus at His Baptism in the Jordan.  The first is our sin.  He becomes the Sin-Bearer, the Scapegoat, the Lamb of God who takes our sin away, along with the sin of the whole world.  And the second is not really a thing, but a Person.  It is the Holy Spirit who descends upon our Lord Jesus as a dove.  Jesus is anointed by the Spirit to be our Messiah, our Christ, the “Anointed One.”  God had revealed to St. John, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit” (John 1:33; ESV).  And so John bears witness that this One upon whom the Spirit descends is the very Son of God (v. 34).  That is the Epiphany in this text.  This Man, Jesus, is God.

            “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain…”  “Remain,” that is the key word in our Holy Gospel.  The Greek word, μένω, is translated as both “remain” and “stay” in our text.  It could also be translated, “abide,” or “tarry,” as when the disciples at Emmaus beg our Lord, “Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them” (Luke 24:29; KJV; emphasis added).  “Abide with me,” we sing, “fast falls the eventide” (LSB 878:1).  “Abide, O dearest Jesus, Among us with Your grace That Satan may not harm us Nor we to sin give place” (LSB 919:1).  The Spirit descends and abides, stays, remains, rests upon Jesus. 

            And now St. John points two of his own disciples to Jesus and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29; ESV).  “Follow Him!  He is the One.  He comes after me, but He is before me (because He is God), and I came only for the purpose of revealing Him to Israel, preparing the way for Him.  I must decrease.  He must increase.  I baptize with water, but He baptizes with the Holy Spirit.  He takes away your sins.  And He… this Man… is the Son of God!”

            So they follow Him.  And when the Lord turns and sees them, and asks them what it is that they want, they respond, “Rabbi… where are you staying” (v. 38; emphasis added), where are You remaining, where are You abiding?”  He bids them come and see, and when they see where He is staying, remaining, abiding, they stay, remain, abide with Him there that day.  And then one of them… Andrew, as it turns out… first goes and finds his own brother Simon, whom Jesus will rename Cephas, Peter, and he brings him to Jesus, that he may stay, remain, abide with Jesus in the place where Jesus is present, for him.

            The Spirit remains on Jesus.  Jesus brings His disciples into the place where He, Himself, remains, that His disciples may remain in His presence, and that Jesus may baptize them with the Holy Spirit.  Thus the Spirit remains with the disciples who remain with Jesus.  And the Father remains with those who remain with Jesus, His Son, and are baptized in the Spirit.  μένω, remain, stay, abide, that is the key word.

            And the application is apparent, isn’t it?  This same thing happens to you, here, in the Church.  Your pastor points you to Jesus, and declares, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world’… who takes away your sins.  Other Christians point you to Jesus, and say, “He is the Christ, God’s Anointed, and, in fact, He is God’s own Son.  He is your Savior from sin and from death.  Come and see the place where He abides.  He wants you to abide with Him here.”

            Here in the Church, where the Lord Jesus is present and abides, He baptizes you with the Holy Spirit by water and the Word, that you may abide with Him.  You abide, you remain, you stay with Him the whole day long of your earthly life, as you hear and believe His Word, and eat and drink with Him (in fact, eat and drink Him) in the Holy Meal.  Where He goes, you go.  Where He remains, you remain.  Which is to say, you follow Him.  As a disciple does.  You are like the Children of Israel, who follow the Lord’s Angel in the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night.  When the cloud lifted, the Israelites set out.  Wherever the cloud came to rest, there the Israelites pitched their tents and remained.  The cloud was the abiding presence of the Lord.  It was the pre-incarnate Christ. 

            What happens when you follow Him and abide with Him, is that all your sins are continually swallowed up into the gaping holes of His wounds.  You live, now, by the Spirit, in whom you are baptized.  And you continually receive from your Lord Jesus, the nourishment of His resurrection life.  And so you bear fruit.  It is as Jesus says later in John, “Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches.  Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).

            What happens when you do not follow Him and abide with Him, is that you keep your sins for yourself.  You do not give them up to Jesus, to be taken off of you and put to death in Him.  And so you keep your death for yourself.  You cut yourself off from the nourishment of His resurrection life.  You cut yourself off from the Spirit, who remains, abides, on Jesus, and so you cut yourself off from the Father.  And you bear no fruit.  You become dead and worthless.  Empty.  Void.  “If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned” (v. 6).

            You only abide in Him when you are abiding in the things He has given to mediate His presence: His Means of Grace, the Word and the Sacraments.  You only abide in Him in His Church.  When you absent yourself from these things, you do not abide with Him.  That is to say, this abiding is not just a feeling in your heart.  You can’t do this in the mountains or at the lake.  The Lord’s presence is a real and bodily presence with you, and your real and bodily presence with Him, here, among His people, where His Word is preached and His Sacraments administered.  Do not absent yourself from these things.  To be His disciple is to remain with Him, to abide with Him, even as He remains with you, abides with you.

            And so, by God’s grace, here you are, and you do follow Him and abide with Him.  And now, what is the fruit you bear?  To be sure, it is repentance and works of love: To love God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself.  Only the Holy Spirit can work such love through you, and He does, He makes a beginning of it, as you remain here with Jesus, upon whom the Spirit remains.  And it is also, in that love, that you do as we see Andrew doing for His brother in our Holy Gospel.  You go and bring others to the place where Jesus abides, where He is present for sinners, to forgive sins, and give life and salvation to all who abide with Him.

            Parents do this whenever they bring their children to Holy Baptism.  They do this as they teach their children the Scriptures, and bring them to Sunday School, Catechism, and to the Divine Service of the Lord’s House.  You do this when you invite a friend or neighbor to Church.  Telling them about Jesus is very important, but don’t just give them the information, and then leave them to find Him for themselves.  Tell them where they can meet Jesus in the flesh, where He is present and abides for them, and where they can abide with Him.  You do this as you encourage one another to be in Church and Bible Study.  As the writer to the Hebrews says, we should not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, and so, we should encourage one another, and all the more as we see the Day drawing near (Heb. 10:25).

            When our Lord was baptized by John in the Jordan River, our sins came to rest on Jesus and remained with Him, as He bore them to the cross to put them to death in His flesh.  He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, which is to say, all our sins are forgiven.  Jesus has made the Sacrifice of Atonement.  He has buried our sins in His tomb forever. 

            And so also, at His Baptism, the Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove, and remained with Him.  Jesus Christ bestows His Spirit on everyone who comes to the place of His presence to abide with Him.  Abiding with Jesus and in His Spirit, you abide as children of the heavenly Father.  More importantly, Jesus abides with you.  The Father and the Son, along with the Spirit, come to you and make their home with you (John 14:23).  And so it is for you as He says in His unshakeable Promise: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5; cf. Josh. 1:5).  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.