Behold the Lamb of God: A Word for This Moment

"Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." 

– John 1:29

A Pastoral Letter to Mission Presbytery Family

Dear Friends,

Every year, on the third Monday of January, we pause to honor and reflect on the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This important MLK day is a federal holiday in the US, and is also a national day of service, encouraging volunteerism. In my previous community, we used to call this a “Day On, not a Day Off.”

This year, we enter this day with deep sadness. As Presbyterians, we remember our fellow Presbyterian, Renee Nicole Good, who was shot and killed in Minneapolis. She was one of us, from Edgewater Presbyterian Church in Illinois, where she was recently remembered as kindhearted.

We are reminded of Dr. King’s prophetic words: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

This Sunday, our lectionary lesson uses the Gospel of John (John occasionally comes in as a cameo during Years A, B and C of the Revised Common Lectionary) to invite us to listen to John the Baptist's simple but revolutionary act: Behold the Lamb of God.

John does not point to his own movement, his followers, or his importance. He decreases. He points away from himself toward Jesus, toward the One who "takes away the sin of the world." In this posture of humble witness, John teaches us what the Church is called to be in moments like these.

We are called to point toward Jesus Christ - not away from the suffering.

When tragedy strikes, when injustice grieves the Holy Spirit, the Church's first task is not institutional self-preservation or self-protection. It is not to manage our own reputations or defend our structures. It is to behold - to see clearly where Christ stands - and to help others see too.

We would find that Christ stands with the grieving mother's family. We find Christ standing with the vulnerable, distressed, and displaced. Indeed, we believe Christ stands with those asking hard questions about whom our nation protects and whom it neglects. The Gospel is clear as to where Christ stands. The question is whether we are clear in pointing to where he stands.

We decrease so Christ might increase

What in your congregation points clearly to Christ? What might need to shift?

I invite you to ask these questions honestly in your sessions and leadership meetings:

• Are we listening to the cries of the vulnerable, or protecting ourselves?

• Are our statements and actions pointing toward Jesus' radical love for the marginalized - or pointing toward our own comfort? (Matthew 25)

• Do our communities know us as places where justice and mercy kiss (Psalm 85:10)? (Yes, really, this passage is in the Bible).

A pastoral call

As teaching and ruling elders, we are not called to have all the answers. We are called to:

• Grieve with those who grieve (Romans 12:15)

• Speak truth with courage about injustice (Isaiah 1:17)

• Point consistently toward Jesus - the Lamb whose death and resurrection interrupt the world's logic of power and violence (John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 15:54-57)

• Examine our own complicity in systems that harm the vulnerable (Micah 6:8; Matthew 25)

This MLK Sunday, we remember a pastor, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who pointed toward Christ's vision of a beloved community while naming the sin of indifference (reread the Letter from Birmingham Jail). His faithfulness to Christ cost him everything. Yet he decreased so that Christ's justice might increase.

Jesus, the Lamb of God, does not shy away from the world's pain. He enters it. He bears it. He transforms it through sacrificial love. This is the Christ to whom we point.

My Mission Presbytery friends and family, you continue to amaze me with your unconditional love. I thank God for you everyday! 

Let us continue to be faithful pointers - not to ourselves, our amazing programs, or our institutions, but to the One who stands with mothers who grieve, who stands with distressed communities crying out for justice, and who stands with a broken world yearning for redemption. 

Let us point to Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord, and we would be surprised to find him standing in solidarity with God’s suffering people and groaning creation. He bids us come to him just as we are!

Let us pray: 

Lamb of God, make us faithful pointers. Let our lives and our churches always turn eyes toward you. In your name we pray. Amen.