Testimony, need, experience, testimony

          John’s Gospel is likely the most sophisticated of the four Gospels. It tells the story of Jesus in a pattern-rich way…

         If the first three Gospels are a thread
—telling the story straight and plain, 
John’s is a woven garment. 
Repeating points and setting up a series of set pieces that build one upon each other 
until the Gospel’s pattern becomes your pattern.

         One such reoccurring pattern is how people meet Jesus. 
Be it Andrew or Peter, 
the Samaritan Woman or the Man who took up his mat and walked… 
they all follow the same patterns. 

         Testimony, need, experience, testimony… 
for John that’s how the Gospel is proclaimed, 
how the faith is formed.

 

         First someone points to Jesus. 
They testify about him to others, 
they tell people about Jesus.

 

         Then, the person who hears about Jesus, has a need.
They need something that Jesus can, and will, provide.

 

         Next, they experience Jesus first hand,
They meet him, and receive what they need, 
but in a deeper way than they ever expected. 
For example, the woman at the well needs water, and receives it, 
but also enters into relationship with Jesus
—the Water of Life.

 

         Finally, this causes them to repeat the pattern, 
they themselves go out and tell people about Jesus! Testify that they know him.
They become the catalyst for someone else to meet Jesus.

 

Testimony, need, experience, testimony

 

Prayer

         John proclaims, “Behold, Jesus the Lamb of God,” testifying to another odd feature of John’s Gospel
—you see, John shifts the date of Jesus’ crucifixion to coincide with the slaughter of the Passover Lambs
—in order to make sure we hear John the Baptist’s proclamation
—Jesus the Lamb of God.

         Have you ever fallen short? 
Do you feel your guilt? 
Have you been enslaved to powers beyond your control? 
Are you a stranger in a strange land? 
Do you fear Death?

         Well, come and see! Experience the Passover Lamb, the one who saves as the people were saved down in Egypt. Death looks upon the blood on the doorposts and passes over. The one who is an offering for sin, 
he puts away guild and shame. 

         Let’s tell folk about our good news. 
We’ve been found by the Lamb of God, 
who is overcoming the power of Sin, Death, and the Devil!

 

         Another near obsession of the Gospel of John is dwelling… and we know that the Spirit dwells with Jesus
—heaven is pulled apart so that heaven and earth might come together
—Look! He is the Son of God!

         Does God seem far off, or even abstract? 
Has the connection you once had to the Divine feel far off? 
Does it seem like the stories of God are just that, stories, that they have nothing to do with you? 
Is Transcendence just too big?

         Well, come and see! 
The one who can say I AM and put a period after the statement, 
is state side, 
is here with us! 
The Creator and the creation are not far from one another. Heaven is open, and God has come to dwell with us. 
The Invisible God is made visible in Jesus Christ!

         Let’s tell of this truth, heaven has drawn near. 
God knows us as intimately as a new parent knows the scent of their baby’s head.

 

         They call him Teacher… They trade question for question
—“What are you looking for?” “Rabbi, Teacher! 
We want to be with you, 
we want to dwell with your teaching so that it becomes who we are! 
Where do you dwell?

         Does it sometimes feel like you don’t know the way to go? 
Are there so many options that they all blur together? 
Do you lack a goal or habits that help? 
Do you want to know how to be human? 
Do you wonder what it means to live a good life?

         Look to Jesus. 
His teachings are excellent, and their burden is light. 
It is the Law of Love. 
There is a flow to it
—Spirit breathed, addressing his era, and also giving us a pattern to live our life even today.
There is a connection to a community practicing how to be little Christs in every age.

         Let’s try to follow Jesus’ teaching, 
so people will know us by our love, 
and come join us in discerning together what is right, 
how to follow the way of Jesus.

 

         Something incredible must have happened during that day they dwelled with Jesus. 
By 4pm Andrew went from calling Jesus Teacher, to declared, “We have found the Messiah!”

         In this world where everyone claims to be something special, 
every event is billed as one of a kind, 
every scrap of news “breaking news”, 
wouldn’t you like someone to be the real deal? 
When every authority figure has feet of clay
—they are human, o’ so human, 
wouldn’t you like to see someone with real authority, 
legitimacy and gravitas because they are good?

         Look to Jesus, 
the Chosen one, 
the one upon whom authority rests, 
who’s presence is the reign of God, 
the righting of the world.

         Let’s tell folk that the Kingdom of God has come near!

         

         I hope our own ears are open to the Gospel, 
sometimes we’ve heard it so often, or in such a particular way, that we don’t truly hear it anymore.

 

         I hope we can be honest about our needs… 
when I first was called to Spruce Run, 
I set up “one-on-one” conversations with various long time residence of Lebanon Township
—“community stakeholders” is the formal term
—and I asked them about this place, specifically I wanted to know what people here need

and I think they wanted the new pastor to feel like he and his wife had moved to a good community… 
so to a one they said, “There are no needs here.”

         But that’s simply not true. 

We have young kids committing suicide, 
parents who can’t provide for their children, 
young adults who feel they have no role models to follow and no vision for a better future, 
families just barely holding it together, 
old folk who genuinely are casting about looking for a purpose to their lives… 
being honest about our needs.

 

         I also hope we can be honest about how God has already showed up in our lives. 

         Some of you have amazing stories about God bringing you through 
astonishing situations, 
harrowing journeys, 
and the depths of despair…
         Other with humble stories of finding meaning in your life on account of your faith,
Catechisms keeping you grounded well into old age,
Prayer lives richer than what’s on the surface 
there is so much Godly wisdom stored up here among us…

 

         I hope we can find a cure for what is often call “Lutheran Laryngitis” 
that is, the average Lutheran talks to someone about their faith once every 22 years… 
you all have some amazing experiences of God in action
—testimonies that truly could move people and be good news for them 
if you would only share your stories… 
share the good news of the God we find in Jesus Christ.

 

         I pray John’s pattern of meeting Jesus might be a pattern for us as well.

Testimony, Need, Experience, Testimony.

Amen.