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Good morning. My name is Amanda. I am a part of the Alameda Small Group.
So today's reading is from the Gospel of John, chapter 1, verse 35 to 41, as printed in the liturgy.
The next day again, John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said,
Behold, the Lamb of God. The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.
Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, What are you seeking?
And they said to him, Rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying?
He said to them, Come and you will see.
So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.
One of the two who heard John speak and follow Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
He first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, We have found the Messiah, which means Christ.
He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, You are Simon, the son of John.
You shall be called Cephas, which means Peter.
The next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee.
He found Philip and said to him, Follow me.
Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
Philip found Nathanael and said to him, We have found him of whom Moses and the law and also the prophets wrote,
Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
Nathanael said to him, Can anything good come out of Nazareth?
Philip said to him, Come and see.
Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him and said to him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit.
Nathanael said to him, How do you know me?
Jesus answered him, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.
Nathanael answered him, Rabbi, you are the son of God.
You are the king of Israel.
Jesus answered him, Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree.
Do you believe?
You will see greater things than these.
And he said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man.
This is the gospel of the Lord.
Praise you, O Christ.
You can take your seats.
Good morning, everyone.
My name is Andrew.
I'm the assistant pastor here.
It's good to celebrate Christmas with you.
And in case you're wondering what some of the things that I love, well, I love the warriors and I love Christmas.
And I love that the warriors are in first place right now.
Thanks be to God.
Merry Christmas.
Will you join me in prayer before we get into God's word?
Father, we are so glad that your son has come.
We're so glad that there can be joy in this world and that we have hope that your son will come again.
And that's good news for us.
Help us to see and savor this good news as followers, as disciples of this risen and exalted son we celebrate this season.
In his name we pray.
Amen.
So again, Merry Christmas, everyone.
The word has become flesh.
That's what we're talking about a lot here in the gospel of John.
The word has become flesh and dwelt among us.
Emmanuel, right?
God is with us.
And we're going to continue emphasizing that theme throughout our sermon series in John's gospel.
But today, I want to conclude, as we conclude the first chapter of John,
we're going to have a glimpse of the other side of this God with us coin.
The other side of it.
You see, yes, it's absolutely profound that the eternal and infinite and divine Lord became God with us.
But today's text invites us to consider the equally true reality of us with God.
Us with God.
Not just God abiding with us, but us abiding with God as his disciples.
Here in John chapter 1, we're looking at the beginnings of the discipleship ministry of Jesus.
Now, honestly, Jonathan and I and Christ Church historically,
we have tried really hard to avoid using Christian-y language.
As much as we can, we want to translate terms from the Bible into our everyday common speech.
I remember sitting down with some of our past pastors,
Bart, Patrick, and Quinn, a couple years ago, discussing this very word, discipleship.
Discipleship.
And we were trying to come up with a suitable synonym, because discipleship just sounds so Christian-y, right?
It sounds like language that's only used inside the church or maybe within a cult
or in other strange hierarchical kinds of relationships.
And it just so offends our egalitarian, everybody's equal sensibilities, right?
So we were like, okay, what's it going to be?
It's going to be apprenticeship, mentorship, followers, pupils, I don't know, Padawans, I don't know.
But none of them really stuck.
None of them really stuck.
So even though I hesitated a bunch in deciding whether or not to use this term, discipleship,
talk about disciples today, I'm just going to go with it.
I'm just going to go with it.
And if you have a better one, go ahead and email me, let me know.
But I also think, you know, there's something quite beautiful about reclaiming this term, discipleship,
and unashamedly using it in our everyday language to describe who we are
and who we want to be in relationship to Jesus.
See, because language creates culture.
And that's what I'm hoping to do here very intentionally by using this term, discipleship,
to talk about us as disciples of Jesus.
This is what we want for our church.
We want to be a church with a discipleship culture.
This is what we mean when we say that Christchurch exists,
to lead people into deeper relationships with Christ and His church through community for the city.
This is what we're truly after, the making of disciples.
This is what we want, the making of disciples.
You know, recently, someone who's newer to our church was having a conversation with Jonathan,
and they said to Jonathan something that we just absolutely love to hear.
They said, you know, now that I'm here at Christchurch,
I'm beginning to see myself less as just a Christian, less as just a believer, and more as a disciple.
And that was just music to our ears that made our hearts sore because that's what we're after.
Remember the risen Jesus, He didn't say,
All authority in heaven and on earth have been given unto me.
Therefore, go and make nominal cultural Christians.
Therefore, go make mere believers.
He said, therefore, go and make disciples.
Not just churchgoers, disciples.
He said, therefore, go and make disciples, teaching them to do what?
Everything that I have commanded you.
He wasn't looking for the growth of Christendom.
He wasn't looking for an increase in church attendance, upping the membership and baptism counts,
just getting people into the door.
He was looking to have the formation of disciplined followers from among the nations
who would sit at His feet under His ultimate authority as the master rabbi.
People who would abide with Him.
People who would serve Him and commit themselves to knowing and memorizing and imitating His words and His ways.
That's what it means to be a disciple, especially one of Jesus, the master rabbi, the Lord, the Son of God.
And if this intimidates you, well, it should.
It should intimidate us.
This call to follow Jesus in His way and on His terms rather than our own.
It's serious.
It's the biggest and most important decision that any of us could ever make.
It's not a call to be mere admirers of Jesus.
It's not a call to be mere partners or associates.
It's a call to be ride-or-die disciples.
Jesus said, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters,
yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
Wow, right?
Jesus doesn't play.
But you know, at the same time, what I hope to convey to you from these scriptures today, from John chapter 1,
is that while discipleship under Jesus comes with a fair measure of intimidation,
it comes with just as much, if not more, personal invitation.
Jesus doesn't just say, you must hate your own life to be my disciple.
He says, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
So wherever you're at with respect to Jesus this morning, all I want to do, all I want for Christmas,
is to make clear his invitation to you, to all of us, his invitation, my invitation, to all of us in the words of Jesus and his disciples here from John chapter 1,
to come and see.
Just come and see.
That's it.
In fact, this invitation from the lips of Jesus, from his disciples to come and see, it's really at the core of what discipleship is all about.
Come.
Like, just follow me.
But it's not like, come, follow me, or else, or come, follow me, you idiot.
No, it's come and see.
Less command and more invitation.
It's, hey, come, follow me, because I really want to show you something.
Hey, come, follow me, and see what I've discovered.
Hey, yo, check it out.
It's amazing, and I'm convinced you'll think so, too, if you just see it with your own eyes.
If you just see it with your own eyes.
And see, this is the one thing that is, or at least it's one of the things I love about the Christian faith,
is that it's not a coercive faith.
We don't seek to convert through coercion, but by conviction.
Christians don't force people into the family of God.
We hope that the gospel itself, the good news about Jesus, fascinates people into the family of God,
because it's just the best news ever.
Really, that's all that discipleship under Jesus is about.
Beholding the goodness of Jesus.
Seeing him for who he really is, and then extending his invitation to come and see to others,
so that they might come and see, too.
Let's look at this text.
Look with me at verse 35.
This is how it all starts.
The next day, again, John the Baptist was standing with his two disciples, with two of his disciples.
John the Baptist has at least two guys, right, who are his disciples.
They're committed to following him, but look what he does in verse 36.
And he looked at Jesus.
In the Greek, it's this word, he gazed intently.
He beheld Jesus as he walked by, and seeing with eyes wide open,
seeing Jesus for who he truly was, this prophet of God, John the Baptist,
invites his disciples to see what he sees, and he says,
Behold, behold the Lamb of God.
And I love that word, behold.
I love that word, behold.
See, this is how it all starts, with one person beholding Jesus for who he really is,
and then prophetically inviting his own disciples to come and see,
to come and see what he sees in Jesus.
This is where it has to start.
We will never be disciples of Jesus,
and we'll definitely never be disciples of Jesus,
who make disciples of Jesus,
unless we have beheld Jesus as the most amazing person that he is.
We've got to behold him.
And you know, in reflecting on this this week,
I was so encouraged by this model.
Because lately, if I'm honest,
I've been feeling a little lost as a preacher.
Chelsea even asked me,
after one of my sermons a few weeks ago,
is it possible to get worse at preaching?
And then,
the past handful of times,
I have been,
I have been, you know,
I've been working on these sermons,
and I've been kind of second-guessing myself.
I've been kind of wondering, like,
what is,
what is my goal?
What is the purpose of preaching?
Is it to inspire,
to comfort,
to challenge,
to rebuke,
to encourage,
exhort,
provoke,
to get people to repent,
get people to rejoice,
receive,
to laugh,
to cry?
What is it that I'm supposed to be doing up here?
And I imagine that it's a combination of all these things,
but the challenge of getting the right balance of all these things,
from all these different passages of Scripture,
it's tough.
And if I'm honest,
most of the time I usually come up here
not feeling like I've figured it out.
But you know,
in reflecting upon this passage this week,
and thinking about,
not just what I'm supposed to be doing
as a preacher,
but thinking about what we're trying to do as a church,
and leading people into deeper relationships with Christ,
and His church,
making disciples,
I was reminded that even as I'm still figuring out this preaching thing,
there's at least one thing
that I should definitely keep trying to do.
And it's to get us all to behold.
To behold the Lamb of God.
To see Him for who He really is.
You know when I often say,
this is the gospel.
That's what I'm trying to do.
I'm trying to say,
behold.
I'm saying,
come and see.
Check this good news out.
Behold.
The good news of Jesus.
And so it's been helpful for me as a preacher
to remember that I'm not coming up here primarily as a preacher.
But more importantly,
as a disciple maker.
As a disciple of Jesus who wants to make more disciples of Jesus.
Simply beseeching people to come and see and behold.
And I wonder if that might help the rest of us here too.
For those of us who identify as Christians,
for those of us who identify as disciples of Jesus,
but maybe we haven't given much thought to next steps,
about how to invite people into discipleship.
We haven't given much thought into what to do
to become disciple-making disciples of Jesus.
I wonder if it's because we're kind of psyched out.
We've psyched ourselves out with this seemingly daunting task,
right, of, ooh, doing discipleship.
Oh, I'm not mature enough for that stuff yet.
I'm not holy enough.
I'm not smart enough.
Who'd want to learn from me?
Who'd want to follow me?
But what I want to say this morning is,
hey, let's slow down.
Let's slow down.
And like, what if we saw discipleship
and the making of disciples not primarily as
seeking to become a teacher or some Jedi master, right?
What if we saw discipleship more as a way of life?
What if we saw it as being a person who is intentional
about being invitational
and beckoning others to simply come and see,
to come and behold Jesus for who he truly is?
And sure, that might look like what we have in our minds,
you know, someone leading a Bible study
and investing in a group of people on a regular basis
and keeping each other accountable.
But it could also just look like conveying to a friend,
a coworker, a neighbor, someone in our family,
our kids, whether Christians or not,
just conveying to anyone and everyone in fresh and creative ways
what we see in Jesus.
And hoping that they too will see what we see in Jesus
as amazing as we believe it to be.
Just living an invitational life,
inviting people to see the beautiful things we see in Jesus.
Like really, discipleship,
it can come in baby steps.
The key is this simple invitation
to come and see Jesus for who he really is.
I mean, look, look at verse 41.
This is all that one of the first disciples, Andrew,
really does, right?
He just makes an introduction.
That's all he does.
We don't know him for much else in church history,
in the rest of the scriptures.
I asked my parents,
why did you name me Andrew?
Because I was actually named after this disciple.
So I texted them earlier this week
and this is what my mom texted me.
She said,
at the time,
we really wanted to name you
after a person in the Bible
that wasn't a bad person,
you know, like Satan or Judas.
So thanks, Mom, right?
But then my mom said,
however,
since then we've learned much
about the disciple Andrew
and feel that it was providential
since he introduced Peter to Jesus.
And that is how we see God calling you
to introduce others to the gospel.
See, introductions,
introductions to Jesus,
just bringing people
to come and to see.
Andrew isn't a big,
huge character in the Bible,
but with no invitation
from Andrew to Peter,
we don't get Peter.
We don't get Peter.
So the question for us,
for those of us who identify
as disciples of Jesus today,
is who in our lives
might we invite
to come and see Jesus?
And might it be that
they're closer to us
than we think?
I mean, again,
for Andrew in verse 41,
I love how it says,
he first found his own brother.
He went to his family.
Easy.
And as it says in verse 42,
he brought him to Jesus.
He brought him to Jesus.
And I know that's for some of us,
we might have these
decades-long,
complicated family dynamics
and tense and complicated things
going on there.
But at the end of the day,
it's still family.
And how better to love
those whom we're called
to love most
than to invite them
to come and see Jesus?
Or maybe parents,
are we at least doing this
with our kids?
Are we bringing our kids
to Jesus?
Do our kids see us
beholding the Lamb of God?
Do they see us
opening up our Bibles?
Do they see us
talking to God?
Do they see us
singing to God?
And are we inviting them
into that
to come and see?
Discipleship is actually
best done
within families.
So again,
who are the people
in our families,
whether Christians or not,
that we want to bring to Jesus?
I've been really encouraged
by two guys
in the discipleship group
that I have here.
One has just recently
invited his brother
to lessons and carols
and to church
and is often praying
for his brother,
asking him how he can
pray for him.
He's inviting him
to come and see.
And another guy
is about to start
reading Mere Christianity
with his brother,
wanting to invite him
as well to come and see.
This is come and see
discipleship.
This is it.
At work,
in everyday life,
in our families.
And even outside
our families,
come and see discipleship
is for everyone.
Even for those
we might not expect
to be very interested
in Jesus.
Philip was a Greek name.
Who would have thought
he'd be interested
in following
this Jewish rabbi?
Or Nathaniel,
we might consider him
an antagonistic skeptic
who might have something
against where Jesus
was from, right?
Can anything good
come from Nazareth?
But notice how
Philip handles
this skepticism.
He doesn't feel like
he needs to have
all the answers
for his friend Nathaniel.
He isn't fazed
by the skepticism.
Philip has had
his own life-changing
encounter with Jesus.
And he's convinced
that Nathaniel will too
if he will just come
and see Jesus
for who he really is.
It's the easiest job
in the world.
I don't need to convince
people of anything.
They just need
to encounter Jesus.
Jesus.
Some of you
might remember
a couple weeks ago
when I was preaching
and I mentioned
how we had a newcomer
come to my house
who had some questions
and we had
popcorn chicken
and watered-down boba
together.
And he had these
tough theological questions.
But, you know,
he actually first asked
these tough theological
questions to
Josh Lynn,
actually,
one of our youth mentors.
And Josh,
I love how Josh
was humble enough
to admit that
he didn't know
how to answer
these questions,
but he was also
bold and confident
enough in his own
encounter with Jesus
to not be fazed
by his inability
to answer
these skeptical
questions.
Instead,
Josh just invited him,
this newcomer,
to investigate
these questions
together with his pastor.
Like Philip,
Josh's priority
was not answering
a skeptic's questions,
but his priority
was inviting him
to come and see.
And also like Philip,
Josh wasn't just saying,
hey, go and see.
He said,
come,
as in I am coming
with you.
And Josh picked up
the boba,
and he picked up
the popcorn chicken,
and he drove
this friend
all the way to my house
in Casha Valley
in the middle of the day
on a Friday
during Leah's nap time.
This is come and see
discipleship.
It's invitations
to behold Jesus,
just like John the Baptist's
invitation.
Behold,
the Lamb of God,
right?
It's coming alongside people.
It's going the extra mile.
It's meeting people
where they're at
and taking the time
to understand
where they're at
and what they're after
in their lives.
And it's doing it
with genuine hospitality,
just like Jesus.
Jesus invited these two guys
to stay with him,
to abide with him
in verses 38 and 39.
Why do you think
I'm always trying
to have people
over at my house?
It's because I believe
what the former professor
at Syracuse,
this author,
Rosario Butterfield,
says.
She says,
the gospel comes
with a house key.
There's something
really special
about hospitality
and I'd love to tell you
her story sometime.
You could look it up
in the secret thoughts
of an unlikely convert.
But there's something special,
she says,
about,
there's something powerful
about having people
in our houses,
you know,
feeding them
and having honest
and real and personal
face-to-face conversations
just like Jesus did here.
Asking people
with genuine interest.
What are you seeking?
Right?
Verse 38.
What are you seeking?
Being genuinely interested
in people as people
and what they're seeking
in life.
The goal of Christian discipleship
is simply to help people
on this quest
with the confidence
that Jesus is the key
to their quest.
Notice how when Andrew
goes to Peter,
he says,
we found the Messiah
because he knows
Peter's looking for the Messiah.
When Philip goes
to Nathaniel,
he says,
we have found him
of whom Moses
and the Law
and the Prophets wrote
because he knows
Nathaniel is a student
of the Hebrew Scriptures.
I love how,
notice both Andrew
and Peter say,
we have found
what you're looking for.
We have found it.
The one you've been
looking for,
we have found him.
Again,
this is invitational
discipleship
fueled by the joy
of an incredible discovery
that's too good
to keep secret.
So again,
who might we invite
to come and see
in 2022?
And how might we take
steps toward this?
We love seeing
so many of your friends
and families
at Lessons and Carols
and at Christmas Eve.
We hope that you'll invite
some of your friends
and family
to Christianity Explored,
which begins
on January 12th.
Or maybe for the youth,
inviting people
to our youth retreat
or to our youth gatherings
on Wednesdays.
Now,
I know there are
some of us though,
maybe many of us
in this room.
Whether we identify
as Christians
and disciples of Jesus
or not,
who are still unsure though
if Jesus is worth
coming to see
for ourselves.
Or if he's worth
inviting others
to come and see
for themselves.
And like I said earlier,
this invitational
come and see approach
to discipleship,
it only makes sense
if we've personally
beheld Jesus
for who he really is.
It only makes sense
if one's been captured
by a vision
of the glory of Christ.
So I want to wrap up
by pointing out
two things
from the end
of John chapter 1
that I think
are absolutely compelling
about who Jesus is
and why he is worth
coming to see
and inviting others
to come and see.
And the first is this,
that Jesus sees us,
he knows us,
and he's interested in us
personally,
intimately,
and individually.
Like think about that
for a second,
that the Son of God,
the creator of the universe,
is interested in you.
He's interested in you
personally,
individually.
Look with me
at verses 37 and 39.
These two disciples
of John the Baptist,
they start stalking Jesus,
and it says he just stops
and then he turns around,
he turns toward them,
and he gives them
his whole attention.
The Greek word is
theomai.
He marveled at them,
he beheld them,
he was intrigued
and impressed
and interested in them.
And this Lord of the universe
who's on his own mission
to fulfill his heavenly
Father's grand plans
for the world,
he stoops down
and has the tenderness
and care
to genuinely inquire
to these two guys,
what are you seeking?
He really wanted to know.
Like he really wants
to hear from you.
He really wants
to hear from us.
So bring your hard questions,
bring all your skepticism.
He invites you
to just come,
to just come
and see for yourself.
Come investigate him
as thoroughly as you want.
He's ready.
Come.
This is a God
who cares about
what we care about.
It's not trivial to him.
Whatever is on your heart
and mind,
whatever you're bringing
here today,
it's okay to tell him.
In fact,
he's interested.
He's interested.
He wants to help you with it.
That he is the creator
of the universe.
It doesn't make you
and your concerns
too small for him.
But actually,
that he is the creator
of the universe
means that he is
absolutely concerned
about what you're
concerned about.
And he sees you.
He sees us.
Isn't that good news?
You are not overlooked.
We are not overlooked.
We are seen
by the gaze
of God himself.
Look at verse 38.
Jesus turned and saw
these first two disciples
in their seeking.
Verse 42.
Jesus looked at Peter
intently
and saw him
in all his potential.
Jesus looked at Peter
and saw a lifelong friend.
Someone he wanted
to have a personal relationship.
So personal,
he even gave him
a nickname, right?
Kephes,
Rocky,
he calls him.
Verse 47.
Jesus saw Nathaniel
coming to him.
And he saw him
for whom he really was.
In Israel,
in whom there was no deceit.
A man concerned with the truth
and keeping it real.
And then when Nathaniel
was like,
wow,
how did you know me?
In verse 48,
Jesus also says,
I even saw you
under the fig tree.
He sees us.
You know,
a lot of commentators,
they try to guess
what Jesus saw
Nathaniel doing
under that fig tree,
but there is,
there's no consensus.
People make guesses,
there's no consensus,
and I'm not gonna
give you a guess either.
We don't know
what Jesus saw Nathaniel
doing under that fig tree.
And we don't know
why Jesus mentioning
this to Nathaniel
all of a sudden
made this skeptic
suddenly go from,
can anything good
come from Nazareth?
All the way to,
Rabbi,
you are now,
you are the son of God.
You are the king of Israel.
But you know,
I wonder if that's the point.
That we don't know
what Jesus saw.
Like,
we can't know,
and we won't know,
but Jesus knew.
And Nathaniel knew.
And this was between
Jesus and Nathaniel
in the context
of their own
unique personal relationship.
Isn't that fascinating?
That in Jesus,
we have a God
who is interested in us
and who sees us
in our fig tree moments.
These moments
where we feel
maybe unseen,
these moments
that no one else sees,
Jesus sees.
And he assures us
that we are known
and loved
and cared for
and valued,
not just generally,
but in a unique,
individual,
personal way
as his disciple.
You know,
I'm probably over time now,
but the last thing
I want to point out
about who Jesus is
and why he's worth
coming to see
and inviting others
to come and see
is that not only
is he,
not only does he know us,
not only does he see us
and take interest
in us personally
and individually,
but what I love
about Jesus
is that he is both
the ladder
and the lamb.
He is both
the ladder
and the lamb.
This chapter ends
with Jesus saying
to Nathaniel
in the last two verses,
man,
you thought me
knowing about you
and the fig tree
was impressive?
He says,
wait till you see
what I really
came here to do.
And he makes
this reference
to Genesis chapter 28.
If you want to look
on page 22
in your pew Bibles,
starting in verse 10,
he makes this reference
to Genesis chapter 28.
And in Genesis chapter 28,
you have Jacob,
right?
This guy who fathered
the 12 tribes of Israel
and he's in really,
really bad shape.
He's just deceived
his father.
He's deceived his brother.
He's now estranged
from his family,
running away from home.
He's literally hit
rock bottom.
He's got a stone
for a pillow.
And the promise of God
to bless him
and his family
and the world
through them richly,
it just seems
impossible,
outlandish, right?
But on his journey
away from home,
God encounters him
in a dream.
And what Jacob sees
is he sees this ladder.
And at the top
of the ladder
is God himself.
And on this ladder,
he sees the agents
of God,
the power and presence
of God
and the persons
of angels
ascending and descending
on this ladder.
And in this dream,
God assures Jacob,
deceitful,
run away from home,
nothing in his pockets,
Jacob.
He assures him
of his promise
that no matter what,
I will never leave you,
I will never forsake you,
but I'm going to be
your God
and I'm going to be
with you,
your personal God.
I'm going to be with you
no matter what.
And so what Jesus
was saying to Nathanael
in verse 51
when he said,
you will see the heavens
opened
and the angels of God
ascending and descending
on the Son of Man,
Jesus was saying,
Nathanael,
O true Israelite,
O student of the Scriptures,
don't you see
that I am the ladder?
I am the connecting point
between heaven and earth.
I am the way to God.
I am the very sign
and assurance
of God's promise
to be present
with his people,
to be present
with you,
with us.
And in one sense,
this is amazing
all by itself
that Jesus is the ladder
between us and God
because God
is our greatest need.
He's the very thing
that all of us wanderers
are seeking.
But perhaps even more amazing
is what qualifies us
to even get on the ladder
into the presence of God.
In Psalm chapter 24,
verse 3,
the psalmist asks,
Who shall ascend
the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand
in his holy place?
He who has clean hands
and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul
to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
Now, according to that criteria
from Psalm 24,
neither Jacob
nor any of us
are qualified
to ascend the hill of the Lord.
Neither Jacob
nor any of us
are qualified
or able to get on
that ladder.
For none of us
has clean hands.
None of us
has a pure heart.
And all of us
have lifted up our souls
to false gods.
All of us have trusted in
and followed
and become disciples
of lesser lords.
But the good news
of the gospel
is that not only
is Jesus the ladder,
but just as John the Baptist
proclaimed,
Behold,
he is the Lamb
of God
who takes away
the sins
of the world
by his precious blood
poured out for us
in love
to cleanse us
of our sins
and to make us
white as Christmas snow.
And this is the gospel.
The good news
that Jesus invites us all
to come and see
and to behold
and to be with him
because he is the ladder
and the Lamb
for us
and for all
who want to follow him
in this path
of discipleship.
Will you pray with me?
Amen.
Lord,
help us to see.
Help us to behold.
Help us to taste
and see
that you are truly good.
That the good news
of Christmas
is the best news,
the best gift,
and that your son
is so worthy
for us to follow.
It has to start
with us seeing, Lord.
So would you open our eyes
like only your spirit can
and help us to
come and see
and to behold
the Lamb of God,
the ladder
and the Lamb,
we pray.
Amen.