John 1.35-42a

Why did you come to church this morning?

What are you looking for today?

Are you looking for peace of mind?

Are you looking for relief from your anxiety?

Are you looking for strength to get through the day or the week?

Are you looking for some excitement to combat the drudgery of a boring, purposeless existence?

Are you looking for hope that things will get better?

Are you looking for assurance that God is real?

We are all, often, looking for an escape from our day to day experiences which seem to bring more questions than answers, more suffering than safety, and more despair than repair.

In this morning’s Biblical text, chosen for us by the lectionary for this Second Sunday after Epiphany, we enter into a scene where a few men were looking for all of the things above and found them all in an unexpected place.

Let’s hear from the Gospel of John now.

John 1:35–42a tell us this:

[35] The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, [36] and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” [37] The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. [38] 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?” [39] 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. [40] One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. [41] He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). [42a] He brought him to Jesus.

As I often note in my messages, times and places are very important in understanding the Biblical narrative of God’s grace to us.

Our text for this morning opens us with a time stamp signaling that these things we hear about happened on “the next day.”

That means we have to ask the question, “what happened the prior day that was so important for us to remember?”

Well, if you remember last week’s message, what happened the day before today’s text was Jesus’ baptism.

I want to take moment to speak about Jesus’ baptism because I didn’t get to address this specific idea in last week’s sermon.

When Jesus approached John the Baptist to be baptized, John was taken aback because he knew that baptism for the washing and cleansing from Sin and he also knew that Jesus was sinless.  So, in John’s mind, Jesus did not need the effects of baptism in his life to make him right with God.

And, knowing that Jesus is sinless, we often come to the same conclusion as John, asking, “Why did Jesus have to be baptized?”

Again, if we remember from last week, Jesus said that He needed to be baptized to “fulfill all righteousness.”

To be righteous is to be perfect in every way.  To be righteous means that you have never done anything wrong, not even once, when measured against God’s standards for life and love.  And, in the Bible there are way over 600 specific commands for you follow.  

But, the Bible is clear, and you know it in your heart,  that not one regular human being is able to completely do everything that God says to do and not do.

The Apostle Paul quotes an Old Testament prophet and says,

“None is righteous, no, not one;

[11] no one understands;

no one seeks for God.

[12] All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

no one does good,

not even one.” (Romans 3:10–12, ESV)

The only way that we can be called righteous, perfect, and good by God and welcomed into His Kingdom of Heaven is though faith in Jesus.  Faith in Jesus Christ completely unites us to Him and therefore everything that He has thought, said, and done is credited to our account before God.  That means, through baptismal faith which ultimately trusts in God’s gift of Jesus to do for you what you could never do for yourself—live a perfectly Godly life from beginning to end—God will call you righteous, perfect, holy, and welcome you with open arms into His Forever Kingdom.

So, even though Jesus did not need to be forgiven of Sin, He needed to be baptized because He needed to checkoff God’s command to be baptized so that when you stand with faith in Him, you will be seen by God as having completed God’s list of commandments—which includes baptism—without failure at any point.

Now, back to our originally scheduled programming.

So, the next day, after seeing Jesus baptized and hearing the voice of God say, “This is my Son with whom I am well pleased,” as the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus, what does John believe and tell others about Jesus?

As soon as John the Baptist sees Jesus, he turns to some of his students and confesses his faith to them by saying, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”

I ask you to consider this…

What do you think about Jesus and what do you say about Jesus the day after Sunday?

On Sunday you come to church, you sing songs about Jesus, you read Scriptures from the Bible about Jesus, you listen to sermons about Jesus, and you respond by confessing your sin, confessing your faith and then you receive communion, which is the body and blood of Jesus which makes you right with God.

So, after a day of seeing Jesus and coming to Jesus for forgiveness and life on Sunday, what happens on Monday morning when you wake up and begin your daily routine?

On the next day, the day after Sunday,

Do you think about Jesus?

Do you thank Jesus for being your Savior and Friend?

Do you trust Jesus to do what He says He will do, which is provide for your needs?

Do you talk about Jesus with others?

Do you invite others to Bible study or to a church service so that they too and come and see that Jesus is the Lamb of God, the Messiah, the One that they need?

Or, do you mostly forget about Jesus until it is time to go back to the building located at 10 Pinetree Road in Huntington Station?

In our text for this morning, John the Baptist did not forget about Jesus the day after God brought Jesus into his life to do what was impossible for him to do for himself—find the forgiveness of sin and an eternal home in God’s Kingdom.

And, in our text this morning, after taking up Jesus’ gentle and grace-filled invitation to come and see that He was the Savior that God promised, John’s students become Jesus’ disciples.  Being filled with awe and wonder at God’s great love for them, Jesus’ new disciples immediately go out and talk about Jesus and bring other people to Jesus so that they too can come and see that Jesus is the Lamb of God, the Messiah, the One that they need if they are going to live with peace and hope on a daily basis.

When I was doing my undergraduate work at Brooklyn College, I had a friend who was sadly a part of the 7th Day Adventist cult.  In an attempt to evangelize me, she gave me a pamphlet from her “church.”  On the cover of the pamphlet was artist’s rendering of an angry Jesus pointing his index finger at you in condemnation.

I will have the image from the cover of that cult’s communication forever in my memory because of the striking contrast between who they were telling me Jesus was and who the real Jesus is.

Jesus doesn’t wave His finger in your face to condemn you.

As you hear every Sunday before communion, Jesus gently and graciously invites you to come and see that He is willing to take all of your burdens upon Himself and give you rest.

You hear that every Sunday when I share from Matthew 11:28–30, which has Jesus saying to you:

[28] Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (ESV)

As you have heard today, Jesus invites you to be part of God’s family by coming to walk alongside of Him where He will graciously show you that He loves you and willingly came to be the sacrificial Lamb of God on the cross so that He could also be your sin forgiving Messiah/Savior.

Think about a lifeguard who watches over a beach or a pool.  When a lifeguard sees a person begin to struggle, they don’t sit in their chair and wonder if he would if the struggling person would make fun of their swimming or reject their attempt to save them.  No, they see the helpless condition of the one in the water and they do something immediately.

All around you are men and women drowning in their own sin.  They are frantically waving, hoping for someone to notice them.  How often do you sit in your shaded chair and refuse to help them because you are concerned about what they might say about you or how they might respond?  

People are dying.  Will you get out of your chair and help them?

John the Baptist did.

Andrew did.

And they started with those closest to them—a brother and close friends.

Jesus was John the Baptist’s lifeguard.

Jesus was Andrew’s lifeguard.

And, Jesus is your lifeguard.

Jesus saw you struggling in your Sin.

Jesus immediately took action by getting out of His chair—His throne in Heaven—to come to your side and rescue you from death.

Jesus came to be the Lamb of God for you—the perfect sacrifice on the cross to pay for your Sin.

Jesus came to be your Messiah/Savior—the only One capable of forgiving your Sin, making your righteous, and handing you eternal life.

What are you seeking today?

Are you seeking peace?

In John 14:27, Jesus says to you:

[27] Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (ESV)

Are you seeking strength?

Are you seeking assurance that God is real?

In 1 John 5:13, God says this to you about His Word, the Bible: 

[13] I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. (ESV)

Are you seeking hope that things will get better?

God assures you that He is alive and active pouring out every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly realms into your life when you read Philippians 1.6:

[6] And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (ESV)

Just as Jesus called John’s friends to “Come and see,” Jesus calls you to “Come and see.”

Seeing Jesus in action is an integral part of faith.

It is only when you witness Jesus words, thoughts, and actions that you can confidently say today and the next day that “Jesus is the Lamb of God,” and, “Jesus is the Messiah.”

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

January 18, 2026.