January 16, 2005

(Appologies for the quality of this weeks audio)

One day, shortly after He was baptized by John, Jesus came out to the Jordan again.And as John saw Him coming, he proclaimed, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” The Lamb of God.What do you normally think of when you hear the word lamb?A cute, cuddly, little creature, right?Something you might paint a picture of in your baby’s nursery room?Something you might feed and coo over at a petting farm?A cute little lamb.

Well, that isn’t what the people John was speaking to thought about when he called Jesus a “lamb.”No, they had a completely different picture.When they heard John call Jesus a “lamb,” they would have recalled the Passover Lamb, whose blood saved their ancestors from death.They would have recalled how each year, they still sacrificed a lamb to remember that deliverance and look forward to the deliverance coming.When they heard “lamb,” they would have visualized the lamb of the daily offering that the Priests sacrificed because of their sins.

Their minds would have drifted to the book of Leviticus, where God outlined a number of uses for lambs.They would have thought about the “Burnt Offering” lamb, a lamb without defect, that the priest killed on their behalf. Or the sin-offering lamb through which they received forgiveness of sins.Maybe they would have even thought about the goat that the priest laid all their sins on, and then led out into the desert to carry all those sins away.Certainly, they would have recalled Isaiah, who prophesied, “He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.”These would be the images in the minds of the people John was talking to when he said: “lamb.”Slaughter.Sacrifice.Blood.Guilt.Sin.

So friends, get the image of the cute little lamb out of your mind right now.The image John wants to remind us of is one of pain, suffering, blood, sacrifice.And love.This one verse communicates to you and me the greatest news in the world!You see, that Lamb of God had a job to do – taking away the sin of the world!Picking up our sins and carrying them away.

It is hard for you and me to relate to a sacrificial Lamb in the same way that the Children of Israel did.But maybe there is another way for us to understand this.As I was writing this message on Wednesday, I heard the familiar sounds of the garbage man coming down our street, and taking our garbage away.There were three ugly bags of garbage out there before he came, but afterward, they were gone.Nowhere in sight.He took them away.

Do you suppose that if John the Baptist were here today, preaching on our streets, and saw Jesus walking toward him, that he might say, “Behold, our Garbage Man, who takes away the trash of the world!”Who knows?But I think that picture helps us understand what an awful job it was that Jesus did for you and me.Being the “Lamb of God” wasn’t a cushy, comfortable kind of job.It was a down and dirty, disgusting, excruciatingly painful kind of job!And He wasn’t just coming to take away the Jewish people’s sins.This Lamb, this Garbage Man, was coming to take away the sin of the world!That means yours and mine, too!I read an interesting story that beautifully illustrates this truth, by Max Lucado.Let me retell a version of his story…

The woman flopped down on the bench and dropped her trash bag between her feet.Exhausted, she stared at the sidewalk.Everything ached.Back.Legs.Neck.Her shoulders were stiff and hands raw.All because of the sack.Oh, to be rid of this garbage!It was a gray and cloudy day, cold and slightly drizzling.A passing car drenched the sack and splashed her jeans.She didn’t move. Too tired.She struggled to even remember life without the trash.

A second car stopped and parked.A man stepped out into the slush, and from the car he pulled out a trash bag, lumpy with litter.He draped it over his shoulder and cursed its weight.Neither of them spoke.His face seemed younger than his stooped back.Soon he was gone.Her gaze returned to the pavement.She never looked at her trash.Early on she did.But what she saw repulsed her, so she’s kept the sack closed ever since.What else could she do?Give it to someone?Everyone has their own!

A young mother walked by.With one hand, she led a child; with the other she dragged her load, bumpy and heavy.Then came an old man, face wrinkled.His trash sack was so long it hit the back of his legs as he walked.He glanced at the woman and tried to smile.What weight would he be carrying? She wondered as he passed.

“Regrets.”The woman turned to see who said that, and beside her on the bench a man was sitting.A kind looking man.Like hers, his jeans were muddy.Unlike hers, his shoulders were straight.He wore a T-shirt and baseball cap.She looked for his trash but didn’t see it.He watched the old man disappear as he explained, “As a young father, he worked many hours and neglected his family.His children don’t love him.His sack is full, full of regrets.”

The woman said nothing, so the man continued, “And your sack?”“Mine?” she asked.“Shame, right?” he responded, in a very gentle and compassionate voice.The woman didn’t know what to say.He continued, “Too many hours in the wrong arms.Last year.Last night…shame.”She stiffened up, positive he was going to start preaching.As if she needed more shame!She was waiting for his holier-than-thou judgment to come.But it never came.

Instead, in a warm and honest voice, he asked: “Will you give me your trash?”She furrowed her brow.What can he mean?“Give it to me.Tomorrow.At the landfill.Will you bring it?”He wiped a tear from her eye with his thumb, and then stood up.“Friday.The landfill.”Long after he left, the woman sat there thinking about what he said.How could he know what he knew?And how could he know and still be so kind?It made her feel good.

But when she woke up the next day, it was even more dark and stormy.At the foot of her bed was her sack of trash.Hoisting it over her shoulder, she walked out of the apartment and onto the slushy street.It was Friday.She wondered for a few moments, “What am I doing anyway?Who is this guy?And did he really mean it?His offer?Well, it can’t hurt.”She started toward the edge of town and noticed that others were walking in the same direction.The man beside her smelled of alcohol.He’d slept many nights in his suit.A teenage girl walked a few feet ahead.The woman of shame hurried to catch up.“What’s in your sack?” she asked.The teenage girl answered, “Rage.Rage at my father.Rage at my mother.I’m tired of anger.He said he’d take it.”She motioned to the sack.“I’m going to give it to him.”

When the two of them got to the landfill, they saw that it was tall with trash, heaps and mounds of it.By the time they reached the hill, the line to the top was long.Hundreds lined up ahead of them.Everyone waited in silence, stunned by what they heard – screaming.Groaning. Then screaming again.His scream.

As they drew nearer, they found out why.He knelt before each person, gestured toward the sack, offered a request, then a prayer.“May I have it?And may you never feel it again.”Then he bowed his head and lifted the sack, emptying its contents upon himself.The selfishness of the glutton, the bitterness of the angry, the possessiveness of the insecure.He felt what they felt.It is as if he’d lied or cheated or cursed his Maker.

Finally, it was the woman’s turn.She hesitated but he invites.He reached for her trash and took it from her.“You can’t live with this,” he explained.“You weren’t made to.”With head down, he emptied her shame upon his shoulders.Then looking toward heaven with tear-flooded eyes, he screamed, “I’m sorry!”“But you did nothing!” she cried.Still, he cried as she had for so long.That’s when she realized that the cry is hers.Her shame is his.For the first time in a long time, she had no trash to carry.

With the others, she stood at the base of the hill and watched as he was buried under a mound of misery.For some time he moaned.Then nothing.Just silence.The people sat among the trash heaps and wondered who this man was and what he’d done.Like mourners at a wake, they lingered.Some shared stories.Others said nothing.All of them occasionally glanced at the landfill.They stayed through the night and into the next day.They stayed another night, bound together by this Trash man.Some slept.Others talked.By early morning, most were asleep.They almost missed the moment.It is the teenage girl who saw it.The girl with the rage.She didn’t trust her eyes at first, but when she looked again, she knew.She said, softly to herself, “He’s standing.”Then she said it again, loud enough for everyone to hear: “He’s standing!”Everyone raised their eyes, and they saw him silhouetted against a golden sun. Standing.Indeed.

Behold, the Garbage man!Behold, the Lamb of God! Who takes away the sin of the world!That’s who Jesus is, and that’s why He came here.To take the ugliness of our trash away for good.He lived a perfect, trash-less life.But He had all of ours poured out on Him.He suffered for it.And He took it away!Your trash and mine.And then He stood victoriously.

Friends, are you still trying to carry your trash?Are you still dragging those sacks of shame, guilt, and regret?Those sacks of rage, anger, and hatred?The bags filled with selfishness and indifference?Why don’t you give them to Him?Our trash man.Our “Garbage Man.”The Lamb of God.Martin Luther once said, “There are only two places where sin can be: on the sinner or on Christ.The law placed it on you and me.The Gospel, preached here by John [the Baptist], declares that Christ has graciously taken it on himself and taken it away.”Friends, look at Jesus!Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!Yours.Mine.Your neighbour’s.Shall we point out our “garbage man” to others?You bet!Amen.

 

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