Another tough one. Why can’t we just skip over it and go to the end where all looks like it’s leading to a good place? No, Jesus, you dump on us that which doesn’t seem like anything until we get a peak of what’s underneath. That’s why we stand off on the side, find it hard to trust what you say, who you are, if you’re real. Yeah, make it easy on yourself, let us slide by this one with our eyes shut.

No. Not giving in on that. Sure, it’d be easier for both of us but not the best thing. Only when we struggle do we get stronger, know at least an essence of the truth in it. That’s what you really want even if it’s the hard truth.

But if it helps both of us to ease into it, let’s start in the middle, settle alongside it, and feel where it made lead. To fully grasp it though, understand what led before informs what’s next.

Day Two: What Do You Want?

Start with this: funny in a way how it happened. But since John’s long finger had kept pointing to Jesus, it’s really no surprise. John, still over the top about what he’d just realized, declares, “Look! The Lamb of God!” Maybe they were between having enough of this weirdo wearing itchy camel hair, eating locust and honey and yet seeing some of what John saw, but two of John’s own disciples take off behind Jesus.

Jesus likely sensed their redirection. Sometimes students of learned teachers would walk in the very footprints of the teachers from which they wished to learn. People along the road may have looked from Jesus to what was behind him. Just to make it easy on everyone, he looks around and speaks.

Pay attention now. These are the first recorded words in this record written by a disciple who would be one of Jesus’ closest friends and followers. What he says may very well define the relationship from there on out.

“What do you want?” Spoken words that questioned their purpose in being behind him. Or was it more? What are you looking for, seeking to find? What are your needs in the core of your being? What stirs your soul enough to get in line with One who is like no other you’ve ever known? What are your expectations as you start to follow me?

These two couldn’t give an answer really. Who knows what anyone really wants except that something is missing, not in place, has a hole growing inside that the world can’t fill. Their only answer is the most simple, most futile, and most right one they can give.

“Rabbi, where are you staying?” Rabbi. Teacher, they call him. Their answer with a question reveals more than a request for the location of Jesus’ tent. They want to be with him, close to him, to stay with him. Who knows, to become like him? For now though, it fits. Teach us who you are, what you know of God, what you know of us.

“Come and see,” he replies. I’ll show you where I stay, how I live, who I am. See me and you’ll know me, understand more than past references in ancient writings.

Again, understand what led before informs what’s next, where this new Teacher will lead those who follow.

Back to Day One: Like No One You’d Ever Seen

John, the one that did all that shouting in the desert, somehow had gotten followers, a kind of first-century social platform, who took him seriously despite his weirdness. He was known for two things. He proclaimed the people needed to repent, that is reverse their lives toward good, so as to prepare for the One who was coming sent from God. For those who accepted his message, John would baptize them. Thus, he’s known as John the Baptist (JTB).

Now, to be clear, baptism wasn’t a new thing that JTB made up on his own. Baptism with water was a familiar Jewish practice.  This explains why people were receptive to it.

Which brings it to the place where what it was, now it wasn’t. What was that, what led before informs what's next? When John saw Jesus coming toward him, JTB declares, “Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Now most folks assume JTB and Jesus had seen each other before. After all, their mothers were related so somewhere in the last 30 years they’d probably been thrown together at family affairs. However, John almost can’t get out of his own way on this particular day. Twice he says, “I didn’t know he was the one.” But what he now knows changes everything. What led before will inform what's next.

As John gazed upon Jesus, a dove-like form of the Holy Spirit came upon him. With new eyes, JTB realizes that Jesus was the One for whom people were to prepare. Hinting at the full identity of Jesus, John practically gushes that Jesus is far greater than himself because “he existed long before I did.”

Interestingly though, this particular passage never says that John baptized Jesus with water. An omission by the writer? Maybe, but deliberately so. From this point, baptism by water as an act of turning toward God takes second place, maybe even drops away. What is significant in this new baptism is the coming of the Holy Spirit.

So what’s that supposed to mean, this ‘coming of the Holy Spirit’?

That kind of questioning is where your feet are going to get wet in preparation for that deep dive you’ve been avoiding. But since you asked,….

Whereas the Jews knew of the Holy Spirit and their ancient writings had referenced the Spirit of God, this kind of presence of God wasn’t around or available consistently. Yet now, as the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus, there was a power and a purpose which would pull upon and move him. Once fulfilled in Jesus, this same Spirit would be in the lives of those receptive to him.

That much is the easy part, uh, easier at least than what led to John’s identification of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Grapple with what John had called Jesus. “There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

So what’s the problem with that? JTB calls Jesus the Lamb of God. As in the nursery rhyme, Mary had a Little Lamb, geez but that is so cute, (it’s awful really).

It gets murky here, especially for animal rights activists. Sheep and lambs are dumb animals, and they have this herd instinct that follow whoever calls them. “Everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go.” However, Jesus was famous for his debating skills, and he didn’t exactly fall in with the crowd.

Fall back on the old story of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his own son in obedience to God.  At first you’d think it foreshadowed the Temple rituals of sacrificing lambs as sin offerings. But Abraham’s sacrifice was not because he’s done something against God or another person, but because he wanted to do whatever God asked of him, even if it took all the faith he could muster. But before the worst could happen, God provided a ram instead to sacrifice. In other words, God made another way. There was no lamb.

Then there was the story of the Israelites’ escape from Egypt as slaves. God said put the blood of a perfect lamb on doorposts, so when the angel of death came, it would know to “Passover” that house. Still, the lamb’s blood was not because anyone was out of favor with God, but rather a sign of God’s protective measure to shield the people from this last deadly plague that finally bought their freedom from Pharaoh.

Well then, listen to the Torah, the Law, and the prescribed Day of Atonement.

On this holy day, Jews are asked to spend time in repentance. But no blood sacrifice is made on this day. A goat ritualistically carried away the sins of the people. From thus comes the understanding of scapegoat. Still, there’s no lamb.

Which leaves one last reference from which JTB could have pulled in order to see Jesus as Lamb of God. The ancient prophet’s writings of Isaiah speak of God’s servant as a lamb led to slaughter who makes it possible for many to be counted as righteous for he will bear all their sins. The glitch though is now John declares this Lamb of God of which he speaks “takes away the sin (not sins) of the world.”

John’s role grows from that of the Baptizer to one of Witness. By presenting Jesus as Lamb of God in a new and now greater way, an understanding of what God is about to do becomes more than was ever understood before. Individual souls must come to understandings of who they are in relationship to God certainly.

The Trouble with Jesus is aimed at a collective redirection of humankind. This Lamb of God would become like no One the world had ever seen. John’s witness summarized its impact for now the Lamb is no less than the Son of God.

Lamb of God, Son of God, Rabbi/Teacher.

Dwell and abide with me and you’ll see with more than human eyes.

It didn’t take long. Before that second day was out, one of them, Andrew, ran to find his brother, Simon, the disciple whom Jesus would rename as Peter, meaning Rock.

“We have found the Messiah.” What led before informs what’s next.

 John 1:29-42