Pastor Sherry’s message for January 18, 2026

Scriptures: Ex 12:21-30; Ps 40:1-11; 1 Cor 1:1-9; Jn 1:29-42

Who is/are the person/persons who led you to Christ? At a congregational funeral here a week ago, one eulogist testified that the deceased had spoken into his life when he was in middle school, around age 12. He was from the wrong side of town and was making poor decisions for himself, when the then middle school math teacher took him aside. Due to this teacher’s concern for this boy, the young man “cleaned up his act,” was led to accept Jesus as his savior, and went on to become a pastor and an evangelist. What was particularly amazing was the fact that he then traveled all over the world, bringing others to Christ. Our dear friend influenced this man who then went on to influence many, many others.

I credit my faith to my grandmothers. My father’s mother, a Presbyterian and a high school Biology teacher, made sure I was baptized at age 3 and attended Sunday School. She convinced me that Jesus is real and that He loved me. My mother’s mother, who attended a storefront Pentecostal Holiness Church in West Seattle, made a living cleaning other peoples’ homes. She often took me with her to clean and to attend church. Her service to her church was to clean it on Saturdays. I have memories of helping her, as a 5-6 year old, dust mop under folding chairs. The minister there was a tall (to me), thin woman who wore a crown of braids on her head. I don’t remember anything about her preaching but I knew she liked me and I now wonder if she had something to do with my later call to the ministry.

Much later on, after I had been married for 18 years and divorced, I encountered a woman-friend named Cheryl. She had a Jewish mother and a Baptist father, and a deep Christian faith firmly steeped in Hebrew tradition. We worked together, in the mid-1990’s, on a mobile mental heath team that ministered to four under-served nursing homes. Traveling together by car each day, I noted she saw God’s hand in everything. If an egret flew over the road as we drove to work, she would thank God for the blessing of that simple, but beautiful sight. She would go into raptures, praising God for a field of wild-flowers we passed. When someone was kind to us or gave us a compliment at work, she would also praise God for having prompted them, and thank Him that they had been obedient to pass on that message to us. She taught me by example to look for the goodness and loving kindness of God, rather than focusing on what is wrong in the world. Like King David in today’s psalm (40:1-11), or like Paul in our 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 lesson, she praised God that He hears and answers our prayers, rescues and restores us, and is faithful, true, and trustworthy. She also taught me to pray out loud and without feeling self-conscious. My faith came alive under her tutelage and her example. Attending Cursillo (in 1990) took me from a head to a heart knowledge of Jesus, but hanging out with Cheryl helped me to recognize the hand of God in my life. When I told her one day that I felt called to ordained ministry, she replied, “I know. I have known it for some time.”

In our Gospel lesson today (John 1:29-42), we find three folks who lead others to Christ. First, we see John the Baptist. We know from our Scriptures of last week, that John the Baptists’ job was to prepare people to realize the Messiah, Jesus, was coming. They were to prepare themselves by undergoing a baptism of repentance. In doing so, he had the honor of baptizing Jesus. John tells us the very next day, John the Baptist sees Jesus walking along and says to his disciples (v.29)->…look, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world. He points or leads them to Jesus. 

Now why did he call Jesus the Lamb of God? 

(1)In Genesis 22:7-8, Abraham is obedient even to the extent of offering his long-awaited son, Isaac, to God. Isaac asks him-→”Father…the fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering”? Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” The burnt offering was an atonement for sin. A lamb, bull, goat, or pigeon was killed then burnt whole as an aroma pleasing to the LORD. It was a costly and an extravagant offering—the sinner lost economic potential, and no human was allowed to eat any of it. The life of the animal was dedicated to God in place of the life of the sinful person. 

(2) Later, in our Exodus 12:21-30 passage, the Israelite slaves were to take a 1 year old male lamb or goat, without defect. They were to kill it, drain its blood, and sprinkle that blood over their doorways, so when the angel of death swept through Egypt, claiming each first born son, those Israelites who had been obedient were spared. They had been saved by the blood of the Lamb. The Passover Festival then reminded them of when the angel of death had passed over them.

(3) The prophet Isaiah wrote, in Isaiah 53:7-→He [the Suffering servant, the Messiah, Jesus] was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. Using the prophetic tense, which treats future events as though they have already happened, he predicts how Messiah will die. The prophet refers to Messiah as a lamb.

(4) Similarly, the prophet Jeremiah speaks for Jesus in the first person, in Jeremiah 11:19->I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; I did not realize that they had plotted against Me saying, “Let us destroy the tree and its fruit; Let us cut Him off from the land of the living, that His name be remembered no more.” In its “nearer fulfillment,” the prophesy was about Jeremiah. His enemies plotted to take his life. But this side of the Cross, we know it also refers to Jesus. Again, there is the image of a lamb being led to slaughter.

You may wonder how John the Baptist knew so much about Jesus. They grew up at some distance from each other, but John’s father was a priest so he would have been steeped in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). He would have known these passages. Further, both Holy Spirit and the voice of the Father from heaven had identified Jesus to him at the time of His baptism. So John the Baptist simple reiterates what he knows: This is the One we have waited for, the One Who was to come.

Next we encounter two of John the Baptist’s disciples who chose to follow after Jesus. They were sincere seekers. We are not told the identity of the second guy—though tradition tells us it was John, the author of this Gospel account—but the first was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. They ask Jesus, very respectfully, Rabbi, where are you staying? To me this is such a strange question. I’d have asked about His knowledge and His credentials: Are you indeed the Christ? May I ask you some questions? May I follow you? Instead, it’s as though they want to know His accommodations. Are you staying here in Bethsaida? In Caesarea? At the Holiday Inn, or the Marriott Courtyard? Jesus graciously replies (v.39)–>Come and you will see->an echo of Psalm 34:8-→Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. He very simply invites them. He encourages them to come and see for themselves. And they do spend the rest of the day with Him. 

At some point, or maybe that day or the next, Andrew leads Peter to Jesus. Andrew prefaces his guidance with his belief that he and John, thanks to John the Baptist, have met the one believed to be Messiah. Andrew introduces his brother to Jesus. Jesus, knowing all things and without having previously met Simon, says his name. He quotes his lineage-→You are the son of John; Simon bar Jonah. Then He proceeds to change Simon’s name to Cephas in Aramaic (a form of Rock/Stone), or Peter in Greek (also meaning Rock). Peter at that point was anything but a rock. However, Jesus is renaming him not for what he is but for what he is to become.  Isn’t that a beautiful thing? Jesus sees us not for what we are at this point in time; but rather for who He means for us to become. 

In addition, isn’t that just how it goes? One person comes to Christ and they tell what they know to another, and that person comes to Christ, and so on. Each one teaches one. The Faith spreads from person to person. This, I think, is the point of today’s Gospel. Someone, or several several someones, led you to Jesus. You respected them, you believed what they had to say, and you observed how they lived. You noted they lived differently from other people, kinder, more grace-filled, more forgiving, gentler, etc., than others in the culture. You saw that they had a personal relationship with Jesus. Because of their story (testimony) and their example, you too drew closer to Jesus. Let’s take time today to thank God for them, and to thank God for their willingness to speak into our lives. And, at this time of embarking on New Year’s Resolutions, let us resolve to be open to obeying the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit, leading us to lead someone we encounter to Jesus. Amen!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams