Isaiah 49:3, 5-6 / 1 Cor 1:1-3 / John 1:29-34
The month of January this year is a rather unique month. Because there are two new years in this month.
On the 1st of January, we celebrated the New Year with countdowns, fireworks, parties and well wishes.
In a week’s time, we will celebrate the Lunar New Year, with “Gong Xi Fa Cai”, bak-kwa, pineapple tarts, yearly visits to the elders and the usual aunties’ questions like “When are you getting married?” or “When are you going to have baby?”
Whether it is the 1st of January New Year or the Lunar New Year, we want to begin the year happily and happily ever after, or at least happily for the rest of the year.
So we will wish each other “Happy New Year” or “Xin Nian Kuai Le”. That shows our hope and our desire for happiness in life.
And for us, we would certainly want to come to church and pray for blessings. Whether Christians or otherwise, we have this religious inclination to ask God for blessings. And essentially we are asking for protection and happiness.
Yes, we ask God to protect us from danger and evil, whether visible or invisible, so that our hearts will be at peace and that we can live our lives happily.
And God will surely want to bless us. God will certainly not withhold His blessing on us, or put a limit on His blessings on us.
But as much as God wants to bless us abundantly, blessings that will overflow from us to our loved ones, there is one thing that will block and obstruct God’s blessings on us.
That one thing is none other than sin. Sin is the blockage and the obstacle to God’s blessings on us.
But sin is not a blockage or an obstacle that happens suddenly or that is caused by an external force or party.
And we know very well what is the cause of sin. Sin is caused by ourselves, and by our sins, we block and obstruct God’s blessings on us.
And before we say that there is no point praying anymore because God doesn't listen to our prayer and that He lets bad things happen to us and we get angry with God, let us ask ourselves, “What is my sin?”
And when we can honestly identify our sin, then we will be angry with ourselves, because by our own doing, we block and obstruct God’s blessings on us.
But even if we are able to identify our sin, we may not be able to overcome it. Our willpower and determination have been put to the test and they have failed us. That’s simply because the tempter is just too strong for us, and so we fall again and again into sin.
And God is not somewhere out there watching us and not helping us. God did something.
That something is in the gospel, when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming towards him and he said, “Look, there is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
It is so strange that this profound title of Jesus, the Lamb of God, is such a gentle and humble title. Why not more profound titles like Mighty God, Powerful Deliver, Eternal Saviour or Lion of Judah.
So this gentle and humble Lamb of God is going to take away the sin of the world, this Lamb of God is going to remove this massive blockage and obstacle to God’s blessings on His people.
But this is actually the fulfilment of the promise of salvation.
In The Exodus of the Old Testament, it was by the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb that God delivered His people from slavery in Egypt.
And it is by Jesus, the Lamb of God, that we will be delivered from the slavery to sin, and the blockages and obstacles to God’s blessings will be removed.
So the solution to the massive pains and problems of the world is the gentle and humble Lamb of God.
The problem is big and massive, but the solution is simple and humble.
That seems amazing but the following example will help us to understand.
The door is much smaller compared to the house. The lock is much smaller compared to the door. The key is the smallest of all, but the key can open the entire house.
The key to understanding Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away our sins is through the Sacrament of Confession. It is said that Sacramental Confession is the greatest form of deliverance.
That is where Jesus, the Lamb of God, takes away the sins of the world.
So let us go for Confession regularly, and to let Jesus the Lamb of God take away the sins that block and obstruct God’s blessings on us.
That is the key that will open our hearts to God’s abundant blessings of peace, joy and happiness.