Universal Grace: Witness
The More We Share the More Our Love Deepens
John 1:29-42
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. Jan. 18th, 2026
Have you ever known the pleasure of introducing a friend to a new song, or movie, or TV show, that you are certain they’ll love but had never seen before? One of my friends was a big X-Files fan and loves that sort of paranormal, conspiracy stuff. Not because he believes all the conspiracies and whatnot, but because he thinks it’s a good yarn and is fascinated by the personalities that inhabit the space. Some are buffoonish, some are outright conmen, some are endearingly sincere and naive. So I had asked him if he ever saw Twin Peaks. To my astonishment he hadn’t. How can you love conspiracies and the esoteric and never see Twin Peaks? Well I insisted he absolutely had to watch. And he, of course, was hooked from the first episode like so many were when it was on ABC. And I was glad to have someone to talk to about Twin Peaks.
We want to share these things because, first, we want someone to know the joy we have received from watching or listening. But also, importantly, we want to be able to talk to someone about those things, right? In sharing a movie or song we don’t diminish our love or enjoyment for that movie or song. It is, in fact, deepened. It is deepened because we enjoy it with others, which is better than enjoying it alone.
This morning we once again meet up with John the Baptist. But this isn’t the hellfire and brimstone John from Advent. He is not a voice crying out in the wilderness calling people to repentance. He is not hurling insults at the powers that be or threatening that the axe is laid at the root of the tree of Israel. This time John is bearing witness to the one who is to come. The one who has arrived. The one who is the very presence of the Kingdom he had come to proclaim.
When he sees Jesus he cries out, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John explains that he had always proclaimed that one was coming who was greater than him, because he was before him. He explains his ministry was never about himself. John didn’t go into the wilderness to make a name for himself. To talk himself up. Or to stroke his own ego. He went into the wilderness to prepare the way for the one who is to come. To prepare the people for the Messiah. And he had been told the messiah would be the one who has the spirit descend on him and remain. This, John explains, had happened. Jesus had come to be baptized, he baptized him, and the Spirit descended on him like a dove. Proving he is the one who deliver Israel, proving he is the one to bring about the forgiveness of sins.
The next day when he is walking with some of his own disciples he sees Jesus again and says the same thing, “Look! Here is the lamb of God!” And they leave him to follow Jesus.
But John is not upset by this. He will later go on to say, “he must increase, but I must decrease.” This is what his ministry is truly about. Not John, but Jesus. Not his ego, but the Kingdom. If his disciples are to leave him for another, so be it. They are following the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
Here, ultimately, is the legacy of John the Baptist. Not that he performed any mighty miracles, not that he left behind some sacred text or secret teaching. But that he points to the lamb of God and tells us to look. There is a famous altarpiece in Germany, I have it on the screen behind me, that powerfully illustrates this. It’s called the Isenheim Altarpiece. On the left it shows people coming to the cross looking for healing. On the right it shows John the Baptist, the triumphant lamb at his feet, pointing to Jesus. We are meant to see in this image John saying, “behold the lamb of God.” That is his ministry, that is what it’s all about, sharing Jesus and enjoying the joy of other’s faith in him.
We, too, as disciples of Christ must be like John the Baptist. The life of faith is not something for us to keep to ourselves. If we truly have joy in Christ, if we truly have peace in our faith, how can we but share that? If my enjoyment of Twin Peaks is such I have to let my friend know about it, what is my enjoyment of my relationship with Jesus? John made his life about pointing to the Lamb of God so others would know what he knew. So should we. The more we share, the deeper our own faith becomes.
Now, some may be saying “that’s not me.” We imagine people leaving tracts in gas station bathrooms or shouting on street corners or cornering strangers in awkward conversations. If that’s what the evangelism of the church was about we wouldn’t get very far. It is more like sharing a movie or a song. Hey, would you like to come to church? Hey, this is important to me can I share it? You don’t know what seeds get planted, you don’t know what God does with such things. But what I do know is that such things are part of our discipleship. That the more we share, the deeper our own love grows.