2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Behold the Lamb of God
Jesus’ baptism was one of the defining events of his
life and his public ministry. We just celebrated the Feast of the Baptism of
the Lord last Monday, so it is also a major event in the life of the Church. This
story is one of the few that are recounted in all four gospels. Mark actually begins
his gospel with this story, and Matthew and Luke’s accounts are very similar.
And we know the story well. Jesus appears at the Jordan River where John is
baptizing and is baptized himself. Upon leaving the water, the Holy Spirit
descends upon him in the form of a dove, and a voice from heaven says “You are
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”. And something powerful happened to
Jesus at that time. It was as if the Holy Spirit had invaded Jesus and drove
him forward in his public ministry. He begins here and does not stop until
Calvary.
As usual, John’s account is different than the others.
John does not say that Jesus was actually baptized. All we hear today is that
Jesus was walking along the banks of the Jordan and John saw him and exclaimed,
“Behold the Lamb of God!” That’s a curious statement, isn’t it? Why didn’t John
say something like, “Hey, there’s my cousin Jesus! Look everybody, he’s the one
I’ve been telling you about.” Instead, John uses some strange reference to the
Lamb of God.
But John’s disciples knew exactly what he was talking
about. They had an image and understanding of who the Lamb of God was to be. The
Lamb of God referenced the messiah. They had been waiting for him for
centuries, and their anticipation of the coming messiah was at a fever pitch at
this time in history. At first they thought that John himself might be the one,
but he spoke of someone else, someone so great and powerful that he was unfit
to even untie his sandals. John’s baptism with water was one of repentance in
preparation for the coming of the one who would baptize with fire and the Holy
Spirit. This coming Messiah would bring forgiveness of sin and salvation to the
entire world, not just to the Jews. It was as Isaiah foretold in our first
reading today, “I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may
reach to the ends of the earth.”
We hear constant references to the Lamb of God during
every Mass; we know that it refers to the role of Jesus as the sacrificial lamb
who died on the cross to take away our sins, but to the Jews of Jesus’ day the
Lamb of God meant something different.
We think of lambs as being submissive creatures who
are easily led about. We even use the term derisively. Don’t be a sheep, don’t
follow blindly, think for yourself. Sheep are weak, sheep are docile, sheep are
creatures to be used by the strong. But to the Jews, the Lamb of God was
someone strong. Their image of the Lamb of God went back to the prophet Isaiah,
who prophesized about the coming messiah, the Suffering Servant. “Though he was
harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth; Like a lamb led to the
slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and opened not his
mouth.”
To
the Jews, the silent strength of the Lamb was to overcome the evil of the
world. Even though the Lamb had the ability to overpower the kingdoms of the
world he would choose not to. Instead, he would meekly submit to the will of God
and his death would be the vehicle used to bring salvation to the world.
Another
image the Jews had of the Lamb of God was that of a powerful liberator. During
the third century BC, the Jewish liberator Judas Maccabeus, Judas the Hammer,
led a rebellion against the Greeks that established the free rule in Judea for
over a hundred years. Judas’ symbol was the lamb and he was called the Lamb of
God. These two references, in Isaiah and in Maccabees, were to a strong leader
who would free Israel from oppression and restore her to her rightful place
among the nations. To John’s disciples, the Lamb of God meant the messiah. This lamb is not a docile victim. This lamb is a
hammer. This lamb is an active victim.
The
role of the lamb was central to Jewish worship and their understanding of their
relationship with God. Lambs were used as the primary sacrifice to God in the
temple. But not just any lamb. It had to be a pure white lamb, unblemished,
with no spot or imperfection, preferably the first born. The lamb had to be
given and sacrificed with no reservation; you had to give it willingly and not
under duress.
The
lamb was slaughtered on the altar of the temple and its blood was collected
into bowls, to be sprinkled on the altar and on the people as a sign that their
sins were forgiven. The symbolism of the
lamb’s blood was very powerful. The life force of the lamb was in its blood,
and when that blood was poured out and sprinkled on the people they shared in
its power.
Can
you see how John the Evangelist and Jesus’ disciples would view the image of
Jesus as the Lamb of God, especially after they had witnessed his passion,
death and resurrection? They would look back at Jesus’ life, teachings, and
actions and see so many signs pointing to the Lamb of God. Jesus was the first
born son, without blemish, perfect, who willingly gave himself up to be
sacrificed for the people’s sins on the cross. St. John even places the time of
Jesus’ death on the day before the Passover at the hour when all the lambs were
slaughtered in the temple. Jesus’ blood was shed on the cross in sight of the
temple and sprinkled on all mankind for the forgiveness of sins.
The
Lamb entered Christian tradition not bleating but roaring. St. John in the Book
of Revelation uses the term in reference to Christ twenty-nine times in
twenty-two chapters. We shall speak of Jesus as the Lamb five times in today's
Liturgy. See if you can spot each one. Recall the number of canvases, frescoes,
stained glass windows, and vestments on which you have seen the Lamb drawn. It
is among the most popular symbols in Christendom.
And
the images of shedding blood and baptism are so closely linked in the
scriptures and in the life of the church. Jesus himself exclaimed to his
disciples when they asked him for positions of honor in the kingdom of heaven, "You don't know what you are asking. Can
you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized
with?" St. Paul told the Romans, “Don’t you know that when you were
baptized you were baptized into his death?” Dying to self and sin is what
baptism is all about. Can you see how and why John the Baptist would call Jesus
the Lamb of God at the time of his baptism?
Immediately following this passage from John’s gospel
is the calling of the first apostles. You could say that John the Baptist was
one of the first disciples himself. He himself had been searching for the
messiah and had been having a hard time identifying him. When John finally
received his sign from heaven that Jesus was the one, the first thing he did
was point Jesus out to his own disciples, and told them to follow him instead.
John was a man searching for the messiah and when he
found him, he gave him away to others. He was not in it for himself but told
his disciples to leave him to follow Jesus. John knew that Jesus had to
increase and he had to fade away. As soon as John gave away all his disciples
to Jesus he was arrested, imprisoned and then killed. That was John’s role in
the plan of salvation, and in a way, it is our role also. We may not be called
to suffer as John did, but we too must die to self and give Jesus away to
others. As St. Paul said, we must decrease and Christ must increase. And we do
this in so many ways in our daily lives.
How many times are you the herald of Jesus to others
who are desperately searching for Him?
How many times have you been searching in the
wilderness for God and found him only when someone else pointed him out to you?
How many times do you ask for something from God and
don’t recognize that your prayers have been answered until someone else points
it out to you?
And when you find Jesus, do you hoard him or do you
give him away like John did?
Have you found your own personal Jesus and want to
keep him to yourself? Jesus is just too big for us to keep all to ourselves.
Can you see Jesus in others, especially in those who
suffer?
How many times have you seen someone poor and
downtrodden and exclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God!”
John’s disciples followed Jesus because they trusted
John. How many times have people trusted God because of you and your
discipleship?
Now we to have seen and
testify that He is the Son of God.
