Beholding and Following with Awe the Lamb of God, Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), January 15, 2023

Fr. Roger J. Landry
Convent of the Missionaries of Charity, Bronx, NY
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
January 15, 2023
Is 49:3.5-6, Ps 40, 1 Cor 1:1-3, Jn 1:29-34

To listen to an audio recording of the homily, please click below: 

The following text guided the homily: 

• This past Monday, the Church concluded the Christmas season with the celebration of the Feast of the Lord’s baptism. With the help of St. Matthew, we pondered the objective details of the baptism of Jesus that began his public ministry: John the Baptist’s protest that he wasn’t worthy to baptize the Lord; Jesus’ insisting that it had to occur to fulfill all righteousness; the Holy Spirit’s coming down on Jesus visibly like a dove; and God the Father’s voice thundering from heaven, “This is my Son, my beloved, in whom I am well pleased.” Today we revisit the same scene, but look at it from the perspective, more or less, of St. John the Baptist, whom St. John the Evangelist seemed to be following up until that point. And we see something surprising if not shocking: the Baptist says that that the whole reason for his mission, the point of his life, the purpose for which he was baptizing with water at the Jordan, was so that he would be able to indicate the one who was coming after him who would baptize with the Holy Spirit: and when that long-awaited person came, the Baptist didn’t cry out, “Behold the Lord!,” “There’s the Messiah!,” “Look!, The Son of God!,” “Here is the Savior, the King of Jews and King of Kings, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Light of the World, the Resurrection and the Life,” — or any of the other fitting titles that would have filled his listeners with awe at the incredible majesty of the One whose sandal strap John declared he wasn’t worthy to untie. Instead, he used an expression that was not majestic at all: “Behold the Lamb of God!”
• We have grown so accustomed to the phrase “Lamb of God” — which we use in the Gloria, sing three times in the Agnus Dei, and hear the priest say when, echoing the very words of John the Baptist, he holds Jesus in his elevated hands and tells us to behold him — that many of us no longer sense what the Jews would have felt when the Baptist referred to Jesus in this way. Imagine, however, a young child just hitting the age of reason, or an adult from a remote village and culture totally unaware of Christian theology, were here today and I said about Jesus, “Look! There is the pigeon of heaven!,” or “Behold the squirrel of the Almighty!,” or “Welcome the poodle of the Lord!” Their immediate reaction would likely be similar to that of many Jews to Jesus when they heard Jesus referred to by the term lamb. Lambs aren’t high on our list of beloved and admired animals. They’re not noted for their strength or looks. They’re not impressive like elephants or tigers, stallions, bears or eagles. Yet John the Baptist said the whole reason he was alive was to point the Messiah out using that very expression. Why? What does it mean? Why does God call us to relate to Jesus in that way? How is it supposed to influence our faith and day-to-day life?
• For a Jew, even though a lamb was not a particularly impressive animal, it did have a very important purpose in Jewish life. More than any other animal, it was the one traditionally chosen to sacrifice to God. And Jesus absolutely identified with this means of oblation and expiation. He identified with the lamb sacrificed by Abel that was pleasing to God; with the lamb that God provided for Abraham’s sacrifice so that Isaac his son wouldn’t die; with the lambs whose blood was placed on the lintels of the Jews during the Passover so that their first-born sons would be spared; with the lambs that were offered each day to God in the Temple — as many as 256,000 in a year, or 700 a day, according to Jewish historian Josephus — in atonement for sins. Jesus assimilated in himself the identity and sacrificial purpose of the Lamb in Jewish mentality to become the acceptable sacrifice offered to the Lord to take away the sins not just of the Jews but of the whole world. He became the Suffering Servant Isaiah prophesied in today’s first reading, and “like a lamb” submitted to be “led to the slaughter” (Is 53:7). Beholding Jesus as the Lamb of God, the Jews were being invited to see something far greater at work than just a meek, recently arrived carpenter from Nazareth, but the fulfillment of all the sacrifices of the Old Covenant, the realization of the much-prophesied work of the long-awaited One. They were being challenged to see in Jesus something far greater than met the eye. And through the Baptist’s words and work, they were being called by God to relate to Jesus under this title, to see him as the great scapegoat who had come to save them from the sins that would self-alienate them from God forever.
• It is as Lamb that Jesus was formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary to be God’s servant, as God told us through Isaiah today, not just to bring back Jacob and gather Israel to him, but to become a light to the nations so that God’s salvation would reach the ends of the earth. God did not wish for the thousands of daily sacrifices and animal oblations, but, as we hear in the Letter to the Hebrews, ears open to obedience; taking on our humanity, Jesus was able to say, in the words of today’s Psalm 40, “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will” and to show us that doing the Father’s will was his delight. Jesus is the Lamb in whom, as St. Paul reminds the Corinthians in the first reading, that we have been sanctified, and by whose name all those everywhere are called to be holy.
• It is absolutely key for us, therefore, if we’re going to relate to Jesus as he truly is, to relate to him as the Lamb of God. When we’re given a snapshot of heaven, it’s clear that those in eternity relate to Jesus in this way. In the Book of Revelation, when St. John beholds in a vision the drama of salvation history and has a glimpse of the celestial liturgy, we see that before the throne of God the Father there is a “Lamb standing, as though it had been slain,” and before whom those in heaven were falling down down singing, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” and “to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and power forever and ever!” (Rev 5:6, 12-13). Twenty-four times in Revelation John refers to Jesus by the title of Lamb. The Lamb is the one who opens the seven seals. The Lamb is the one before whom the redeemed, wearing white robes washed in the blood of the Lamb with palm branches in their hand, cry out “Salvation comes from our God … and from the Lamb.” The Lamb is the one who leads them to the springs of life-giving water and wipes away their tears. The Lamb is on the one who possesses the Book of life. The Lamb is the one whom the virgins follow wherever he goes. The Lamb is the one who is the lamp and light of the Holy City. The Lamb is the one whose wedding feast is basically the whole substance of heaven.
• To learn to relate to Jesus as Lamb is crucial for this life and eternal life. Many of us think we do, because we’re familiar with the title and even recite it multiple times in each liturgy. But in today’s Gospel John the Baptist said something that should startle us. Even though he was sanctified by Jesus in the womb, even though he was his cousin, John stated, “I did not know him.” He surely knew of him, but he needed God the Father’s voice and the Holy Spirit’s coming down on Jesus as a dove to be able to recognize him and come to know him better. Similarly, while we certainly know about Jesus as Lamb of God, we are all called humbly to get to know him personally much better through relating to him as Lamb. What are the practical consequences of relating to Jesus in this way?
• First, it should influence the way we pray. Traditionally the Church has taught that there are five different “forms” of prayer: praise, thanksgiving, sorrow, intercession for others and petition for what we need. Our prayer of praise to Jesus is meant to relate to him as Lamb as we seek to bless and adore him as Revelation shows us those in heaven do by this vocative. Our prayer of Thanksgiving is meant to be directed to him by this title for loving us so much that he would be slain for us. Our prayer of contrition to Jesus is meant to call upon him as the Lamb who mercifully takes away our and others’ sins. Our prayer of intercession and petition is meant to be directed to him under this title, because this is the way he goes before the Father’s throne interceding for us.
• Second, relating to Jesus as Lamb must change the way we relate to the Sacraments of Baptism and Confession, which he instituted to take away our sins that we have committed prior to and post baptism. To call him, “Lamb,” means to seek to live by the promises of our baptism and to reject Satan, his evil works and empty promises. When we fail, then we’re called humbly to come to the Lamb working through his priests in the Confessional so that he can take away the sins for which he paid such a precious price. Many Catholics sadly do not behold the Lamb in this way nearly enough, they do not come to look him in the merciful face, but rather live with their sins and often, it seems sadly, die in their sins. As Pope Francis continuously calls us, Christ has come mercifully to take away the sins of the world and we should never to tire of asking for the mercy the Lamb of God never tires to dispense.
• Third, relating to Jesus as Lamb must impact the way we approach the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Jesus, as you know, instituted the celebration of the Eucharist within the Jewish Passover rite, substituting his body as the Lamb and his blood as the drink for the Passover meal. So that we would not be grossed out, Jesus has us consume his flesh and blood under the appearances of bread and wine that he totally and miraculously changes into himself, but just like the ancient Jews needed to eat the lamb in order to receive the promises of the first Covenant, so we have to eat the Lamb to enter fully into the new and eternal Covenant. Jesus said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” This is the Sacrament by which Jesus gives us life — and blessed indeed are all those called to this supper of the Lamb!
• Fourth, relating to Jesus as Lamb means announcing him as Lamb. It means to become, like St. John the Baptist, precursors pointing Jesus out to others. Sometimes Catholics sadly never announce Jesus at all, or when they do, they proclaim a faint, weak, uninspiring facsimile of the real thing. Sometimes they proclaim Jesus as an indulgent cuddly Teddy-Bear who has come to confirm, bless and console us in our sins and sinfulness rather than help us, by his grace and mercy, convert to him and with him conquer. One of the reasons why so many have given up the practice of the faith and others aren’t responding to Gospel as people in every generation have is because many don’t have a compelling image of Jesus. They can come to think of him as a laid-back long-haired bohemian who has come to hang with us rather than hang for us, someone who would never dare to judge us or our choices rather than someone who allowed himself to murdered to have mercy on us, forgive our sins, and grant us true and lasting peace. In short, many don’t believe they really need Jesus more than they need oxygen, that they’re sinners desperate for a Savior. This is one of the great triumphs of the devil in the modern world. That’s why in every generation, especially ours, we need to point out Jesus as the Lamb. People’s eternal salvation depends on relating to Jesus in this way!
• Lastly, relating to Jesus as Lamb means that we develop a sensitivity to all those who, like the Suffering Servant, are led to the slaughter, are suffering, wounded, hurting, or in particular need. During his public ministry, the Lamb of God announced that he was also the Good Shepherd, who gathers the lambs in his arms, who protects them from wolves, who goes out after anyone who is lost to take them back to the fold. When he asked St. Peter after the resurrection three times whether he loved him, and Peter thrice said he did, Jesus instructed him, “Feed my sheep. Feed my Lambs. Tend my sheep.” Our love for God is shown in our love for all those for whom the Lamb of God gave his life. Therefore, to relate to the Lamb of God means to care for everyone made in his image, especially those whose lives are most threatened, those at the beginning of life in the womb, those at the end of life our throwaway culture wants to abandon and euthanize, all those in the middle of life who are poor, hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, imprisoned, strangers or immigrants. Beholding the Lamb is meant to make us more capable of beholding him as he suffers in the vulnerable members of his body.
• The end of the Book of Revelation, which features the Lamb sitting on the throne, describes how many will “make war on the Lamb.” There is a real battle, with eternal stakes, in which the enemy is seeking to have us not relate to Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, not to pray to him, not to confess, not to receive him worthily, not to proclaim him, not to recognize and defend him in others. But Revelation tells us, “The Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings.” It also points out that the ones who will be with him for eternity are those who are “called and chosen and faithful.” God has called and has chosen us, just as much as he chose John the Baptist. He wants to help us in prayer, confession, the Mass, evangelization and charity, to remain faithful and contagiously help others to do the same, so that we, like John, who have been formed as servants from the womb to take Christ’s light to all the nations so that his salvation may reach to the ends of the earth, who have had the law of God written within our heart so that we might delight in doing the will of God with ears open to obedience saying, “Here am I, Lord, I come to do your will,” who have been sanctified by the blood of the Lamb and called to be holy, may follow the Lamb wherever he leads and help the whole world to enter into relationship with Jesus under that title. We now prepare not just to behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world but to eat the Lamb, as we echo on earth the song of the angels and saints in heaven: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and praise … forever and ever! Amen!”

The readings for today’s Mass were: 

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