Fr. Roger J. Landry
St. Anthony of Padua Church, New Bedford, MA
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (A, I)
January 16, 2011
Isaiah 49:3 5-6, Ps 40:2 4 7-10, 1Cor 1:1-3, Jn 1:29-34
To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click at the bottom of the page. The following text guided this homily:
JESUS, THE LAMB OF GOD
- Last week, with the help of St. Matthew, we focused on what could be called the objective details of the baptism of Jesus, which began Jesus’ public ministry.
- John the Baptist’s protest that he wasn’t worthy to baptize the Lord.
- Jesus’ insisting that he had come to fulfill all righteousness.
- The Holy Spirit’s coming down on Jesus visibly like a dove.
- God the Father’s voice thundering from heaven, “This is my Son, my beloved, in whom I am well pleased.”
- In today’s Gospel from St. John, 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 dramatic.
- The Baptist says that that the whole reason for his mission, the point he had come baptizing with water at the Jordan, was so that he would be able to point out the one who was coming after him to baptize with the Holy Spirit.
- And when that long-awaited person came, the Baptist cries out:
- Not ‘behold the Lord!’
- Not ‘behold the Savior!’
- Not ‘behold our Messiah!’
- Not ‘behold the King of the Jews and King of Kings!’
- Not ‘behold the Good Shepherd!’
- Not ‘behold the Light of the Word!’
- Not ‘behold the Resurrection and the Life!’
- Not ‘behold the Way, the Truth and the Life!’
- Not ‘behold the Vine to which we must attach as branches!’
- Not ‘behold the gate to the heavenly pastures through whom we must enter!’
- He didn’t say any of these things, which would have filled his listeners with awe at the incredible majesty of the one whose sandal strap the Baptist would say he wasn’t fit to untie.
- He didn’t even say, if he really wanted to use a rich animal metaphor, “Behold the Lion of the Tribe of Judah!,” pointing to the fulfillment of the prophecy first made in the 49th chapter of the Book of Genesis.
- Instead he used an expression that was not majestic at all: “Behold the Lamb of God!”
- Imagine if Jesus were walking down the central aisle of the Church today and I said, “Look! There is the ant of heaven! Or behold the fly of the Almighty! Or behold the chijuajua of God!” What would your reaction be? You wouldn’t be very impressed.
- It would have been similar for the Jews hearing John the Baptist refer to Jesus 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, bulls or eagles.
- Because we’ve heard the expression “Lamb of God” so many times, this aspect of the surprise Jews would have felt upon hearing John the Baptist refer to Jesus in this way is lost on us. Many of us have grown so accustomed to the expression that we no longer really even think about the meaning of the words we’re saying when we say or sing, three times every Mass, “Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world,” or when the priest, echoing the very words of John the Baptist, holds Jesus in his elevated hands and says, “Behold the Lamb of God!”
- The expression Lamb of God occurs 28 times in the New Testament.
- But John the Baptist said the whole reason he was alive was to point him out, and when the time came for him to do that pointing, he used this expression. Why? What was he trying to get at? What do we need to learn from him in terms of our relating to Jesus by this term?
- 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.
- We see this as early as Cain and Abel. Abel’s sacrifice, which was acceptable to God, was a lamb.
- We see it in the sacrifice of Abraham. When his unsuspecting son Isaac asked, “Where is the lamb for the burnt offering,” Abraham responded prophetically, “God will provide the lamb.” And God the Father did, in the fulfillment of the prophetic willingness that Abraham himself showed in his readiness to sacrifice his son Isaac.
- We see it in the Covenant God made through Moses with the Jewish people. To set them free from Egypt, he had all the Jews take an unblemished Lamb, kill it, take a hyssop branch and wipe the blood over their outer doors, and then cook and eat the Lamb. This was so that their first-born sons, their heirs, would be saved from the angel of death. After the liberation, God commanded them to celebrate the Passover meal on the anniversary of this liberation by sacrificing a lamb in this way for a meal.
- The Jews also used lambs for the sacrifice in the temple. Each day the priest on duty would sacrifice one lamb in the morning and one lamb in the afternoon. Jewish faithful, when they came to offer sacrifice to God, would likewise offer lambs when they could afford them. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, one year there were 256,000 lambs offered in the temple. They offered these sacrifices fundamentally in atonement for their sins and in thanksgiving for their blessings, recognizing that all their blessings had come from God and they were giving back to God what ultimately belonged to him.
- So when one of the Baptist’s Jewish listeners heard the expression, “Behold the Lamb of God,” they were hearing not merely a reference to a relatively unimpressive animal, but also a clear reference to sacrifice, someone who would be sacrificed, someone who would be the fulfillment of the prophecy Abraham had indicated when he told Isaac, “God himself will provide the Lamb!” So from the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, the Baptist was essentially saying Jesus was born in order to die for us.
- Like Isaiah pointed out: the suffering servant would be led like a lamb to the slaughter as a sin-offering (Isaiah 53:7, 10) “harshly dealt with, he bore it humbly; he never opened his mouth: like a lamb that is led to the slaughterhouse, like a sheep that is dumb before its shearers, he never opened his mouth”.
- He would die for us in order to carry out the second part of John the Baptist’s words: “who takes away the sins of the world.” Jesus would be the great scapegoat. Whereas Jews used animals as expiation for their own sins, to “take their place on death row,” so to speak, Jesus was going to allow himself to become the scapegoat for all the sins of the world.
- It is absolutely key for us, if we’re going to relate to Jesus as he truly is, to relate to him as the Lamb of God who takes away our sins and the sins of others.
- Those in heaven clearly do.
- We see in the Book of Revelation a fascinating scene in Rev 5.
- Rev. 5:1 And I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and, on the back, sealed with seven seals; 2 and I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I wept much that no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Weep not; lo, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
- Then, instead of seeing a Lion come to sit on the throne and open the seals, St. John sees: Rev. 5:6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain… 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints; 9 and they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals, for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 10 and hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth.” 11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” 13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all therein, saying, “To him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might for ever and ever!” 14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
- The Lion of the Tribe of Judah and the Lamb are the same person. Christ himself. This is an image of heaven where Jesus continues the symbolism of the Lamb that was slain but then rose again. If we wish to get to heaven, to rejoice in heaven, we need to relate to Jesus as Lamb.
- Two ways fundamentally we need to do this:
- The sacrament of confession, where the Lamb of God actually takes away our sins. For all the sins we’ve committed after our baptism, we need to go to the Lamb.
- The sacrament of the Eucharist, where we continue the new and eternal Passover in the Lamb’s blood.
- 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.
- Just like the ancient Jews needed to eat the lamb, so do we. We need to eat the Lamb of God worthily. John 6: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”
- It’s through the Mass that we pass from death to life in Christ, the Lamb of God.
- Each time we come we renew the new and eternal covenant, the covenant that brings us salvation.
- St. Paul, “Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us, therefore, celebrate the festival… with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor 5:7-8). Our Passover Lamb is unleavened bread. Our festival is the Mass.
- Lamb with Abraham. Story of Our Lady of Knock. August 21, 1879. Mary McLoughlin and Mary Beirne walking home in the rain. Against the wall of the Church, stood the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. John the Evangelist, St Joseph, and an altar with a lamb and cross on it. Several other women came, 15 altogether, seeing a beautiful woman. Jesus depicted as a Lamb. John reading and preaching the Gospel. Mary there. St. Joseph praying.
- The end of the Book of Revelation, which features the Lamb sitting on the throne, describes how many will “make war on the Lamb” but tells us that “the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings.” It also points out how important for us it is to be with the Lamb, to relate to him, to allow him to take away our sins: “Those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”
- Let us ask the Lord to help us always not just to notice Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, but relate to him in that way with humility and gratitude, allowing him to take away our sins in confession, consuming him in Holy Communion worthily as often as we can, and passing with him, through the new and eternal Passover, into that place where all the angels and saints give him eternal praise, honor and glory.
- We see in the Book of Revelation a fascinating scene in Rev 5.
The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading 1 IS 49:3, 5-6
The LORD said to me: You are my servant,
Israel, through whom I show my glory.
Now the LORD has spoken
who formed me as his servant from the womb,
that Jacob may be brought back to him
and Israel gathered to him;
and I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,
and my God is now my strength!
It is too little, the LORD says, for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the survivors of Israel;
I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
Responsorial Psalm PS 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10
R. (8a and 9a) Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
I have waited, waited for the LORD,
and he stooped toward me and heard my cry.
And he put a new song into my mouth,
a hymn to our God.
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
Sacrifice or offering you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Holocausts or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, “Behold I come.”
R. Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me,
to do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!”
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
Reading 2 1 COR 1:1-3
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
and Sosthenes our brother,
to the church of God that is in Corinth,
to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy,
with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Alleluia JN 1:14A, 12A
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us.
To those who accepted him,
he gave power to become children of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel JN 1:29-34
John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said,
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
He is the one of whom I said,
‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.’
I did not know him,
but the reason why I came baptizing with water
was that he might be made known to Israel.”
John testified further, saying,
“I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven
and remain upon him.
I did not know him,
but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me,
‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain,
he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’
Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”
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