Behold the Lamb of God!

Year A – Ordinary Time – 2nd Sunday
John 1:29–34: Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

After the Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord, we continue still under the sign of the “revelations” concerning Jesus. A few verses before today’s Gospel passage, John the Baptist said: “Among you stands one whom you do not know” (John 1:26). And he himself confesses twice: “I did not know him.” Sadly, we, on the contrary, believe that we know everything about him. And perhaps we do not know him at all. Often our knowledge of the person of Jesus is static, unchanged for years, perhaps since some stage of our Christian initiation. As if one could wear for ever the garment of First Holy Communion or Confirmation!

A new ‘epiphany’: Behold the Lamb of God!

Christian life is a journey from epiphany to epiphany, from glory to glory, transformed by the mysteries we contemplate. For the mysteries have a power over us: “And all of us, with unveiled faces, reflecting the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this comes from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Today John reveals to us something new, which neither he nor we knew before. The Baptist points to Jesus as “the Lamb of God”. What does this expression mean? We are used to repeating it during the Eucharist, before Communion. Yet, if we reflect carefully, this title may seem rather unusual and even unsettling. Indeed, it belongs to another religious and cultural mentality, which resorted to the sacrifice of animals in the relationship with the divinity.

The word lamb/lambs appears frequently in the Bible. We find it about 150 times in the Old Testament (the vast majority in the books of Leviticus and Numbers) and about forty times in the New Testament (in the Italian Bible edition prepared by the CEI, 2008 edition).

We can make three observations. The first is that the lamb is almost always associated with sacrifice. It is the animal considered pure, innocent and gentle, and therefore the one preferred for the sacrifice offered to God. The second is that, in the New Testament, it appears almost exclusively in John: in the Gospel (three times) and especially in the Book of Revelation (thirty-five times). The third is that, in the New Testament, it almost always refers to the sacrifice of Christ: “You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18–19).

John’s statement, “Behold the Lamb of God”, evokes in the minds of his listeners, first of all, the Paschal lamb, or else the lamb that was sacrificed every day, morning and evening, in the Temple of Jerusalem. But the richness of this title goes much further. For example, we can find an allusion to the mysterious “Servant of the Lord” (spoken of today in the first reading): “Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter… while he bore the sin of many” (Isaiah 53:7, 12). All the more so because, in Aramaic, the language of the Baptist, the word talya means both “servant” and “lamb”.
By placing this exceptional messianic title on the lips of the Baptist, the evangelist John almost certainly had in mind the rich and complex biblical background, but above all the Paschal lamb (cf. John 19:36).

“Behold the Lamb of God” represents a revolutionary image of God, who does not ask for sacrifices, but sacrifices himself. Pope Francis called this “the revolution of tenderness”.

The Lamb of God is the one who takes away “the sin of the world” (in the singular), the radical sin of the world, the sin of all human beings of all times. Not only individual sins, but also the underlying matrix of evil behind every injustice: the corruption of history, the degeneration of cultures, the degradation of relationships between people and peoples, the pollution and exploitation of nature… The Lamb of God has taken upon himself the whole weight of the world’s evil.

It must be made clear, however, that the “justice” of God does not require the sacrifice of the Son, as some traditional interpretations might suggest. Jesus is not the victim demanded in order to “satisfy God’s justice”. The theology of sacrifice is certainly present in the authors of the New Testament. It is, however, a rereading of Jesus’ death on the cross in the light of the biblical tradition and the religious culture of the time. On reflection, it would be unacceptable: how could a father demand the death of his son in order to forgive?

The sacrifice of Jesus is that of his utmost solidarity: “Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6–8).

The Slain Lamb and the Lion of Judah

The Messiah is symbolically compared to two contrasting figures: the lamb and the lion, as if to underline the dimensions of gentleness and strength in the Messiah. We find both titles in the Book of Revelation. Christ is represented predominantly as the Lamb, mentioned thirty-four times: “I saw a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered [that is, bearing the signs, the wounds of the Passion]; it had seven horns [a symbol of power] and seven eyes [omniscience]” (Revelation 5:6).
But before the Lamb enters the scene, he is presented as the Lion of Judah: “One of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals’” (5:5).

These two dimensions also belong to Christian life and witness: on the one hand, the docility, gentleness, fragility and capacity for endurance of the lamb; on the other, the strength, heroism, nobility and courage of the lion. Reconciling these two aspects is not always easy. Sadly, many times when we ought to be gentle we behave like lions, domineering and aggressive; and when we ought to be lions we behave like lambs, fearful and cowardly!

Here I am!

I conclude by briefly touching on the aspect of the vocation to witness that emerges strongly from the readings: “I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth,” says the Lord to his Servant (Isaiah 49:6). Paul presents himself to the community of Corinth as one who was “called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God”. And John solemnly affirms: “And I have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God”.

And what about us? I believe that every time, in the Eucharistic celebration, John the Baptist points to Christ saying, “Behold the Lamb of God”, we should make our own the response of the psalmist: “Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will!” (Responsorial Psalm 40).

Fr Manuel João Pereira Correia, mccj



Fr. Manuel João, comboni missionary
Sunday Reflection
from the womb of my whale, ALS
Our cross is the pulpit of the Word