Behold, the Lamb!

Second Sunday of the Year. Fr Peter Harries preaches on the figure of the Lamb of God.

What did John the Baptist mean when he tells us ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’? Previously he had baptised Jesus amongst the crowds who were baptised as a sign of their repentance. John the Baptist had known that there was something inappropriate about baptising Jesus. Now, inspired by God, with a developing understanding of who Jesus is, John the Baptist can teach us.

John the Baptist had preached to the people of Israel that judgement was coming, calling them to repentance, as we have heard through Advent as a reminder that we too need to turn away from sin and turn towards God. The then-contemporary Jewish apocalyptic literature of John the Baptist’s time had often talked of a Lamb who would conquer evil at the end time.

In the book of the Apocalypse, John the Evangelist (or perhaps an associated author) affirmed this understanding of an apocalyptic lamb, but also tells us that the lamb who conquers evil is a lamb who is sacrificed. Consequently the sacrificed Lamb is the shepherd of God’s people and who leads them (and indeed us) to springs of living water (Rev.7.17).

Going back to our gospel passage, John the Baptist also picks up a theme from Isaiah, that of the suffering servant. In poetry, a small part of which is our first reading today, and that we read especially during Lent, Isaiah talks of a suffering servant who takes on the suffering of God’s people and who is the light of the world for the salvation of the nations. John the Evangelist in our gospel passage hints, and later in the gospel when telling the story of the passion, makes clear that Jesus truly is the long-awaited suffering servant who by his sacrifice hanging between heaven and earth, redeems and reconciles the world to God.

However for John the Evangelist’s listeners, the dominant meaning of affirming that Jesus is the Lamb of God, is surely to affirm their (and our) faith that Jesus is the Paschal Lamb, sacrificed once and for ever. In John’s gospel the evangelist tells us that Jesus dies upon the cross, as his own sacrifice is offered, at precisely the same time, on the Passover, as the priests are sacrificing the pascal lambs in the temple. Jesus is the true Pascal lamb. The sacrifice of the lambs on Passover had celebrated liberation from oppression in Egypt. Originally as detailed in Exodus, this had been a family celebration but over time the temple priests had taken over. Now the veil of the Jerusalem temple is torn open as outside the city the true Passover lamb is sacrificed now believers may be freed from the oppression of sin.

In addition to all this rich theology of the Lamb, John the Baptist tells us that Jesus ranks before him. John the Baptist is the last and greatest of the prophets of the Old Testament, but Jesus outranks him, Jesus was before him. Jesus is the pre-existent Son of God, the Word of God, as John the Evangelist has boldly affirmed in the first words of his gospel.

All of this is affirmed by the Spirit who appeared to John the Baptist in the form of a dove descending upon Jesus and remaining upon him. This Epiphany, this revelation to John the Baptist means that John the Baptist can affirm that Jesus is the Lamb of God.

But the lamb didn’t just die. He rose from the dead. Our Christian faith is that Jesus, the Lamb of God rose from the dead. You may have noticed images in church, specially on embroideries, of the lamb and flag, a sacrificed lamb shedding blood into a chalice and carrying a banner with a flag, a flag remarkably like the flag of England – but that is another story.

John the Baptist told his listeners to behold the Lamb of God. We are God’s holy people, saved by the blood of the lamb. We behold the risen Christ, sacrificed for our sins and victor over evil. We behold Jesus, present under sacramental forms, when the priest elevates the host at Mass and says ‘Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world, blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb’.

Readings: Isaiah 49:3,5-6 | 1 Corinthians 1:1-3 | John 1:29-34

Image: detail from a window at St James’ church, Glenbeigh, photographed by Andreas F. Borchert, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)