John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"St. John the Baptist knew that the ministry given to him by God was drawing to a close. He had been born to prepare the way for the Messiah. He had done that, and now it was time for him to leave the scene. So when he sees Jesus coming toward him, he exclaims, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” In other words, “Look there. The one you see is the Lamb of God.”-St. John 1:29
This past week we celebrated the fact that John had baptized Jesus in the River Jordan. It was at that time that the voice of the Father was heard coming out of heaven, proclaiming to the world that Jesus is the Beloved Son, and the Holy Spirit had hovered over Jesus in the form of a dove. The fullness of the Holy Trinity was revealed to the world on the banks of the Jordan that day. And now we hear St. John: “Behold, the Lamb of God…”
What would those words have meant to those who heard them? Every Jew knew all about the lambs that were sacrificed as sin-offerings in the Temple. The Passover Lamb was a fixed and important part of their history, and served as a reminder that God had led His people out of slavery in Egypt. For generations they had heard of the innocence and purity and meekness of the lamb referenced by Isaiah, when he described the Suffering Servant as the “lamb that is led to the slaughter…” And as the words of St. John the Baptist spoke to those who heard him, they speak with an even greater force to us – we know what he meant when he exclaimed, “Behold, the Lamb of God…”
There is no longer any need for the sacrifice of Passover lambs on an altar in a temple in Jerusalem. Instead, we have the one true Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ, sacrificed once for all on the cross, now made present on our altars and given to us as the Body and Blood of our Saviour under the forms of bread and wine.
Jesus Christ, our Risen Saviour,
Of Thy sacrifice we sing;
As the lamb in ancient myst'ry
To Thy people life didst bring,
So in Eucharistic glory,
Thou, God's Lamb, art made our King.
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Painting: Detail from the Ghent Altarpiece
"Adoration of the Mystic Lamb"
by Jan van Eyck (c.1380-1441)