Jan_16_2005

Homily for January 16, 2005
Liturgical Year A - Cycle I
2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

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."

Why did John, as he introduced Jesus in His public ministry, call Him “The Lamb of God”? This is the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, this is His big introduction, the Messiah and John says, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” Well, what does it mean? We hear it at every mass, four times before Holy Communion, “Lamb of God” “Agnus Dei”. John could have used a number of titles. He could have said, “Behold, the Messiah,” “Behold, the Promised One of God,” “Behold, the Son of the Most High God,” “Behold, Emmanuel, God is With Us,” “Behold, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.” I probably would have selected, “Behold, the Lion of Judah.” Instead he says, “Behold, the Lamb of God.”

There are two answers, I think. The first comes from scripture and prophesy. Many centuries before John introduced Jesus as the Lamb, Jeremiah spoke of the Lamb, and Isaiah spoke of the Lamb of God, and the suffering servant. In the 53rd chapter of Isaiah's writings (this is to me, fascinating – this is centuries before Christ), listen to what Isaiah has to say, “He was treated harshly, but endured it humbly. Like a lamb about to be slaughtered, He never said a word. He was arrested and sentenced, and sent off to die. He was put to death for the sins of our people.” Centuries before!

Jeremiah, in the 11th chapter, describes this servant as, “I was like a trusting lamb, taken out to be killed.” So, the idea of a lamb had great meaning for the Jewish people. Obviously, they lived in a land of sheep, and a lamb is a young sheep. It had great meaning for them in so many ways. It had meaning in their worship and in their liturgy. Each day in the temple, a lamb was slaughtered as a sacrifice. (By the way, after a sacrifice, the victim was always consumed. It was eaten. The best portion went to the priest…. Give me that old time religion!) Of course, we know of the Passover lamb. When God delivered His people from Egypt, the night before they traveled, He sent the Angel of Death over the land. And the firstborn of every family was killed, of man and beast. But He instructed the Hebrew people to sacrifice a lamb that night, and to eat it, but to take the blood of the lamb and put it over the lintel, the door post, and the Angel of Death would then pass over – thus the term Passover – would pass over their homes. The Jews also used lambs in their atonement rituals. They would take a beautiful lamb, they’re so cute, and they would lay their sins on it, and then slaughter it as a victim. And they figured God could not refuse this gift of a perfect lamb.

John probably used that for thisreason; it was the fulfillment of the Old Testament. The Old Testament is full of types, symbols, and figures, that were fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ and the Lamb is one of them. Also, the notion of the suffering servant. To me it’s fascinating that in Aramaic, the language John would have used to introduce Jesus, the word for lamb is “talya.” That is the identical word in Aramaic for servant. The servant and lamb of Isaiah is Jesus Christ.

But I think there’s another reason that of all these titles, John selected the Lamb of God to introduce the Messiah. It's the same reason that Jesus came to us as a baby – because God does not want us to be afraid of Him. Who could be afraid of a baby? And who could be afraid of a lamb? A lamb – gentle, innocent, the original cuddly creature. Of course, I grew up in New York City, so I saw lions and tigers at the zoo before I saw a cow or a sheep. But since then I have traveled around the world and many of you, perhaps, are from farms and you’ve seen newborn lambs. It’s hard to resist going up to them. They’re so beautiful. They’re so pure. That’s the symbol of our Messiah--this defenseless lamb. A lamb won’t even fight or defend itself. I don’t think a lamb can defend itself. I don’t know of any other creature that cannot defend itself. Even a bird defends itself – it’ll peck at you, as you parakeet owners know well. But a lamb won’t – it’ll go right into your hands, even if your intention is to take its life. And so John, what he was saying is this, “Here’s the Promised One of God, the Deliverer, the Messiah. And don’t be afraid of Him. He didn’t come here to intimidate you, to threaten you. He came here to save you.” And as I look back on my faith journey, for a long time God, I think, was presented to me as this vengeful God. And it’s good to be afraid when you’re not in a state of grace. But don’t be afraid of the One that’s going to save you! Be afraid of your own sins, and feel the guilt and remorse and then take care of it with God’s forgiveness.

Many won’t even come into a church. I know you’ve heard this a million times. I sure have – in my business I hear it a lot. “Oh, Father, if I went into a church, the roof would cave in!” Well, there’s a couple of leaks in our roof but we’re here and we are sinners. There have been some tough characters in this church over its 40 year history. And it’s still standing. God can take it. He came for sinners. He came to save the sinners, not the righteous. People need to approach this God of mercy and love because if they don’t, they’ll carry their guilt and their shame and their sin around with them and it will fester and sicken and kill them. We know guilt does that. There’s nothing wrong with guilt if it brings us to reconciliation. But guilt that doesn’t lead to reconciliation--that is destructive.

We come here to give ourselves to Christ, the Lamb of God, to put our sins on Him. The Bible says, in that shocking phrase, “He became sin.” Jesus Christ became sin because He took on our sin and nailed that sin to the cross. And He died. And He rose again, free of that sin, dropping it off in Hell.

Let the Lamb of God be the Lamb of God. Give Jesus Christ your sins, your shame and your guilt. Give Him your death and He will give you forgiveness and eternal life. And tell your friends, too! There was a sign in a church some time back. It said, “Be fishers of men. You catch them and bring them here and we’ll clean them.” But before you tell your friends, remind yourselves of what an awesome Savior we have in the person of Jesus Christ. He takes on our sins, the Father forgives them through Him, and He feeds us the sacrificial lamb with His Body and Blood.