Homily for the Second Sunday of the Year

John the Baptist introduces Jesus as the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” These days we are more likely to think of the qualities of gentleness, purity and innocence associated with lambs. This in itself would make the lamb a fitting symbol of Jesus, but John the Baptist has something else in mind entirely. John would have been thinking of lambs as sacrificial victims offered in the Temple.

It seems a bit strange for us to be going back to John the Baptist for our Gospel reading today. Remember that John the Baptist was the great Advent figure whom we concentrated on in preparation for Christmas, and last Sunday we commemorated the baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan River. But this Gospel today is really about the identity of Jesus. The passage opens with Jesus approaching John the Baptist, and John salutes him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The whole passage is about John constantly referring to Jesus.

This title, Lamb of God, is one that is very much taken for granted by us Christians today. For one thing, in the Mass we are celebrating today, we will ourselves address Jesus as the Lamb of God several times, as we do every time we celebrate Mass. The Book of Revelation uses the term in reference to Jesus 29 times in 22 chapters. And the symbol of the Lamb is among the most popular symbols in Christendom. It has been used frequently in paintings, frescoes, and on vestments.

There is deep theology and tremendous love revealed in God sending his Son to be the Lamb. The first place in Scripture where we encounter the concept of the Lamb of God is in the Suffering Servant poems in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. The first reading today comes from part of that prophecy. The most poignant part of the Suffering Servant Poem speaks of the Lamb of God. Although this was written six hundred years before Jesus, it describes Jesus’ death on the cross as a sacrificial lamb for the forgiveness of sin. Jesus, the Suffering Servant, is described as the one who will not only bring the people of Israel back to God, but he is the light of the nations making God’s salvation reach to the ends of the earth.

Another part of the Suffering Servant poem in Isaiah, which we read every Good Friday, makes specific reference to the Lamb symbolism. Listen to these words from the poem: “It was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured ... he was pierced for our offences, crushed for our sins, by his stripes we were healed …. Though he was harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth; like a lamb led to the slaughter. He was wounded for our sins, bruised for our iniquities.

When John the Baptist calls Jesus the Lamb of God, he is recognising that Jesus is the fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah. The title, Lamb of God, also calls to mind the Passover lamb whose blood protected the houses of the Israelites when they left Egypt. The Israelites smeared their doorposts with the blood of the slain lamb and the angel of death passed over their houses. Jesus is the true Lamb of God who can deliver us from spiritual death.

Remember too, when Abraham took his son, Isaac, up the mountain to offer him as a sacrifice. On the way up the mountain, Isaac said, “Here is the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb for the offering?” Abraham replied, “God himself will provide the lamb.” The greater fulfilment was not the ram caught in the bush, which Abraham and Isaac offered, but Jesus, God’s only Son. God did indeed provide the perfect lamb in his Son, Jesus.

We should also remember that John the Baptist, as the son of Zechariah, the priest, must have had in mind the lamb that was offered every morning and every evening in the Temple for the sins of the people. Jesus is the lamb led to the slaughter for our salvation, for the forgiveness of our sins. When John the Baptist points Jesus out as the Lamb of God, he recognises in him the sacrificial victim who will take away the sin of the world.

This brings us to the related but more difficult issue of the sin of the world. What is the sin of the world? It is a phrase we will repeat four times before Holy Communion, echoing John the Baptist, yet perhaps we don’t always fully appreciate its meaning, and in many cases, we are uncomfortable with the notion of sin, and would prefer to ignore its meaning.

For example, a brother priest once told me once that as he was preparing for a requiem Mass, the family of the one who had died came to tell him what he could and could not preach. They did not want him to mention anything about sin, or forgiveness, or salvation, in his homily for the Mass.

The sin of the world is not just individual wrongdoing, but the brokenness, injustice, and alienation from God that marks human life. However, we live in a society -indeed in a world - that has for a large part lost a concept of sin. We as individuals easily ignore or brush aside guilt and a sense of wrong-doing. We are masters of self-deception, easily making excuses for our sin, or explaining sin away.

If this is the case for us, we will in no way appreciate the profound meaning of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. If we are a people, or if we are individuals who have no sense of sin, we will see little need for the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. A good remedy for this creeping false innocence is the crucifix. If sin was not such a powerful reality in the world, why was the crucifixion of Jesus necessary? Why was the tremendous power of Jesus’s sacrificial love necessary if sin were not such a serious problem?

The people of the time of John the Baptist went to the Jordan River to receive a baptism of repentance. They understood the reality of sin in their lives and in their society. For this reason, they were able to understand their great need for forgiveness, and the tremendous gift that God was giving them in Jesus Christ.

Today, during Holy Mass, and at every Mass, John the Baptist’s words echo again: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” We are reminded that Jesus is the one and only Lamb who can remove our sin and the entire sin of the world. This does not happen automatically. It is an invitation to come to Jesus and trust him, to accept the gift of taking away our sin and of a new life in God. As we approach the altar, let’s really behold and understand, who Jesus wants to be for us, and welcome him into our lives.