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19 January 2020             Second Sunday of the Year A

THE LAMB OF GOD

When John the Baptist called Jesus the “Lamb of God” what did his hearers think he was talking about? To us it seems such a strange thing to say. Was it any less strange for the people on the banks of the River Jordan?

Those who knew about the scriptures would think of two things. They would remember some mysterious passages in the prophecies of Isaiah, and their minds would also go back to the Exodus and its annual celebration at Passover.

At one stage in their history the Jews were deported to Iraq, to Babylon, close to Baghdad. Their hopes seemed dashed as for about fifty years they were separated from Jerusalem and the proper practice of their religion. At that time Isaiah (or one of his disciples) begins to talk about a mysterious “suffering servant” who would take on the troubles of the people and ultimately save them by giving his own life.

The Jews in today’s gospel might have been back home in Jerusalem but once more they were under army occupation, this time by the Romans. When John points Jesus out as the “Lamb of God” his hearers would have made the connection with the “suffering servant” of Isaiah. Some would have hoped for a revolutionary leader to overthrow the Romans, but others would remember the perfect disciple of God who proclaims the true faith in the midst of errors, who suffers to atone for the sins of the people and who is ultimately glorified by God.

Of course, not everyone would have immediately taken all this in. But every Jew would have made the connection with the Exodus and the Passover. For the lamb was the animal by which the people were saved from Egyptian slavery and brought into the Promised Land. It was with the blood of the lamb that sacrifices were made daily in the Temple and at the annual celebration of Passover it was a lamb that was eaten. The lamb was a central spiritual symbol.

So when John the Baptist called Jesus the “Lamb of God” it started to ring bells for his hearers. Who was this man? What did he want? What would he do?

Little did they suspect. And little did they know.

Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.                (John 1:29)