Our redemption is entirely God’s initiative, purely an expression of his ineffable and infinite love for us human beings. As St. John says, “It is not that we have loved God, but that he has loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins” (1 Jn 4:10). This love is the reason why Jesus came into this world. John announces further in his Gospel account: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).
In order that we may have fullness of life, which is eternal life, Jesus Christ came to offer himself as the sacrificial lamb for our sins. Jesus, the “Lamb of God,” is markedly prefigured in the Old Testament. When the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, God set them free by means of the sacrifice of a lamb. He instructed his people to kill an unblemished lamb and put its blood on the doorpost, so that when he sees the blood, he will protect his people from being harmed by the destroyer (cf. Ex 12:1-14). This is a very powerful foreshadowing of the mission of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, whose Blood will bring salvation to the world.
Knowing that Jesus Christ was foreshadowed in the Old Testament as the Lamb of God, we can better understand today’s Gospel, in which John the Baptist sees Jesus coming toward him and declares: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus, who is God, has no need for baptism, but he willingly submits himself to the baptism of John in the Jordan River. The baptism of Jesus is the anticipation of his redeeming Death on the Cross, through which he frees us from sin and gives us life. In the Jordan, Jesus loads upon himself all the sins of mankind and plunges them into the water.
As the One who carries the sins of the world, he fulfills the prophecies of Isaiah as the mysterious Servant of God who took upon himself our sufferings, sorrows, and the punishment due for our sins (cf. Is 53:1-5). It is interesting to note that in Aramaic, the word talia, “lamb,” can also be translated as “child” or “servant.” So, when John sees Jesus and identifies him as the Lamb of God, he is also subtly identifying him as the Servant of God prophesied by Isaiah.
Today’s first reading is another one of Isaiah’s prophecies about the Servant of God: “You are my servant, / Israel, through whom I show my glory.” The Servant through whom God will show his glory is none other than the One whom John identifies as the Lamb or Servant of God in today’s Gospel: Jesus Christ himself. God has been glorified through his Servant, immolated on the Cross for the expiation of the sins of the world. The event of the Cross is the perfect fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah. It is also on the Cross that the Servant/Lamb becomes God’s “light to the nations,” for through the death of the Lamb, God’s salvation reaches the ends of the earth. “I will make you a light to the nations, / that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” We can hear the voice of the Servant of God in today’s Responsorial Psalm, as Jesus says to the Father, “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.”
Every Eucharistic Sacrifice makes present the event of the Cross, through which the light of God shines and his salvation reaches the ends of the earth. This helps us understand Jesus’ response to the Greek pilgrims who asked if they could see Jesus. Instead of saying to them: “Here I am,” he speaks rather of his coming death, through which he will bear much fruit and God will be glorified: “Unless a wheat grain falls into the earth and dies…’ (Jn 12:20-28).
Through the Passion and Death of Christ who, though God, humbled himself and took the form of a servant (Phil 2:6-7), God’s salvation reaches the ends of the earth. It is in him, as St. Paul writes in today’s second reading, that we have been sanctified, “called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.”
How does seeing Jesus as the Lamb of God deepen my understanding of his sacrifice for me? In what ways am I called to share in Christ’s mission as a servant, bringing God’s light to others? How does the Eucharist strengthen me to live out God’s call to holiness in my daily life?
Excerpt from The Anawim Way, Volume 22, no. 2. More information about The Anawim Way may be found here.