HOMILY FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A
Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi
According to the Gospel (John 1:29-34), when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming towards him, he identified Jesus as ‘The Lamb of God’. John declared: Look, there is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Let’s explore what he meant when he described Jesus as ‘the Lamb’. The description would have been understood by every Jew present. Lambs were a vital element in Jewish religious practices outlined in the Torah and the Jewish books that Christians know as the Old Testament. In the lead-up to the time of Jesus, the life-blood offering of animals (and especially of unblemished lambs) took place in the Temple in Jerusalem, which was the place of ritual sacrifice in Jewish worship of the One God. From this Jewish religious practice, we get the expression ‘the sacrificial lamb’. The sheep and their lambs in the fields around Bethlehem when Jesus was born were almost certainly destined for sacrifice rather than for consumption. The Bethlehem shepherds were Levitical shepherds meaning that their lambs were raised to be used for sacrifice. As such, they had to be without blemish or they would be worthless; so the shepherds wrapped them in cloths when they were born to keep them from injury. Thus, when the shepherds visited Jesus, and saw him wrapped in swaddling clothes, they recognised a lamb without blemish, set aside for sacrifice.
In Judaism, lambs were sacrificed in two major religious rituals. The first of these was in the historical commemoration of the event of the Passover. The second was in the practice of sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem every morning and evening. The Lamb was used not only as a sacrificial offering, but also for ritual cleansing and sanctification. In declaring to the world that Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, John flagged up a specific message to his contemporaries and to us.
The Passover is still celebrated by Jews today. The earliest book of the Bible (cf. Exodus 12:11-13) records that the Passover Lamb was slain, and its blood was sprinkled and smeared on the doors and lintels of the houses of the Israelites. The blood identified the Chosen People of God and delivered them from destruction. In pointing out Jesus as ‘the Lamb’, John prophesied that by Jesus’ precious blood, His chosen people would be identified, delivered from death and saved. There were great prophecies about the Messiah in terms of a sacrificial lamb: Christ is like a lamb led to the slaughter house (cf. Jeremiah 11:19 and Isaiah 53:7); St. Paul identifies Christ as the Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7), and St. Peter spoke about Jesus as the spotless and unblemished lamb who ransomed men from sin (1 Pet. 1:18-19). The final book of the Bible, Revelation, uses the title ‘Lamb of God’ with reference to the Christ (e.g. Rev. 5:7.13) no less than 27 times.
The longing of the Jewish people for purification from their sins in order to be reconciled with the perfection of God, perfection that could not tolerate imperfection, culminated in the practice of sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem every morning and evening. The intention of the ritual sacrifice was to plead for the remission of the sins of the people of God, and to plead for the sanctification of the priests and the place of worship (cf. Exodus 29:38-42). The daily Temple sacrifice assured the Jewish people throughout the known world of God’s presence among them. From here we deduce seamlessly that John’s pointing out of Jesus as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world indicated that He (Jesus) would be sacrificed daily, both for the remission of the sins of His people in His Kingdom, and also for the sanctification of His priests and the universal Church. Jesus is the perfect sacrifice offered to God the Father for the remission of our sins. This is what we have been re-enacting in the daily sacrifice of the Holy Mass for two thousand years. In the Holy Mass and in the Eucharistic offering, the Church is constantly sanctified, and her members participating in the unbloody sacrifice of the altar are cleansed of all venial sins.
Granted that the idea of animal sacrifice may be somewhat repulsive to our generation, it might be helpful for us to think instead of the notion of ‘bail’ or of ‘restitution’ when considering what Christ stands for as the sacrificial Lamb. A guilty criminal may be remanded in custody before he is sentenced. The law may set bail too high for him to afford, and so he has to stay in gaol. He cannot pay enough to liberate himself from prison. To achieve freedom, he requires the help of another person to pay his bail. Similarly, as prisoners of our sins (our personal deliberate wrongdoing, our imperfections), we require the help of someone else to bail us out. That someone else is Jesus the Christ. He is the Lamb of God. His bailing-out is final. He puts our sins behind His back so that no one can convict us of them again. He made the perfect restitution for each one of us with the sacrifice of His life. Have you noticed that there’s something spectacular with regard to the day our Lord died for us on the cross? St, John the Evangelist states (cf. John 19:31) that Jesus died on same day that lambs were being sacrificed in the Temple in readiness for the Passover. With that, Jesus’ offering of Himself, His sacrifice on the cross, replaced and completed once and for all any offering and sacrifice that has been made, that is being made, and that ever will be made, for the remission of sins.
Every Christian, then, is called to be a lamb. We are called to imitate Christ the Lamb in conquering sin, saving ourselves and others, and going the extra mile for the sake of our fellow human beings. Just as the blood of the unblemished lamb became a protective sign for the Israelites in captivity in Egypt, the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, became the power that totally crushed the intimidation and torments of the evil one. So too, the Christian lifestyle has to be that which serves to protect the interests of every single human being, born or unborn, especially in a world riddled with discrimination and intimidation of every sort. Why? Because we all share the same Lord: God is God, the One God that the genius of the Jews discerned. Jesus is the Lord of all the saints everywhere, as St. Paul writes in the Second Reading (1Cor 1:1-3). In striving to be lambs for the world, we gain the graces of innocence and meekness, and are armed with no more than the spirit of service and humility. We are the servants of the Lord. We are stewards, called and appointed by Our Lord. As the Psalmist says, we have come to do His will (Ps 39:9). It is in this light that the First Reading (Is 49:3, 5-6), addresses the chosen people of God as servants, who have been called to restore the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the survivors of Israel. This is our mission as servants, to restore/uplift and to bring back / preserve. May the Lord guide us as we labour in our calling. Amen. God bless you.
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