This second Sunday in Ordinary Time still
reflects Christmastide that we left behind last week. Today’s gospel is connected
with the baptism of Jesus. The protagonist of this liturgy is John the Baptist,
who accompanied us through Advent and Christmas up to last Sunday. In today’s gospel,
he bears his witness to Jesus. Maybe this is the most important moment in his
life. Admittedly, he had started to testify to Jesus even from his mother’s
womb: when Mary expecting Jesus visited Elizabeth pregnant with John, this one
leaped for joy, feeling the presence of Jesus. One of the prefaces of Advent
depicts the scene as follows: “John the Baptist sang of his coming;” and immediately
afterwards, referring to his adult testimony, it adds: “and proclaimed his
presence when he came.” This is the great merit of John the Baptist: to
recognize Jesus and to show his presence in the world.
How come does John insistently repeat that he
did not know Jesus? Was he not his cousin? Of course, he knew him; but he
precisely knew him as his cousin, without knowing who really Jesus was. He
learned of the real identity of Jesus when he baptized him. It was at that
moment that he saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain
upon him; and, since he had had a revelation about that, he realized that Jesus
was not just his cousin, although greater than him, but the Messiah expected by
Israel.
To introduce Jesus to his disciples, John uses
a strange term: “Lamb of God.” We are familiar with it, because we use it
frequently during the Mass: at the Gloria, at the breaking of the bread,
and at the invitation to communion, when the priest exactly repeats the same
words as John: “Behold the Lamb of God” (Ecce Agnus Dei). In the last book of the Bible, Revelation,
“Lamb” is the most common title used to refer to Jesus. Okay, but what does it
mean? It is an ancient way to express Jesus’ role as Redeemer. We find in this
title two references to the Old Testament. The first is to the suffering
Servant of the Lord, of whom the prophet Isaiah speaks in the second part of
his book. If you remember, last Sunday we read the first of the four oracles of the Servant;
today the first reading is the second oracle. Well, the fourth oracle, at a
certain point, says: “Like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the
shearers, he was silent and opened not his mouth” (Is 53:7). Some scholars even
pointed out that in Aramaic, the language spoken at that time in Palestine, the
same word (ṭalia’) was used both for “servant” and “lamb.” The
second reference is to the paschal lamb, which the Israelites slaughtered and ate on
the night of their departure from Egypt. The blood of the lamb, applied to the
doorposts, saved them from the angel of death who slew on that night the
first-born of the Egyptians.
Of the “Lamb of God” John says that he “takes
away the sin of the world.” It is exactly what, according to Isaiah, the
Servant of the Lord would do. “He was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our
sins … The Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all … He gives his life as an
offering for sin … Through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and
their guilt he shall bear … He shall take away the sins of many and win pardon
for their offenses” (Is 53:5.6.10.11.12). John, at the beginning of Jesus’
public ministry, discloses the deepest meaning of his mission: Jesus has come
to baptize with the Holy Spirit, that is to say, he has come to deliver
humankind from sin. Jesus is our Redeemer; and redemption took place through
his death, which was like a sacrifice offered in atonement for the sins of all.
But the witness of John comes to its climax
when he states: “Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”
Evidently, he too had heard the voice of the Father when Jesus came up from the
water, and now he bears witness to that revelation. Jesus is the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world because he is not a simple man, but the Son
of God.
Q
