2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

One of the most enduring images of my childhood in Ireland is the depiction of the apparition at Knock in County Mayo.  On August 21, 1879, Our Lady along with St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist appeared to fifteen people. To the left of St. John in the apparition, a cross and a lamb are on top of an altar surrounded by angels.  Unlike most apparitions of the Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Knock is silent.  She, St. Joseph, and St. John are silent in the presence of the Lamb of God.

In our Gospel reading today, John 1: 29 – 34, John the Baptist identifies Jesus as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”  The next day, John told Andrew and another disciple the same thing “Behold the lamb of God,” and they left John to follow Jesus.   By calling Jesus the Lamb of God, John the Baptist was identifying Jesus with the suffering servant described by the Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 53, the Pascal lamb associated with the Exodus and the Jewish tradition of ritual sacrifice where a lamb was sacrificed in the temple twice a day to atone for the sins of the people.  The scripture scholar, William Barclay, says, “There is sheer wonder in this phrase, The Lamb of God….it sums up the love, the sacrifice, the suffering and the triumph of Christ.” 

Every time we come to Eucharist we pray, Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, grant us peace.

Today as you say these words, remember what Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, did for us.  And also remember that as Baptized Christians, we are directed to share the love, sacrifice and peace that Christ shared with us with others.   Then we too can become “a light to the nations,” assuring that “salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49: 6). 

Merciful God,
you sent your Son, the spotless Lamb,
to take upon himself the sin of the world.
Make our lives holy,
that your Church may bear witness
to your purpose of reconciling all things in Christ,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever. 

 AMEN.