Offering up our daily hardships with the Lamb

Homily for 2^nd Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A 2014

Isa 49: 3, 5-6 • 1 Cor 1:1-3 • John 1:29-34

Introduction

At a conference, before the keynote speaker comes on stage, someone usually introduces them.  An introduction is considered good, if it prepares the audience  well, for example by telling them the qualifications of the speaker; in this way the listeners are excited and look forward to the keynote speech.

Scripture and Theology

If Jesus is our keynote speaker, then John the Baptist is the one who introduces him.  And as far as introductions go, John the Baptist does an excellent job.  In today’s gospel we have just heard him point to Jesus and say: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”  In other words, John is saying: “Look, that man Jesus is the long-promised Messiah.”  For God had told him that the Messiah would be the person on whom he would see the Spirit come down and remain.

But I want us to focus on the title that John uses to describe Jesus; he calls him, “the Lamb of God.”  That is a strange way to introduce the Messiah!  And yet John uses those words deliberately, because the image of a lamb was one the Jewish people would understand perfectly.  When they heard the words: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” they were reminded of the Passover Lamb and the lambs sacrificed in the Temple.

If you recall from the book of Exodus, Pharaoh had refused to let the people of Israel return home.  God struck him with several plagues: blood, frogs and lice; flies, dead livestock and boils; hail, locusts and darkness; but Pharaoh still refused.  God had one final trick up his sleeve; the final plague was the death of the first born child and animal.  But how would the angel of death tell the Jewish homes from the Egyptian ones?  God told the people of Israel to smear the doorposts of their houses with the blood of a lamb; in that way the angel of death would pass over their houses and spare their children and animals. This blood came from the lamb that the Israelites had eaten at their Last Supper on the night before they were to leave Egypt.  And so the Lamb then becomes the sign and symbol of the liberation of God’s people from slavery and oppression.

But there is another lamb, that John’s listeners would think about, when he described Jesus as the Lamb of God.  The people of Israel worshipped God primarily by offering him an animal sacrifice.  The book of Exodus commands that every day, two one-year lambs were to be sacrificed on the Temple altar, as atonement for sin.  One was to be sacrificed in the morning and another in the evening.  Now we modern people might think of this practice as cruel and senseless, that is of course if don’t think about where our steak, veal and lamb come from.  For a people who lived from hand to mouth as the Jewish people did, every lamb sacrificed was one less sheep to provide food, wool, milk and skins.  The sacrifice of a lamb, was their way of giving God their most treasured possession.  This lamb was the symbol of their love for God.

And so, whether John’s words evoked the image of the Passover lamb or the image of the daily sacrificial lamb, the message was still the same.  John was telling them that this man Jesus whom you see, has come to do once for all, what our sacrificial lambs have tried to do over and over again without much success.  “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” once and for all.

Christian Life

I would like us to take two things from this gospel, for our own spiritual lives.

·        First, do we really understand that Jesus is the Lamb of God?

·        And flowing from that, do we see ourselves as being lambs of God in our own ways?

Jesus is the Lamb of God, who offered himself completely for our sake.  God allowed the Jewish people who had sinned, to substitute for themselves a sacrificial lamb to die in their place.  In the same way, we are the sinners; but God has allowed his Son, to take our place and die for us.  That is why Jesus says that there is no greater love, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

For while Jesus is indeed many things for us, under all of them is the fact that he is our Sacrifice, our Lamb.

·        Yes, Jesus is that gentle baby in the manger, we saw at Christmas; but this baby will lay down his life for his friends.

·        Yes, Jesus is a Prophet and a Teacher; but he is one who gives up his life for his disciples.

·        Yes, Jesus is the Prince of Peace and King of the World; but he is one whose power consists in laying down his life for his people.

·        Yes, Jesus is the bread of life and the Light of the world; but he is those things in as far as he lays down his life for us.

In fact at Mass, just before communion, we sing three times: “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the World.”  And then the priest holds up the Host and says: “Behold the Lamb of God, Behold him who takes away the sins of the world, Blessed are those called to the Supper of the Lamb.”  The reason we say these words is so that, even when we are having the banquet of the Lord, a sign of joy and communion, we have to be reminded, that this all came about, because of the blood of the Lamb.  And to the priest’s words we reply, “Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the Word, and my soul shall be healed.”  By these words we recognize our unworthiness.

I have probably told you about a scene in the movie Saving Private Ryan; but I will do so again because it helps us understand John’s message.  As you probably remember, this movie is about a group of soldiers during World War II, sent to save Private James Ryan who has already lost his two brothers to the war. Many men die in the process of saving him, including Captain Miller, who just before he dies tells the rescued Ryan, “James. Earn this . . . earn it.”

James seems to have taken these last words very seriously. In this particular scene, now he is an old man who has returned to Europe to the cemetery where Captain Miller is buried. Staring at the grave marker he mumbles to his dead commander telling Captain Miller that every day of his life he has thought of Miller’s dying words. He has tried to live a good life, at least he hopes he has. He hopes he has earned the sacrifice that Captain Miller and his men made for him.

But James is not really sure. He wonders how any life, however well lived, could be worth the sacrifice of all those men. Now wobbly on his feet he stands up, but does not feel released. Trembling and filled with anxiety he turns to his wife and pleads to her, “Tell me I’ve led a good life.” Confused by his request, she asks: “What?” He has to know the answer, so he asks her again: “Tell me I’m a good man.” Finally she responds to him and says: “Yes, you are.”

If Jesus is the Lamb that gives his life for us, do we deserve his sacrifice?  Are we ready to lay down our lives for our family, friends and even strangers, like Captain Miller and his men?  Can we lay aside our sense of entitlement, when we make unreasonable demands from our family, from the church, from our employers, from the government?  Can we, like the lamb, endure a little inconvenience or difficulty, so that we can take one for the team?

Conclusion

There was a Catholic devotion of offering up our minor daily hardships and sacrifices to the Lord, adding them to the great sacrifice of the Lamb.  There are far too many people who don’t believe, who don’t pray, who don’t love God and their neighbour.  These people could benefit from our daily sacrifices, which we offer on their behalf, as small lambs with the Lamb.  The Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God has offered up everything for us; what can we in turn offer to show our gratitude, to testify that we have come to believe in him?