1-18-26 Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

                                                                       


In Jesus’s time and culture, the reference to lambs could conjure up memories of a delicious meal but also that phrase could conjure up, in the minds of its hearers, a remembrance of the primary animal that is offered as a sacrifice in the temple.                                                                                                          In the gospel this week it opens with John the Baptist seeing Jesus coming toward him and crying out, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” That reference of Jesus as the “Lamb” can be heard in many ways by the audience surrounding John the Baptist.  Many people, at the time John makes this claim, did not know who Jesus was or what his presence among them meant.  And so those words can be heard as an impressive declaration of who Jesus is or as others may have heard it and remembered the prophecy of Isaiah, “But the LORD laid upon him the guilt of us all….  Though harshly treated, he submitted and did not open his mouth; Like a lamb led to slaughter or a sheep silent before shearers, he did not open his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:6,7) and thus this phrase would become a prophetic announcement of what would be the future of Jesus.                                                                    The next day after this statement was made by John the Baptists, his disciples, (i.e., later to become apostles) Andrew and John were with the Baptist when he again exclaimed who Jesus was as Jesus went by him.  Andrew and John then tried to follow Jesus and Jesus asked them what they were looking for, to which they exclaimed- “Where are you staying?” Or as we might say today, “Where are you from?”  And Jesus told them come and they would see.  They went with him and while we do not know what Jesus said to them that day it was so influential that they immediately went out the next day and got Andrew’s brother Peter and their friend Philip to come and see “the Messiah.”  And so excited were they, that they also went and got Philiip and Nathiel and brought them to Jesus.  (see John 1:35-51)   And so it began.                                                                                                                                            The gospel invites us also to reflect on this title “the Lamb of God,” even if only briefly and to try to appreciate the many different ways it may have touched those original apostles and disciples and the ways it impacts our own seeing and understanding of who Jesus is for us.  A seeing and understanding that appreciates both the historical and scriptural meaning of the phrase, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” but also a seeing and understanding that encompasses our personal and spiritual awareness of who Jesus is for us.                                                                                            Today we have different understanding of what this phrase “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” eventually came to mean for Jesus.  But like Andrew and Peter, Philiip, and Nathanael and all the others, each of us is invited to “come and we will see” where it is that Jesus now lives.  Where he lives now is in all of us who have come to believe in him because of the testimony of these first believers. Paul in his letter to the people of Corinth, and through them to us, expresses this very reality about Jesus’s presence in our lives when he says to them “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  I give thanks to my God always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus,,,. so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus [Christ].  God is faithful, and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1: 3-9)                                                                                                  Paul stresses for the Corinthians the specialness of their faith in Jesus and the ways that faith should impact how they live with one another.   And when they and we strive to live out of that faith and trust  then they and we, can sing together with the psalmist from this weekend's psalm- “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.  I waited, waited for the Lord, and he stooped toward me and heard my cry. And he put a new song into my mouth, a hymn to our God. (Psalm 40: 2-4)                                                      There is much wrong in our world today.  Our world is one that puts enormous emphasis on power, achievement, and success.  But it was into such a world that Jesus came also.  He did not wait until we were a perfect people, a perfect world, but rather he came at times when we were in the throes of sin and brokenness.  And so, he comes still through his followers today and through their witness to “take away the sin of the world.”                                                                                                                            One commentator looking at John’s proclamation of who Jesus is, said- “The task of believers is not to outshine the world but to reflect His light within it.  In homes and schoolrooms, in workplaces and neighborhoods, by patience, by kindness, by words spoken gently when anger would be easier, by forgiveness offered when old wounds still ache, believers become small but enduring signs that the Lamb of God is still taking away the sin of the world—not by force, but by love.”                                     And so, when John’s cry sounds again — “Look, there is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29) — it is more than a remembered line. It is a summons to every heart that asks:  Who shapes the way you see, the way you act in the world? What will you do with the world that is entrusted to you?”1                                                                                                                                                   

1. Sundaysermons.com 


Popular posts from this blog

6-8-25 Feast of Pentecost

Image
                                                                          Our readings on Pentecost bring to an end the Easter season with the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise, about the coming of the Holy Spirit.                                                                                                           When the day of Pentecost came the Spirit came upon the apostles and the disciples gathered in the Upper Room.  They have been told to remain in Jerusalem until the coming of the Spirit.   So much has hap...
Read more

6-29-25 Feast of St. Peter & St. Paul

Image
Our readings today tell us of the two most prominent saints of the Christian faith. But, for these two, like most of us, they did not start out that way.   Both encountered Jesus   in very different ways, but each had to decide, following that encounter, whether to follow Jesus completely or not.   And even when they did decide to follow him, we can see from the scriptures, it does not mean there was a smooth easy road ahead of them.   For both, in their relationship to Jesus and in the development of their own faith in Jesus, there were questions and periods of confusion . Peter initially, encounters Jesus after a night fishing and catching nothing.   Peter has pulled his boat on shore, but Jesus tells him to put out into water and cast his nets again Simon, the fisherman, informs Jesus, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” (Luke 5:5)      Of course, we know what happens tha...
Read more

6-22-25 Most Holy Body andd Blood of Christ

  This weekend our liturgy focuses on   the feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ .                       The gospel this weekend, while not a eucharistic feast itself, has all the ear marks of Jesus    concern for those who seek him and are his followers.   In the gospel, Jesus asks the apostles to feed the crowd.   They respond that they have only 5 loaves and 2  f ish.     So little for so many.   But Jesus asks them to give what little they have.   Imagine what their thoughts might have been when Jesus takes all they have (little as it is) and feeds everyone.   They are asked to trust in Jesus, surrender what they have, believe that it will be more than enough, and receive what Jesus will give them in return.   From those 5 loaves of bread and two fish, he, after praying (i.e., “looking up to heaven”) is able to provide food enough for all t...
Read more