Behold! The Lamb of God!

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.' I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I come baptizing with water." And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."

Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, "What do you seek?" They said to Him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), "where are you saying?" He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour). One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone).

- John 1:29-42

In yesterday's reading, we were introduced to John the Baptist, who cried with "the voice of one crying in the wilderness" to "make straight the way of the LORD." John baptizes with water for repentance, preparing all for the One who is to come. In today's reading, John encounters Jesus.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.' I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I come baptizing with water." My study bible says that "John's naming Jesus publicly as the Lamb of God recalls Isaiah's 'Servant of God' who dies for the transgressions of His people (Is. 53:4-12). Christ, the true Paschal Lamb, offers Himself for our deliverance from darkness and death (1 Peter 1:18-19)." The Lamb of God will be He whose sacrifice for us will remain a central focus of the world's understanding of itself - and of salvation and redemption. John is a messenger, a herald, of what is to come. He baptizes with water for repentance, so that people are ready for this One who is to come, the Lamb of God.

And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God." My study bible notes that "the Spirit remained upon Him because Christ possesses the Holy Spirit in His fullness." We are at once introduced to Trinity in John's Gospel. "In the beginning," in John's Prologue (verses 1-18), John has taught us about Jesus' relationship, as the Word, to the Father. This is a picture of the Trinity revealed in this scene of baptism in the Jordan as well - the Voice of the Father, the Person of the Son, the descent of the Spirit "like a dove." The theological basis of John's Gospel is solidly in place right from the start. John the Baptist is now a witness, and he testifies to what he has seen. Jesus is the One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.

Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, "What do you seek?" They said to Him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), "where are you saying?" He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour). One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone). My study bible notes here: "Jesus' first disciples had been followers of John the Baptist. They were (1) Andrew (v. 40), (2) an unnamed disciple (v. 40), probably the author of this Gospel; (3) Andrew's brother, Simon (v. 41), given the name Cephas, which is equivalent to the Greek 'Peter,' meaning 'rock' (v. 42)." In tomorrow's reading, we will be further introduced to more new disciples, Philip and Nathanael. John's Gospel introduces us to Simon's renaming by Jesus, as "Peter" (rock, or stone) right away. In Matthew's Gospel, we recall, we are told that Peter's confession of faith that Jesus is Christ leads directly to Jesus' proclamation of the name change. Jesus says there: "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." What is clear is the reflection in both texts of the relationship between the Father, the Son and the revelation of faith in us as his followers. It is this faith that results upon which Jesus will build his church. John the Baptist has had this revelation, that Jesus is Son, and now his disciples are sent to Jesus as Messiah or Christ - the "Anointed One" (and we witness Jesus' "anointing" with the Spirit). Already we are given a picture of relationship, as it works through faith, which John's Gospel will reveal to us later more explicitly: the revelation by the Father of the Son, who will baptize with the Spirit, to human beings who confess this faith. Right from the beginning, we are in the territory of the mystical revelation of the Trinity and how it works with us as human beings, and the faith that brings us together to form the Church, the faithful.

John's Gospel immerses us right away in relationship, and its central importance to our faith. We cannot get away from it. There is first the revelation of Father, Son and Spirit, coming after John's Prologue which teaches us about the Word, and His relationship to the Father. John the Baptist has had a revelation, a prefiguring of what is to come, and he proclaims it loudly, "as the voice of one crying in the wilderness," to all who will listen and repent in preparation, with John's baptism of water. John reveals Jesus' identity at the Baptism in the Jordan - and all is clear: this is the Son, who has the fullness of the Spirit. And finally, there is our role in this as human beings. We are the ones who confess our faith, as did Peter, "the rock." It is this confession that is the rock upon which the gates of Hades will not prevail, according to Jesus' statement in Matthew's Gospel, quoted above. We are linked in a union, a chain of relationships, to one another and through the Trinity, so that this foundation cannot be prevailed upon even by the "gates" (or power) of Hades. John the Baptist, through his faith, links his own disciples to Jesus, the Christ. In this way we are to understand that our faith is a series of relationship and relatedness, through and with God the Trinity, and in that sense our confession of faith is an unbreakable bond that withstands anything. Let this humble story be our beginning of understanding what the power of faith can do, and how it can break the strongest forces that would prevail against it. Where do you begin in this chain? How are you a part of it? Remember Jesus' words to Peter, that in our faith even the Father Himself links to us - we are adopted, elevated into sonship. Let us be renewed in this baptism of faith as we need to be, each day, in prayer - and remember how we are linked to all.