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 came baptizing with water."   And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending 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 staying?"   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

We have just begin the Gospel of John, and started on Monday with its theological Prologue.  Yesterday we read the testimony of John the Baptist, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"  He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ."  And they asked him, "What then?  Are you Elijah?"  He said, "I am not."  "Are you the Prophet?"  And he answered, "No."  Then they said to him, "Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us?  What do you say about yourself?"  He said:  "I am 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  "Make straight the way of the Lord,"' as the prophet Isaiah said."  Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees.  And they asked him, saying, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"  John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know.  It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."  These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

 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 came baptizing with water."   And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending 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."  This next day is the second day in John's Gospel, paralleling the separation of water above from the water below on the second day of Creation in Genesis 1:6-8.  John declares that his own baptism with water to be inferior to Christ's, in which baptism is with the Holy Spirit.  Jesus is the Lamb of God, John declares, recalling Isaiah's "Servant of God" who dies for the transgressions of His people (Isaiah 53:4-12).  My study bible says that Christ is the true Paschal (Passover) Lamb, who offers Himself for our deliverance from darkness and death (1 Peter 1:18-19).  John gives this declaration, so that we understand Jesus does not need baptism to wash away sins.  Rather, there is revelation here:  the Spirit descending and remaining on Christ is a sign of the fullness of the Spirit possessed by Christ from all eternity.   It is important to understand that this is testimony we're given from John the Baptist, who led his own disciples to Christ, including most likely the author of this Gospel.

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 staying?"   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).  Here the disciples of John the Baptist are led to Christ to become Jesus' first disciples.  They are Andrew and Simon (also known as Peter or Cephas).  Philip and Nathanael will be introduced in tomorrow's reading.  The unnamed disciple (the other in addition to Andrew who form the two who heard John speak, and followed Christ) is considered by many Fathers to be John, the author of this Gospel.  A common literary device held that out of humility a writer did not give his own name (see Luke 24;13 as another example).   This is the third day given in the text.  Jesus begins gathering and creating the foundation of the Church with these first disciples, paralleling the gathering of the water and the establishment of growth on the land of the third day in Genesis 1:9-13.  The transformation of Peter's name to "Stone" is a kind of sign of this foundation. 

Why the parallel with Creation, given so clearly in the hints of this Gospel?  Clearly Christ, as Son and Logos, is the One through whom Creation was spoken into existence, and without whom "nothing was made that was made" (John 1:3).   From the beginning, John's Gospel makes it clear that Christ's appearance in the world as the incarnate Jesus is God's divine hand at work, "recreating" the world, so to speak, through His ministry, and preparing the world for the transformation at the end of the age through the Church, the Body of Christ.  We could delve much more deeply into the theology of this "recreation," and understand that salvation is a way of reclaiming Paradise on earth, redeeming not just man but "for the life of the world."   In a deep sense, this is what it is to be able to baptize with the Holy Spirit.  And this is really what the text is telling us in the parallels with the Days of Creation.  Step by step, it is God's intervention in the world that creates the Church, putting together its foundations, leading from the last of the Old Testament prophets and building the new covenant for the life of the world.  We note how cosmic events of tremendous surprise and awe are contained in small, almost intimate pictures:  John the Baptist witnessing the Holy Spirit resting fully on Christ at His baptism, the first few disciples led to Christ, and one by one, the others added.  These aren't just the start of something big.  Rather they are revelation to startle even the angels at what tremendous thing is happening, shaking up a universe of universes with the Gospel, and the startling grace of God that suddenly permeates awareness with an awesome plan for humankind and for the world.   An ancient hymn declares of Mary (the Theotokos, or "God-bearer"), "He whom the entire universe could not contain was contained within your womb, O Theotokos."   And so we could say it is similarly in these events with this handful of people.  The good news of a universe is contained in these conversations, this revelation to John the Baptist, this guidance by John of these first disciples to Christ.  We never know what is contained in small beginnings, in the choice to devote oneself to God, nor to follow His way.  Every decision counts when we view what these few choices have made, and what extraordinary power is at work through them to recreate Creation itself.