Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

 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 from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.  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 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 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:(29-34)35-42

Yesterday we read the testimony of John, when the religious leaders 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."   The Gospel gives us another day ("the next day" or the second day of this beginning week of Jesus' ministry, paralleling the creation story of Genesis.)  This second day specifically parallels the separation of water above from the water below on the second day in Genesis 1:6-8.  My study bible explains that John's declaring Jesus as the Lamb of God recalls Isaiah's "Servant of God" who dies for the transgressions of His people (Isaiah 53:4-12).  Christ, who is the true Paschal (or Passover) Lamb, offers Himself for our deliverance from both darkness and death (1 Peter 1:18-19).  According to St. John Chrysostom, Jesus came to John this second time so that John could make this declaration, thus stopping anyone from thinking that Jesus needed baptism to wash away sins. 

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 that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came 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."  That the Spirit remained upon Him teaches us that Christ possesses the Spirit in His fullness from all eternity.  He did not receive the Holy Spirit at baptism.  Instead, we are to understand that the vision that John saw revealed the truth of Christ -- that the Holy Spirit had always rested upon Him.  Thus, this is called Epiphany (in the East) or Theophany; it is a manifestation or showing forth of God the Trinity.

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).  The Gospel gives us the third day in these verses, in which John the Baptist sends two disciples to Christ, whom Jesus gathers to be His own.  One of them, Simon, is immediately given a name which declares him to be the foundation of the Church (see also Matthew 16:18).  This third day of John's Gospel parallels the gathering of the waters and the establishment of growth on the land on the third day in Genesis 1:9-13.  Jesus' first disciples were first followers of John the Baptist; these would grow to include not only Andrew and Simon, or Cephas, mentioned here, but also in tomorrow's reading will expand to include Philip and Nathanael (also known as Bartholomew).  There is in addition an unnamed disciple in today's reading (one of the two of his disciples with whom John stood), who according to some patristic writers is John, the author of this Gospel.  It was, in Christ's time, a common literary device for a writer not to give his own name (see Luke 24:13-18, in which only one disciple is named of the two traveling the road to Emmaus). 

As John's Gospel unfolds the story of this beginning of Jesus' ministry, we can take a perspective on how great things grow.  That is, we see the unfolding of these events day by day.  There is no great declaration to the world that an Empire has begun, or some great event that shakes the foundations of material power.  Instead, the Christ is revealed by the one who prepared the way for Him, but not to the great powers of the world and its rulers.  Jesus begins gathering disciples one by one, from John who is the witness to the Spirit and the voice of the Father who declares Christ the Son.  It starts in God's time, and on God's terms.  Almost all of the events of Jesus' life start "small," so to speak.  Even the feeding of five thousand in the wilderness begins with simply a few provisions at hand (Matthew 14:13-21).  If we could but look at how God unfolds God's plans in the world, we may be given insight as to our own lives and our own plans, and how things work on levels we don't know.  Our lives are not about spectacular declarations and devices.  Instead, we live with God in mind, with prayer, and with an investment in time that allows what is worth having, being, and doing to unfold through God's purposes.  We don't know the blessings that may be infinite which are contained in one person we meet, one happenstance or chance calling in life.  Out of the relatively small things we think are present to us, we may receive uncountable blessings if used in the proper way, at the proper time, and for the right purposes.  We simply can't discount what is possible with God.  What is striking about today's reading is its "smallness" and "privateness."    There is nothing grandiose here, even in an age of grandiosity, in a place in which Herod the Great had set the tone for building of Empire.  Everything is done in humility, a quality for which John the Baptist is exemplary as a saintly figure.  The Baptist does not reveal Christ to the religious leadership nor to the state rulers.  This is a vision given to him about which he later testifies; the most immediate revelation is simply to two of his disciples that this is the Lamb of God.  All things unfold from there.  If we are to take this story seriously, we are to understand that God does not work the way we work, and that we can but leave things to God's hands, and ask that we participate with our own lives in that continual unfolding as God works within us.