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 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 1:29–42 

 

Yesterday we read what the Gospel calls 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 given 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 Bathabara 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."   This next day is the second day given in John's Gospel, in which John the Baptist declares that Christ baptizes with the Holy Spirit, which is greater than his own baptism of repentance, performed with water on earth.  As these first readings in John's Gospel (written by John the Apostle, not to be confused with John the Baptist) parallel the week of creation given in Genesis, so this second day parallels the separation of water above from the water below on the second day in Genesis 1:6-8.  My study Bible also notes that John's declaring Jesus to be 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 (Passover) lamb, offers Himself for our deliverance from darkness and death (1 Peter 1:18-19).  My study Bible cites St. John Chrysostom, who teaches that Jesus came to John this second time in order for John to make this declaration and thereby stop 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 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 is understood as a sign that Christ possesses the Spirit in His fullness from all eternity, my study Bible explains.  Christ did not receive the Holy Spirit at His Baptism.  This vision seen by John the Baptist revealed the truth that the Holy Spirit has always rested on Christ.  

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).  This next day begins the third day of Christ's ministry as given in the Gospel of John.  John the Baptist (again, a separate person from John the Evangelist and Apostle) sends two disciples of his to Christ, whom Christ then gathers to be His own -- one of whom He declares to be the foundation of the Church in the final verse here.  This third day parallels the gathering of the waters and the establishment of growth on the land on the third day of creation given in Genesis 1:9-13.  We are to understand, then, that the Lord's first disciples had been followers of John the Baptist.  In today's reading, we read of Andrew and Simon coming to Christ.  Simon becomes called Cephas (from the Aramaic), or "Peter" in English (from the Greek word for Stone, Petros/Πετρος).  In our following reading, Christ will gather more disciples who were first followers of John the Baptist, and in turn bring others to Him.

The Gospel gives us a sense of continuity, in the sense of a spiritual thread that does not simply start one day and stop another, but rather runs throughout the whole history of Jewish spirituality, beginning with the Old Testament.  Just as this first week of days we're given in John's Gospel parallels that of the Creation Week given "in the beginning" of Genesis, so spiritual life in this world, the revelation of God to us, also has a continuity, a flow, something that depends upon a thread that goes from person to person and event to event.  John the Baptist's ministry prepares people for the coming of the Christ.  In the same sense, we can also speak of all of the Old Testament prophets as those who came calling the people back to God, especially at times Israel had strayed away to follow other gods or reject the teachings of the God of Israel.  It was a way to understand exile and catastrophe, to perceive of the events of Israel's history also.  So in the New Testament, we are given an understanding by the Evangelist of the "handing off" of this thread of spiritual revelation from John the Baptist to the Messiah, to Christ.  John the Baptist first gathered these disciples, preparing them in this sense for the ministry of Christ, and pointing the way ("Behold, the Lamb of God!").  So we should also understand a thread that works and weaves its way through our own lives, that God will work to reveal to us what we need to know along the way throughout our lives.  We might hear something in a sermon that sparks our interest and understanding, follow up eventually with a book that seems to elaborate on the theme, and come to notice quite by accident something that catches our eye in an icon or while visiting a church.  At prayer, we may find ourselves deepening a conviction about something we need to change in our thinking, or a behavior that could use the insights we've gained.  Whatever it is, we can be certain that God works in this way:  through a pattern of people and events, a thread of spiritual revelation somehow.  Christ -- and the saints such as John the Baptist, for example -- come to us in ways we don't really expect, but as part of a pattern of a whole, a thread that runs throughout our lives.  We might all know people who perceive nothing of this, but that doesn't mean that the spiritual life is false, only that there is something in us that sparks our understanding of our need for it, and its presence for us.   Whatever it comes down to in specifics for each of us, we can be certain that God is always working, and Christ is always working, as are the servants of Christ, be they angels or saints or even patterns of events in our lives ("My Father has been working until now, and I have been working" - John 5:17).  In today's reading, it is revealed that Christ possesses in full the Holy Spirit, Who will be given to the world, and through Whom spiritual understanding is revealed and illuminated (John 14:26).  Spiritual life, in this sense, is interdependent, and not dependent upon us only and our choices, but upon the working of God in our lives and through things we can neither predict nor even seemingly choose ourselves.  It is this interdependence, like a network effect, that is revealed through the Gospels and through our reading today, making this clear in the pattern of the handing off of disciples from John the Baptist to Jesus.  One prepares the way, as he has said himself (see yesterday's reading, above), for the manifestation of God in our midst, the Christ.  So it is in our lives.  Even as individuals, we are interdependently linked to a community of faith, and that community consists not just of an earthly one but also a heavenly one, a great cloud of witnesses.  Let us consider with wonder, how we are dependent upon those who came before, and those who surround us, and how we also may contribute to those who are to come.