Behold! The Lamb of God

Baptism of Christ, 15th cent. Kythera, Greece.  Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athens, Greece (author photo)

 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 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, the Gospel told us 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!"  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 is the true Paschal (Passover) Lamb, who offers Himself for our deliverance from darkness and death (1 Peter 1:18-19).  According to St. John Chrysostom, my study Bible says, Jesus came to John this second time in order for John to make his declaration, and thereby stop anyone from thinking that Jesus needed baptism to wash away sins.  

 

"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."  That the Spirit remained upon Him was a sign that Christ possesses the Spirit in His fullness from all eternity, my study Bible says.  Christ did not receive the Holy Spirit at His Baptism.  We are to understand that this vision seen by John revealed the truth that the Holy Spirit has always rested upon Christ.  Here in this second day given in the Gospel of John, John the Baptist declares that Christ baptizes with the Holy Spirit, which is greater than the Baptist's own baptism of repentance, performed with only water on earth.  This parallels the separation of water above from the water below on the second day in Genesis 1:6-8.  

 

 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 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).  Christ's first disciples had been first followers of St. John the Baptist.  They were Andrew; Simon, also known as Peter or Cephas (both mentioned in today's reading); Philip; Nathanael (who was also known as Bartholomew), whom we shall find in tomorrow's reading; and also an unnamed disciple here.  The unnamed disciple is said by some patristic authors to be St. John who is the author of this Gospel.  It was a common literary device, my study Bible says, for a writer not to give his own name (see Luke 24:13-27, in which St. Luke mentions only the name of Cleopas of the two disciples).  These verses give us the third day of St. John's Gospel, in which John the Baptist sends two disciples to Christ whom Christ takes in to be His own, one of whom is declared to be the foundation of the Church (see Matthew 16:18).  My study Bible says that this parallels the gathering of the waters and the establishment of growth on the land on the third day in Genesis 1:9-13.  

 

 In today's reading, we see the unfolding beginnings of Christ's public ministry.  Everything begins with a kind of hand off from the Old Testament to the New, in which the disciples of St. John the Baptist are guided to the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, and in this sense, given to Him to become His disciples.  It is an opening up, a new beginning, and also a kind of glorious fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies of the coming of the Messiah.  Appropriately, this happens through St. John the Baptist, the last and greatest of the Old Testament type prophets.  At the same time, we compare the fulfillment of the Baptist's mission with the new birth of Christ's public ministry in the form of these fledgling disciples of Christ.  We get a taste of Jesus' divinity in that He gives Simon the name of Cephas, which translated into Greek is Πετρος/Petros, rendered "Peter" in English.  In some sense, the Church is being born right here, in this renaming of Simon by Christ.  We can take this understanding of the birth of something as a parallel to the ways in which Christ and our faith in Him will work in our own lives.  We may come to faith in a particular way, perhaps in our Baptism, but just like the Church that is seemingly "born" in this renaming of Simon, we also must grow into the fullness of faith throughout our lives, unfolding as a way, a journey, something which is being grown and renewed within us day by day as we grow in reliance upon God, and are transfigured through our faith.  This is a lifetime journey, even as the Church continues in its journey upon earth throughout this age.  So we meet these first disciples, and with proper gratitude to St. John the Baptist who has prepared them for and guided them to the Christ, even as we are all hopefully on the road to the wedding feast of our Bridegroom.  He is the one who comes to them as Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, who baptizes with the Holy Spirit, and is the Son of God.