Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

January 19, 2020

Readings:

First Reading: Isaiah 49: 3, 5-6

Psalm 40 “Here am I, Lord, I come to do our will.”

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1: 1-3

Gospel reading according to John 1: 29-34

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Homily: The Lamb of God

John the Baptist was much aware of the coming of the Messiah.  He was waiting and expecting his coming very soon.  He was very excited too to that coming event.  John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.'  He is the one of whom I said, 'A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he has existed before me’ (John 1: 29-30).  When Jesus was coming to John, he easily recognized him.  He called him the Lamb of God.  This theme or motif, Lamb of God, is also popular in the ancient world of Israel (in the Old Testament), similar to the Paschal Lamb.  For centuries people worshiped God by sacrificing animals. They killed them and offered them to God. For the Jews a lamb was the main animal of sacrifice. In the Temple a lamb was offered every day. The sacrifice of a lamb also played an important part in the Exodus.  God led the Israelites out of Egypt, where they were slaves, and into the Promised Land.  On the night God's people were to depart, the firstborn in all the Egyptian families died.  The firstborn of the Israelites were saved because God had instructed them to kill a lamb or goat and mark their doorposts with its blood.  The angel of death then knew to pass over those houses.  The Israelites ate the lamb in a meal before they left. The lamb was to have no blemish, and none of its bones were to be broken (https://www.loyolapress.com/our-catholic-faith/scripture-and-tradition/jesus-and-the-new-testament/who-do-you-say-that-i-am-names-for-jesus/jesus-the-lamb-of-god).  Jesus is that lamb who takes to himself the sins of the world.  Jesus chooses to suffer crucifixion at Calvary as a sign of his full obedience to the will of his divine Father, as Son of God in carrying away the sins of the world (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamb_of_God) by his death on the Cross.  He is the lamb that was slaughtered and offered in the altar of the Lord God in replacing us for the forgiveness of our sins.   

John continued in saying after him in his ministry, another one is coming to continue what he had started and that was Jesus; he came ahead of him because he existed before him.  Before the world and all in it was created and or began, Jesus was already present and existed.  He is already here and there.  He existed with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.  It was also included in the plan of God that the Son of God will become part of all created beings and to be the Son of Man, through Mary, and do the will of God his Father..   

John was right when he said that he did not know that his cousin Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah, the anointed one.  He did not expect that Jesus, who is son of Mary and Joseph, was the Son of the living God.   I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel (John 1: 31). Although he used the rite of baptism, the baptism of cleansing and repentance of all sins done, which is not applicable to Jesus, it was by this baptism that he whom he expected to come will appear, it became a means to employ so that Jesus may revealed himself when the time comes.  John introduced Jesus to the people of Israel through his testimony, and baptism of water. 

To prove what he said, he also testified about Jesus as the Lamb of God and the Son of God.  John testified further, saying, 'I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him' (John 1: 32).  He attested and affirmed that he saw the Holy Spirit came down from heaven and rested above his head.  He saw the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit in a form of a dove descending from the sky and remains in him.  And again he repeated the unknowing of him about the coming Messiah, Jesus.  I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit' (John 1: 33).  He was telling the people about his sending, role and mission.  He was told by the voice of God the indication in knowing he who is to come, the Holy Spirit will come to a man after he was baptized and descended and remain in him from then on.  If he baptized water, the one who is to come will baptize with the same Holy Spirit and fire.  Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God (John 1: 29-34).  He manifested and confirmed right there and then that Jesus the Lamb of God is truly the Son of God.