In all of our readings this Sunday, our attention is drawn to a key figure, a key image in the entirety of the Scriptures. And that image is the innocent, spotless, unblemished Lamb of God. And in particular, in today’s Gospel, when Jesus walks towards John the Baptist in the Jordan, John the Baptist looks at Him with marvel and awe, almost stunned to be seeing the Lord God of Hosts walking his way. But what’s more, the beauty of His purity, of His innocence. And he can do nothing but exclaim, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!”
My brothers and sisters, this tender, precious Lamb of God is actually the Son of God. The Son that the Eternal Father so cherished from all eternity and cherishes even now, the Son with whom the Holy Spirit is united in a magnificent way. The three of them — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — working their marvels throughout salvation history together. And so, my brothers and sisters, we would expect that this theme would actually go back quite a ways within that salvation history.
And we see the Lamb of God already appearing in Exodus, where God commands His people to protect themselves and their families by sprinkling the blood of a lamb without blemish on their doorposts, so that the Angel of Death would pass over that house when God would send him out to smite all of Egypt, so as to liberate His people as He had commanded. Even if those commands fell on deaf, indifferent, and hardened ears, our Lord in Exodus commands: “Your lamb shall be without blemish. They shall take some of its blood and put it on the two doorposts. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you.” In other words, my brothers and sisters, God is already indicating that the blood of the true Lamb, the blood of the Son of God, will be shed for all, so that sins may be forgiven and eternal life may be attained, eternal death to be thwarted.
The angel of death will have no power over those who have been anointed and blessed with the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. We see a foreshadowing of what John sees in the Jordan again in the story of Isaac with his father in Genesis chapter 22, where Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” And Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb.” We remember that God had asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, the miracle child born of Sarah, who was barren. And God had asked Abraham to sacrifice that precious innocence to Him.
And we know the story. Abraham places the wood for the sacrifice of the lamb on top of his son Isaac’s shoulder as they ascend Mount Moriah. Does that remind you of anything? Who ascended with a cross on His shoulder up a hill? Was it not the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world? Isaac has no idea that the wood he carries on his shoulder is the wood that he himself will be sacrificed on. And just as Abraham is about to sacrifice his son Isaac, an angel of the Lord stays his hand. And God said that for what you have just done, for obeying Me even unto the sacrifice of your only begotten son, I will make your sons and daughters more numerous than the stars of heaven, countless beyond the sands of the seas.
And so, my brothers and sisters, God spared Isaac. But interestingly enough, the Eternal Father, out of great love for all of us, did not spare even His own Son. Saint Paul says that if people were punished for violating grave covenantal laws such as idolatry, apostasy, blasphemy, and adultery under the Law of Moses, how much worse ought the punishment be for those who trample underfoot Jesus, the Son of God, sent into the world to save us — the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world — rejected.
In Hebrews chapter ten, he says: “Anyone who has violated the law of Moses is put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?” My brothers and sisters, this is a dire warning to each and every one of us as well.
We who have known the blessings, the graces, the countless mercies of God day in and day out — in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and in the reception of Holy Communion — where we receive not just a blessing, not just God’s mercy or God’s grace, but we receive God Himself. When we receive the Eucharist and yet do not live in a way that dignifies that reception, we prove to ourselves that we still have such a very long way to go. And that is why the Lord gives us time. He is merciful. He is preparing us for something amazing, for something beautiful.
My brothers and sisters, the Lamb of God has come, has suffered and died for us, and now reigns in heaven, as He always did with the Father and the Holy Spirit, who descended upon Him in the Jordan, crowning Him with power from on high to fulfill His mission — a mission fulfilled always in unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit. And so, be of heart. Be at peace. The Lamb of God has conquered even death for you and for me.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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