Homilies

2nd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME: BEHOLD, THE LAMB OF GOD

THIS YEAR’S ENTRY to the liturgical season of Ordinary Time is something unusual. The Feast of the Lord’s Baptism which is traditionally the first Sunday in Ordinary Time was celebrated last Monday. Today is the second Sunday in Ordinary Time. We have noticed that in the gospel passage, there is a continuing presentation of the bond between Jesus and his cousin, John the Baptist. In this passage, John invites his readers and us to “look” at Jesus, and to understand His mission.

First, John describes Jesus as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” We could have many reflections on this title of Jesus as “Lamb of God”. In the Bible, lamb is synonymous with sacrifice. There have been sacrifices in the Old Testament, but all of these sacrifices were perfectly fulfilled in the one sacrifice of Christ. John might have foreseen that Jesus would be sacrificed and would offer himself as sacrifice, once and for all, for the sinful humanity. Moreover, a lamb is meek, it can never be violent. Jesus, in his meekness, offered himself and died on the Cross.

When John says that Jesus is the Lamb “who takes away the sin of the world”, he describes the effect of the sacrifice of Jesus to the sinners. That is, Jesus made atonement for man’s transgressions through his death on the cross. Thus, He is indeed our Savior and our Redeemer.

Nowadays, we can find people who seem to be allergic to the word “sin”. They don’t want to hear that word, and they want also to deny or to disregard the reality of sin. But sin is real. Terrorism is real. Killing people is real. Racism is real. Lies are real. Stealing is real….  and so forth. We live in a world surrounded by these things. And, thus, Jesus becomes all the more significant in relation to this “sin” of the world. Jesus takes away the sin of the world. As such, He is indeed the Savior of the world. We need always to be reminded of this fact, and we continue to believe in Jesus our Savior.

Secondly, John describes Jesus as greater than him. He said, “A man is coming after me (who) ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.” John is known to be a humble person. In fact, elsewhere in the gospels, he also said that he is “not worthy to untie his (Jesus) sandals”, and further, he said, “He (Jesus) must increase, I must decrease”. That is the humility of John. When John prepared for the coming of Christ, he has his own share of popularity. When he preached about repentance, throng of people came to him and were baptized by him. But he never exploited that popularity for his personal ends. He was aware of his mission. He was also aware of his place before Jesus. That Jesus is greater than him because of the truth that Jesus is the Son of God.

Humility is a value of the kingdom of God. In fact, Jesus has taught us that humility is the key to entry into the kingdom of God. The greatest enemy to this, or the exact opposite to humility is arrogance. Riches and wealth often affect one’s relationship with God. Why! Because if we have the resources, we can think that we can live all by ourselves. We would feel that we don’t need others, and worse, we fell that we no longer need God in our life. This could explain why, in most affluent countries, more people have no longer regard for God. As Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI said, people turn to new form of gods and in fact, to the gods of themselves. Spiritually speaking, this is arrogance. Having full resources is not a reason that we dissociate ourselves from God. What God wants is this: despite the many resources we may have, we must remain humble before him. That is, we must remain dependent on him. We cannot put God on the same level with us. Jesus Christ is God, He is the Son of God, and thus, he remains greater than us.

Thirdly, John testifies that Jesus is the bearer of the Spirit. John says, "I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and remain upon him.” We, Catholics, believe that God is One. The three Persons in One God live in undivided unity. In the gospels, we see some texts describing the unity between Jesus and the Father, on the one hand. And on the other hand, we find passages describing the unity between Jesus and the Holy Spirit. For instance, in the Annunciation, we heard that “Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit”. And on the baptism of Jesus, “the Spirit came down on him” as witnessed by John. Indeed, Jesus is the bearer of the Spirit.

In the same manner, the Church is also bearer of the Spirit. And we, as an Easter people, are also bearers of the Spirit. The Spirit always lives in the Church and likewise, He dwells also in our day-today life. But often we simply taken his presence for granted. We shall not forget that the Holy Spirit is our Guide, Teacher, Enlightenment, and Giver of life. Therefore, just as we pray to the Father and Jesus, we pray also to the Holy Spirit for life’s guidance and enlightenment. Amen. 

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