2nd Sunday in Ordianry Time Year B - 18/1/2015 - Gospel: Jn 1, 35-42
Lamb of God
Having a stroll in the afternoon and you can tell what food that house has for dinner tonight because you can smell the odour of the food cooking coming out from their kitchen. People who had migrated here from elsewhere had never tasted lamb meat before and could not enjoy the lamb when they first tasted it. They could smell it miles away. The odour remains in the dining room for hours afterwards. I imagine that the food's odour blends so well to the air and Mr 'wind' loves to carry it to the atmosphere. However living in a country where lamb meat is the main food on our table we learn to eat it and soon become a fan of it. Strange enough the strong smell we used to hate now becomes the beautiful addictive odour. This is not a cultural difference but rather it is the matter of becoming accustomed to it.
John the Baptist who used to eat locusts and honey in the wilderness now becomes the fan of the Lamb of God when he called Jesus 'the Lamb of God'. We don't know what made John give Jesus the title but we do know the idea comes from the Old Testament. Probably the saying 'the Lamb of God' is the most significant prophesy John had made before his execution. What John said we now recite three times before the Holy Communion. It reminds us both the new Passover Jesus sacrificed for us on the cross as the Lamb of God and our respond in thanksgiving adoration for his saving act. The Old Testament recorded the story Abraham who was in obedient to God made sacrifice of his own son by Yahweh's request as a test. Abraham passed the test and Yahweh saved his son, Isaac. Gen 22. There is another significant story relating to the lamb sacrificed and that is the story of the liberation the Israelites from the slavery in Exodus 12 and 13. It gives birth to the Feast of the Passover that the Jewish people celebrated yearly in remembrance of the saving act of Yahweh. The angel of death will 'pass over' houses of those who had sprinkled the lamb's blood on their doorposts.
In the Old Testament the lamb that sacrificed became the symbol of protection for the Israelites and they were set free from the slavery because of the blood of the lamb that they were spared death. An ordinary lamb gives nourishment for our physical body and the Lamb of God, Jesus, gives much more for our soul. He gives food for our spiritual body and His blood erased our sins and His resurrection gives us eternal life. We are spared death and given life on the special occasion when Jesus was crucified during the celebration on the Feast of the Passover.
John the Baptist who used to eat locusts and honey in the wilderness now becomes the fan of the Lamb of God when he called Jesus 'the Lamb of God'. We don't know what made John give Jesus the title but we do know the idea comes from the Old Testament. Probably the saying 'the Lamb of God' is the most significant prophesy John had made before his execution. What John said we now recite three times before the Holy Communion. It reminds us both the new Passover Jesus sacrificed for us on the cross as the Lamb of God and our respond in thanksgiving adoration for his saving act. The Old Testament recorded the story Abraham who was in obedient to God made sacrifice of his own son by Yahweh's request as a test. Abraham passed the test and Yahweh saved his son, Isaac. Gen 22. There is another significant story relating to the lamb sacrificed and that is the story of the liberation the Israelites from the slavery in Exodus 12 and 13. It gives birth to the Feast of the Passover that the Jewish people celebrated yearly in remembrance of the saving act of Yahweh. The angel of death will 'pass over' houses of those who had sprinkled the lamb's blood on their doorposts.
In the Old Testament the lamb that sacrificed became the symbol of protection for the Israelites and they were set free from the slavery because of the blood of the lamb that they were spared death. An ordinary lamb gives nourishment for our physical body and the Lamb of God, Jesus, gives much more for our soul. He gives food for our spiritual body and His blood erased our sins and His resurrection gives us eternal life. We are spared death and given life on the special occasion when Jesus was crucified during the celebration on the Feast of the Passover.
Written by Fr Vũđình Tường
St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane Australia
St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane Australia