Sunday Meditation: On Whom the Spirit Descended

Last week, on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, we saw in the Gospel of Matthew the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus after undergoing John’s Baptism.  Last week was considered the First Sunday in Ordinary Time for Year A.  Today, the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time for Year A, we hear John the Baptist testify he was a witness to the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus.  What is interesting about this testimony is that it comes from the Gospel of John.  The Gospel of John has no such narrative about Jesus being baptized but has John witness to the baptism we see in Matthew’s Gospel.  This is an occurrence of intertextuality, which I think leads credibility to the events.  If they are described in on Gospel and testified in another, that seems to me to be verification.

Another interesting thing in today’s Gospel passage is that John twice says he did not know Jesus.  Why doesn’t he know Jesus, they are supposed to be cousins?  It’s quite possible that other than when the two “met” when they were each in their mother’s wombs, they never met again in the flesh.  This not knowing of Jesus recalls an event later in Matthew’s Gospel, when John from prison asks Jesus’ disciples whether Jesus is the “One to come” (Mt 11: 2-3).  Both times we see John unsure of Jesus’s role.  When multiple texts cross check with each other, they verify each other.

 

Here is today’s Gospel reading.

 

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 existed before me.’

I did not know him,

but the reason why I came baptizing with water

was that he might be made known to Israel.”

John testified further, saying,

“I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven

and remain upon him.

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.’

Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”

~Jn 1: 29-34

 

Why does John call Jesus the Lamb of God?  Why not the Lion of God?  The lamb has a particular cultural significance in Judaism, and it’s more complex than just the daily sacrificial lamb at the ancient temple.  Fr, Geoffrey Plant explains.

 

So Jesus takes away the “sin” of the world not just the sins of the world.  He is taking away the alienation from God.  The Lamb evokes (1) the two daily sacrificial lambs, (2) the Passover the lamb that allows for freedom from slavery, (3) the annual slaughtered lambs in preparation for Passover, and (4) the gentle lamb Isaiah refers to as being led to the slaughter.  This slaughtered lamb will be present in the Book of Revelation, forever bleeding but yet standing (Rev 5: 6).

The pastoral homily I return to Archbishop Edward Weisenberger.  I try to vary the homilists, but I was so captivated by the Archbishop's homily for today I have to post him two weeks in a row.

 

Social programs that promise to take away the “sins” of this world are of mixed results.  The only entity that truly takes away the sin of the world is the “Lamb of God.”

 

 

Sunday Meditation: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

 

Matt Maher has a wonderful contemporary Christian song, “Behold the Lamb of God.”

 

Very stirring.