1 John 2:29-3:6
Psalm 98:1, 3cd-4, 5-6
John 1:29-34
Behold, the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world.
(John 1:29)
The lamb in the Old Testament is a figure of innocence, a sacrificial victim, a gentle fledgling sheep regarded with affection by its owners. (2 Samuel 12:3ff) St. John the Baptist publicly identifies the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sin of the world, the sacrificial Lamb prophesied in Isaiah.
(Isaiah 53:7)
As the paschal lamb was consumed during the Passover meal, so the Lamb of God, Agnus Dei, offers Himself in the Eucharist. May we be meek, like the all-powerful Son of God, Lamb of God, was meek in offering Himself to the Father, on our behalf and for our salvation.
Why did Jesus have to be a lamb, and not a stallion, or a tiger, or a bull? Why does Revelation portray Jesus as a "lamb standing as if slain?" (see Revlation. 5:6)
Why must the Mass proclaim Him as the "Lamb of God"? Because only a sacrificial lamb fits the divine pattern of our salvation.
(see "The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth" Scott Hahn, p 24)
Father Ed Bakker,
Anglican Catholic Church / Original Province
Mission of Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne
Bendigo
Australia
