Homily for 18 January, Epiphany II

“Behold, the Lamb of God.”

As soon as we hear those words in today’s Gospel, our minds will be taken to each celebration of Mass when we hear them repeated by the Priest. Repeated as he holds up the Sacrament and invites us to Holy Communion. This is no mere coincidence, it isn’t just that S. John the Baptist and the liturgy use the same words; those words were placed into the Mass precisely because they are those use by S. John, and because what he was doing and what we are seeking to do each time we gather for Mass are essentially the same.

S. John had been preaching his baptism of repentance, he had been calling on the people to turn from their sins, and to prepare for the coming Messiah…and as he did so that coming Messiah came, and so he got to point directly to him.

But in doing so he didn’t merely say “here’s the Messiah” – he refers to Christ as ‘the Lamb of God.’ He already links Christ’s coming to his death – even though Christ’s public ministry is only just beginning, S. John is nudging his hearers (including us, of course) in the direction of the Cross…the place where the Lamb of God will be that perfect Sacrifice which does indeed take away the sins of the world. Through the centuries before thousands of lambs would have been sacrificed as the people of Israel sought to remove their sins, but now it was time for the perfect Sacrifice, not merely a lamb, but the Lamb. Not merely something offered to God, but God himself, incarnate as one of us.

S. John preached repentance of sins, and now the means by which that repentance is made to work is here. Christ who takes away the sins of the world. Through that Sacrifice towards which S. John is pointing by calling him the Lamb of God, the sins of the world can indeed be taken away. Through that Sacrifice offered by the true Lamb peace between God and humanity is made possible. A genuine relationship is opened up as a possibility.

But this isn’t merely about that crowd gathered by the Jordan, this is something which relates to us today – and that’s why these are the perfect words to use when calling people to receive Holy Communion.

First, we show that this is Christ whom we receive – the same Christ who met with S. John the Baptist. He was just beginning his public ministry then, he did much while he was still here on earth (including that sacrificial death which S. John prophesied), he met with so many more people…but even today, he is not remote from us, he is here with us. He meets us in his great Sacrament. We are given the chance to adore Christ just before we receive him into our selves.

We are given the chance to receive Christ because he still wants to come into a renewed and ever deeper relationship with us. In the Sacrament he invites us to have a closeness with him…and therefore with God. His whole mission in coming to earth was to establish the chance for people to come into a relationship with God, and in a particular way, he offers that to us at each Mass – that by receiving him worthily in Holy Communion we welcome him into our hearts.

But we are also reminded of that important step in that renewed relationship with God. We are reminded of sin – not reminded of it so that we can worry about it, so that we can dwell on our sins, but reminded of sin because Christ does indeed take away the sins of the world. That new relationship which Christ offers does need sin to be dealt with, and he has dealt with it…and he continues to deal with it.

It also reminds us of the deep link between Holy Communion and Christ’s Cross. The body of Christ which we receive is the body which was offered on the Cross, is that sacrificial Lamb who completes and perfects all of the Old Testament sacrifices. Christ is able to give us his body as our spiritual food, precisely because it has been offered on the Cross. By receiving Christ at Mass, we unite ourselves to that sacrificial death, we join him offering himself to the Father.

So as we recall that meeting between Christ and S. John, we remind ourselves of how this spoke to the depth of the relationship which Christ came to earth to offer to us. A relationship in which our sins are taken away, are taken away by the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. A relationship which is offered to us afresh at each Mass.

When we hear those words today, and at every Mass, we can renew our own part in that relationship. We can open our hearts to welcome Christ, welcome him as we receive him in Holy Communion…welcoming him as that Lamb of God, that S. John acclaimed. May he ever move our hearts so that we do receive him fully, and so are drawn into that renewed and ever deeper relationship with him…with the one gives us everything, including his own self.