On this Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Gospel again draws us into liturgical language. John the Baptist seeing Jesus walking by cries out: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

Upon hearing this, every Catholic’s mind immediately turns to the elevated host as the priest pronounces the Invitation to Communion at Mass. This is the way it should be. John the Baptist is using imagery from the Old Testament to identify Jesus as the lamb of sacrifice bringing forgiveness of sins for the people of Israel. He also speaks in his own prophetic role, foreseeing the sacrificial Death of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. So at a point before Jesus has uttered a word or performed a sign in his public ministry, John the Baptist has already announced the climactic point of Jesus’ ministry, his sacrificial Death on the Cross.

In John’s Gospel, the procession to the Cross is an ever-present reality. By keeping in mind this prophetic proclamation from the Baptist through the reading of every scene and event in the Gospel, it is easier to grasp the depth of the Christological focus of the Gospel. John continually presents Jesus as the Lamb without needing to do so overtly. It is not until the end of the Gospel, as Jesus dies on the Cross, that John reminds the reader of this inaugural proclamation. Jesus dies on the Cross in fulfillment of the proscriptions for Passover as given to Moses, thereby again identifying Jesus as the Lamb of God.

As we enter into the Eucharist Sacrifice this reality is ever-present. We ask the Lord for his mercy from the very opening of the Mass as we chant the “Kyrie.” Again, in the “Gloria,” we call upon Jesus the Lamb of God to “have mercy on us” and then “to receive our prayer.” As we reflect on the other great names which we use to refer to Jesus as the Christ, they all harken back to Jesus as the Lamb of God. One might say that this is the first title bestowed upon Jesus, uttered here at the very beginning of his public ministry, by the prophet John the Baptist.

John also announces the moment when he gained the insight that this Jesus was the messiah. When he saw the Spirit descend upon him – presumably at the Baptism – John knew that the messiah was present and was about to begin his public ministry. Not just once but again the next day John will see Jesus and again exclaim: “Behold the Lamb of God.” Clearly John was exercising his role as precursor, pointing to Jesus and proclaiming the coming of the kingdom that Jesus will inaugurate through his Passion and Death.

Identifying Jesus as the Lamb draws attention to his sacrificial Death, which is a clear distinction from calling Jesus the Messiah. Nothing of messianic language or expectation demanded death, indeed one can argue that the messiah was imagined as a more triumphal figure inaugurating a kingdom for the Jewish people in line with the Davidic kingdom. Instead, John recognizes the Messiah as Son of God, and as the sacrificial lamb, thus preparing the disciples for what was to come.

Among those who heard this testimony of John, as we read later in this first chapter of John’s Gospel, are several who will become apostles for Jesus Christ. We will learn that Andrew and another future apostle present at this moment heeded the prophecy of John and left him to follow Jesus. They grasped, without fully understanding, the significance of the statement by John.

Jesus is the Lamb. When the priest solemnly pronounces the words “Behold the Lamb of God” he stands in the prophetic role of the Baptist, inviting the community not only to receive the Blessed Sacrament, but to enter into the entire Mystery of Salvation accomplished through Christ’s Death on the Cross.

Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.