Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A
January 16, 2011
John’s purpose is to launch Jesus on his mission. We need to look closely at these words: lamb
- traditionally this is the considered to be the ‘paschal lamb’, the
lamb destined to be sacrificed to take away sin. But the text does not
say that. It does not
say HOW the lamb takes away sin, it does not even say that the lamb is
a sacrificial victim. It says: ‘Look, there is thelamb of God...’
Lambs are loved for their docility. A pet lamb, even today, is quite
clingy; it will follow you wherever you go. (There’s a nursery rhyme on
that.) We need to reflect on why we would presume that John’s phrase
‘lamb of God’ meant ‘the one to be sacrificed’, rather than ‘the one
especially loved for its gentleness and docility (read: obedience).
The Servant Songs in Isaiah are often called ‘Songs of the suffering servant’. Again the outstanding quality was the servant’s obedience, which led him to be dedicated even when this meant hardship. It might be cart-before-horse theology to say the
servant was MEANT to suffer and be killed as a sacrificial act of simple
blind obedience (which is what is implied in the traditional interpretation).
So how does Jesus take away the sin
of the world (note: not ‘sins’
but ‘sin’)? By doing/being the opposite of ‘sin’, of course, which is
loving-the-other-unselfishly. Sin is just loving-self-unduly in any of
myriad ways. Sin is taken away when Jesus shows us God’s love, and gives
us an example of how to love. The fire of the Spirit is not suffering
but love. Yes, love burns, but not like ordinary fire that burns the
body, not like pains of fasting or flagellation. It burns like LOVE.