The Lamb of God

At the Doxology at Mass the priest elevates the consecrated elements “The Body and Blood of Christ” and says; “Behold the Lamb of God”…………

There is so much to be said regarding these words, how it came to be, why it came to be, and essentially the Holy Trinity’s total involvement in this very holy and saving presence of Almighty God, with us, for us, and because of us.

Let’s begin at the beginning, as found in Genesis, the creation of the world. This had to be among God’s greatest accomplishments; His personhood eventually to become one with us, of us, and for us, through His Son Jesus Christ, many centuries later in human chronology.

From the CCC #54; “In the beginning God makes himself known; “God, who creates and conserves all things by his Word, provides men with constant evidence of himself in created realities. And furthermore, wishing to open the way to heavenly salvation, he manifested himself to our first parents from the very beginning.” He invited them to intimate communion with himself and clothed them with resplendent grace and justice. # 55; “This revelation was not broken off by our first parents’ sin. “After the fall, God buoyed them up (to lift or hold up in mind or spirit; encourage) with the hope of salvation, by promising redemption; and he has never ceased to show his solicitude for the human race. For he wishes to give eternal life to all who seek salvation by patience in well-doing.”

The Old Testament relates to us how water became an important element in the role of redemption. beginning with the “First story of Creation” Gen. 1: 1-2; “In the beginning, when God created the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters.” Already water plays an important role in the sceme of things leading to our eventual salvation; (footnote to Gen. 1-2) “part of this vast body forms the salt-water seas, part of it is the fresh water under the earth which wells forth on the earth as springs and fountains. As we move forward our reflection brings out the different aspects of how water becomes an essential element in our salvation.

“When the Lord saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth, and how no desire that his heart conceived was ever anything but evil, he regretted that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was grieved.” Gen. 6; 5-6. So the Lord said; “I will wipe out from the earth the men whom I have created, and not only the men, but also the beasts and the creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I made them.” But Noah found favor with the Lord. Gen. 6; 7-8.

“The Lord wiped out every living thing on earth: man and cattle, the creeping things and the birds of the air; all were wiped out from the earth. Only Noah and those with him in the ark were left.

Gen. 7: 23.

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and choosing from every clean animal and every clean bird, he offered holocausts on the altar . When the Lord smelled the sweet odor, he said to himself; “Never again will I doom the earth because of man, since the desires of man’s heart are evil from the start, nor will I ever again strike down all living beings, as I have done. As long as the earth lasts, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, Summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” Gen. 8: 21-22.

Looking back on the preceding verses we can see the continuing saga of man’s rebellion against God and the cleansing of evil in a poetic manner of how the Lord, even though upset with man, vows to save what He has created. Water continues to be the one element that renews, refreshes, and revives man’s unrelenting heart.

We continue to The Call of Abraham, with the Lord telling Abram: “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the communities of the earth shall find a blessing in you.”

Generations later, Joseph, son of Jacob, begins a story that parallels that of Jesus. Using the Gospel of Matthew and excerpts from (a source that I cannot remember but will not take credit as my own intervention) the following comparisons depicting Jesus as the new Israel and Moses.

Old Israel and Moses, Jesus as new Israel and Moses

To Egypt under Joseph, To Egypt under Joseph 2:13

Sojourn in Egypt, Sojourn in Egypt 2:14

Slaughter of male children/Pharaoh, Slaughter of male children/Herod 2:16

Moses saved,Jesus saved 2:13-15

Exodus under Moses, Christian Exodus under Jesus 2:20-23

WaterEx: 14, Water 3:13

Sonship Ex: 4: 22, Sonship 3:17

desert Ex: 15, ffdesert 4:1

temptations Ex: 16-17, temptations 4: 1-11

Moses fasts 40 day Ex: 24: 18, Jesus fasts 40 days 4:2

Ex: 34:18

Mt. Sinai Ex: 24: 16-17, Mt. of Beatitudes 5:1 ff

10 plague miracles Ex: 7:12, 10 Christ miracles 8:9

“Let my people go!” begins a most ominous period of salvation history as Moses obeys God’s command to bring the Hebrew nation out of Egypt journeying to the Mountain of Horeb.

There are a number of prophets from the Old Testament that, when called upon by God, stated; “I am too young, I am not experienced, I cannot speak properly, to do what You, O Lord are calling me to.” Jeremiah 1: 6-6; “Before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.” “Ah, Lord God!” I said. “ I know not how to speak; I am too young.” But the Lord answered me, “Say not “I am too young,” “To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak.”

Moses 4: 10, 13a, 14, 15; “If you please Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past, nor recently, nor now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and tongue.” Yet he insisted, “if you please, Lord, send someone else!” Then the Lord became angry with Moses and said, “Have you not your brother, Aaron the Levite?” “You’re to speak to him, then, and put the words in his mouth. I will assist both you and him in speaking and will teach the two of you what you are to do.”

Here, we can see that when God calls a person to ministry, the Holy Spirit will teach and enable the speaker/enactor to do God’s Will without the trepidation that may accompany him.

EX: 14: 10 ff, 18, Pharaoh was already near when the Israelites looked up and saw the Egyptians were on the march in pursuit of them. And they complained to Moses, “Were there no burial places in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to die?” “The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I receive glory through Pharaoh and his chariots and charioteers.”

Again, water becomes a force in the saga of salvation, cleansing an event that appeared to deny God’s plan to bring his people home, as he promised.

Ezekiel 47: 1 ff, 8, 9 “Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the facade of the temple was toward the east; the water flowed down from the southern side of the temple, south of the altar.” He said to me, “This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Arabah, and empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh. Wherever the river flows, every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live, and there shall be abundant fish, for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.”

See, the abundance of fresh water continues to purify, cleanse, refresh, and produces life for those who will believe and accept this gift of God.

Jn. 1: 21-23, 29 ff; So they said to him, “What are you then? “Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us?” “What do you have to say for yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, Make straight the way of the Lord,” as Isaiah the prophet said.”

“The next day he 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.”

Mk: 1: 9, 11: “It happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John.” And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Did Jesus need to be baptized? Yes and no. Not because of sin, but to follow the Jewish ritual of water cleansing, as all Jews, but even more importantly by being submerged in the waters of purification the waters now became blessed by the Lord and forevermore Christians receive the very sign of the Holy Spirit’s presence in this most crucial Sacramnet. Remember, Jesus was God, but also was a man like us. His life reflected our lives 100 % except for sin.

With us, for us, and because of us, the very words I used at the beginning of this reflection, that indicates God’s deep connection with our journey towards salvation. As can be seen in the preceding paragraphs, God intercedes for us with the Holy Spirit forgiving and loving us, by choosing many prophets, and important personalities throughout our history to prepare for the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. Everything written in the Old Testament relates to our salvation, and without too much searching we should be able to understand each portion as referring to His Son, His rejection, suffering, and sacrifice in order to redeem us. The most important essence we learn from Jesus’ ministry is the attempt to introduce us to his Father and the Father’s untiring love for his creatures. No effort by the Holy Spirit is left incomplete in the manner in which we are able to feel God’s presence, even when we sin, and how the Lord spares no obstacle to search for us and wrap His loving arms around us, not because of us, but in spite of us.

Because of the Paschal Mystery our eternal souls have been redeemed through God’s total forgiving action, via what is known as Divine Justice. Let me expand this theme by going back to the garden with Adam and Eve. The story tells us that in spite of God’s generous love man turned his back on God and decided to follow his own direction, and made excuses for each step of rejection. God was hurt and very angry, and brought about a destruction of the earth with all living beings. But, as happens so often, God relents and works out a plan to share his life and love with man. See Col. 1:26 and “The Mystery of the Church” by John Powell, S.J.

Now we come to the Easter Vigil, where the symbols of fire, light, and water become significant and baptism is the central theme of this Resurrection celebration.

At Mass, when the priest elevates the Body and Blood of Christ, we see the passion/death/resurrection all together and relive the very presence of The Lamb of God. This is our forgiveness, our salvation, and our eventual resurrection to be with God forever. Thus we can make the connection of our baptism from the womb to the grave and our eternal life promised by God.

Divine Justice: when we sin against another person we are able to find forgiveness and make restitution to that person. It is a sin against another human being. But, when we sinned against God there was no possible way for man to pay back to God what was considered an injury to the Divine. We were doomed to eternal death with no way to find reconciliation. So, the only way the sin against God could be forgiven was for a divine person to pay back for the sin to God.

There is only one God and consequently God made the payment to himself. Think of it in this manner; a person owes you a large sum and cannot repay it. So you hand the person the amount he owes you then ask for it back. He does and you now accept the payment. This is how God pays Himself back for our transgressions. Only a Divine Person can repay the Divine Person and now justice is served, divinely.