The Lamb of God: A Meditation on John 1, for the 2nd Sunday in Epiphany

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him,

 and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, 

which taketh away the sin of the world.

This is he of whom I said, 

After me cometh a man which is preferred before me:

 for he was before me.

In this season of Epiphany, the Church celebrates the bringing of light into the world.  Specifically, it celebrates the light of Christ being brought into the darkness of a fallen world, which enlightens and enlivens all to whom it comes.  Just as the darkness of a room cannot repel the light which pours into it from the sun, so the world cannot repel the light of Christ; people may close their eyes, ignore or ridicule it, but they cannot repel or overcome it.  The light of Christ comes into the world because God the Father sends His Son, and the Holy Spirit bears witness to Him-- there's nothing the world can do, but either receive His grace in faith and repentance, or reject Him in unbelief, rebellion, or disinterest.  Regardless of how we respond to the light of God, the light remains, never the less.

In our Gospel reading from John 1, John the Baptist had been sent to prepare the way of Jesus without first knowing precisely who Jesus was.  When the Holy Spirit revealed to John that Jesus was the eternally begotten Son of God (the One who was preferred before John, and before all created things, because Jesus is fully God long before all things were created through Him), John's ministry transitions to pointing everyone who will listen to Jesus.  The simple, but eloquent sermon, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world," bore witness to the light which Jesus had brought into the world.  This light, unlike any other light, was the light of life, hope, redemption, and grace-- a light that would penetrate the darkness of sinful human hearts and clouded human minds, that everyone may know and encounter the saving love of God.

To continue reading the Gospel according to St. John, is to hear from Christ's own lips exactly what this light and life entailed.  We hear Jesus teach His disciples that He did not come into the world to condemn the world, because the world was already condemned by its own hand, dying under the curse of sin, death, hell, and slavery to the devil, all by everyone's own most grievous fault; that God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son fully into it, that the world might be saved through Him; that everyone who would abide in Jesus' Word would truly and eternally be bound to Him, and bound also to everyone else who trusted in Jesus; that Jesus' life, death, and resurrection was an indisputable testimony of His victory over every enemy which enslaves and torments mankind; that He gladly gave His victorious grace and Spirit to His disciples freely, that they might have life abundantly in this world and the next; that He commissioned His disciples to preach His Good News to everyone who sat in darkness, so that His Light might enliven them, too, by these same most blessed free gifts of grace.  St. John doesn't try to record everything Jesus ever said or did, because such a task was unassailable.  Rather, John wrote what he did so that people would hear Jesus, and that hearing they might believe and live in Him, abiding in the Light of His Eternal Word, rescued from their prisons of darkness and death.

That same Light comes to you today, as John the Baptist's testimony reaches your eyes and ears:  Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.  Behold the Lamb of God, who takes upon Himself your sins and death, so that He might give to you His forgiveness and eternal life.  Behold the only begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth, who alone wins your salvation through His Cross, and alone gives to you the free gift of salvation by grace through faith in Him.  Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away your darkness, that you might bask in His marvelous light, and be raised up to a new life in Him.  Hear Him, as the light of His Everlasting Gospel comes to pierce your darkness and break your chains.  Repent, believe, and live.  Amen.