“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” says John the Baptist as he points to Jesus Christ who came to be baptized by him. The title “Lamb of God” is highly significant for any Jew.
The lambs during the Exodus event as well as the lambs offered in the Temple later on where substitutes. The lambs spared human lives from being sacrificed. Jesus, however, put an end to all sacrifices by substitution.
When Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist, He took bread and said over it, “This is My Body.” Then He took a cup of wine, blest it, and said, “This is My Blood.” These actions happened during Jesus' last supper with His disciples. That same supper was in commemoration of the Passover Meal that immortalizes the memory of the Exodus event. Jesus, however, changes everything by changing bread into His Body and wine into His Blood! He was actually putting an end to all sacrifices by substitution. It was as if He was saying, “From now on, there is no more need for a lamb to take your place on the altar of sacrifice. From now on, there is no more substitution. From now on, I Myself am laying down my life on the altar of sacrifice. I am Your Lamb forever.” Jesus is the Lamb of God. God Himself provided us THE Lamb!
"The Lamb of God" is more than a declaration of the salvific identity of Jesus. It is also a missiological statement on us, disciples of Jesus.
Our mission is to follow the example of Jesus by NOT SUBSTITUTING OTHERS BUT BY VOLUNTEERING OUR SELVES FOR OTHERS. It means that the perennial call to each one of us is to lay down our lives for others. "Greater love no one has than to lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). "For whoever saves his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for Me and for the Gospel will save it” (Mk 8:35) And, again, “Unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (Jn 12:24).
Sadly, substitution is a common escape for many. Even in the Church, when it comes to sacrifices or difficult and menial tasks, substitution appears to be an easy option for us. The temptation to ask, worse, to force, someone to substitute for one’s self when the task is hard and humbling remains strong in our system. And many give in to it. Again, so-called “church-people” not exempted. The Lamb of God challenges that!
When we hear the words “Behold the Lamb of God”, we need to look at our selves and ask, “DO I SACRIFICE MY LIFE FOR OTHERS OR DO I MAKE OTHERS MY SACRIFICIAL LAMBS?" If we are really honest with our answer, we may be surprised. Or even deeply embarrassed.
So, have we been sacrificing others when we should rather sacrifice our selves for them? And yet sing (some even dance!) so unmindfully "Kordero ng Diyos na nag-aalis...."
Amen!
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