What is John the Baptist talking about? “Behold the Lamb of God” – It is an interesting metaphor. But what does this tell us?
Metaphors are fascinating things – as my Old Testament professor back in seminary used to say – “metaphors both reveal … and conceal” – They are not literally true – It would not necessarily be wrong to say the opposite – yet they reveal something and give a way to speak about things which what might otherwise be beyond language – What talking about God we often turn to metaphors – they are all throughout the scriptures - And John the Baptist uses quite the metaphor here - “Behold the Lamb of God.”
Literally, Christ is not a lamb. – He is God, the second person of the Trinity, taken on flesh and become man. – It is through him that the whole world was made – He is powerful, having authority over all things – there are many things about Christ that calling him a lamb does not show -Yet John calls Christ, the son of God, a lamb. Lambs, at least by stereotype, are gentle, meek, and pure. Christ does not seem like a lamb – yet he is called the Lamb of God. – It is clear how Christ is not a lamb – but what does calling him a lamb reveal?
The image of a lamb would bring two things immediately to mind for any Jew of the first century. First is the sacrificial cult of the temple, in particular, the feast of Yum Kippur, the day of atonement. It is on this day that there were sacrifices on behalf of the sins of the people. It is the feast of Yum Kippur when a goat is sent into the wilderness to take away the sins of the people – It is from this that we get the term scapegoat – From the scapegoat of Yum Kippur
Yet the scapegoat and sacrifices of Yum Kippur could never actually remove sins – it had to be repeated again and again – yet sin remained – Christ is the Lamb of God - fulfills what the scapegoat of Yum Kippur could not. Christ, though powerful, meekly offers himself – giving himself completely, a pure, perfect offering – he makes atonement for our sins that we cannot – Christ is the Lamb of God, the one who brings forgiveness of our sins in a way that no animal sacrifice ever could. His offering of himself to the father was so perfect that there is no need for it to be repeated – for Christ is the perfect Lamb of God – He brings for the forgiveness of sins.
Christ atones for our sins – but he wishes far more for us than merely forgiving sins – He has done far more than solely the forgiveness of sins. The second thing that the metaphor of Christ as the “lamb of God” recalls is the Passover and the Passover Lamb. At Passover, the exodus from Egypt is remembered – how God saved them from Pharaoh, leading them out of bondage and to the promised land – a land flowing with abundance. God did not merely lead them out of bondage – but to a new land.
Christ does not merely want to free us from sins – he wishes to lead us somewhere far greater than a promised land on earth – instead leading to heaven – to be with God forever – to quote the old Baltimore catechism – “Why did God make you? - God made me to know him, to love him, and to serve him in this world and to be happy with him forever in the next.”
The Israelites’ exodus was from bondage in Egypt – but Christ wishes to free us from a far greater bondage – that of sin and death. On Passover, the Israelites’ may have left Egypt; still, sin remained – and they would go on to be conquered by various empires, spend time in exile, and face many hardships – for the Exodus from Egypt only foreshadowed what was to come – For Christ fulfills the promise in his death and resurrection – which happened during Passover – and he has not only freed us from sin but opened the door to heaven. That we may “be happy with him forever in the next.”
How do we go through this door? By living in Christ. There is another similarity between Christ and the Passover Lamb – the Passover lamb was not a burnt offering – but would be eaten at the Passover meal, the seder. Christ gives us himself that we might be one with him. And we receive him, body, blood, soul, and divinity at Christ.
At Mass, we do not just remember that it happened but participate in it. While Christ’s birth, death, resurrection, and ascension may have been two thousand years ago – we are made present to them through time in representation on the altar – where at Mass, Christ is offered to the father – not again and again, but connected to that one offering – make us present such that we can offer in union with Christ – Christ is the Lamb of God – not only from them two thousand years ago, but also for us today. Receiving him and coming to his table receiving him from the alter.
Metaphors both reveal and conceal - Christ may not literally be a Lamb – and the metaphor does not capture everything about Christ – no metaphor can – yet John the Baptist’s declaration reveals just what Christ is to do – For Christ fulfills the promise of the scapegoat at Yum Kippur, the day of atonement – he fulfills the remembrance of the Exodus at Passover. This is why Christ has come – and it is what we celebrate at every Mass – as we hear at every Mass – “Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world – Blessed are those called to the supper of the lamb.”