OT II [A]: Is 49:3, 5-6; I Cor 1:1-3; Jn 1:29-34 

The human race was created to live in communion with God, in whom alone we find happiness. This is our fundamental purpose in life - it's the reason that nothing else in the world satisfies our deepest desires. 

Not money, because money runs out.

Not pleasure, because pleasure wears off.

Not power, because power corrupts.

Our hearts were made for more than all those things. They were made to love and be loved with an eternal love, and that can only come from God.

But Adam and Eve walked out on God, and the human race became lost and fell under the power of the devil. We couldn't save ourselves, so Jesus came to rescue us. As a true man and true God, he was able to end  mankind's rebellion against God and reestablish our communion with God. It is hard to understand, but it's true.

There once was a boy who spent many hours building a model sailboat. When he put it in the local river, however, it moved away from him quickly. He chased it along the bank, but the strong wind and current carried the boat away. The heartbroken boy knew how hard he would have to work to build another sailboat. Downriver, a man found the beautiful boat, took it to town, and sold it to a toy store. Later, the boy was walking through town and noticed the boat in the store window. He explained the situation, but the shopkeeper didn't believe him and said that the only way to get the boat back was to buy it. The boy wanted it back so much that he did exactly that.

Then he looked at the boat and said, "Little boat, now you're twice mine: I made you and I bought you."

That's what God did for us - we are twice his. He created us and bought us back when we were lost, but instead of paying cash, he paid with his blood - the blood of the Lamb of God.

John the Baptist's favorite title for Jesus is "the Lamb of God." It also became one of John the Evangelist’s favorite titles. He uses it here in his Gospel, and then he used it again, twenty-nine times, in the Book of Revelation. Rev. 5:6 says: “Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders.” (that banner hanging here at the back signifies the risen lamb in heaven).

This lamb figure brings together three images that would have been familiar to the Jews of those times.

By calling Christ the "Lamb of God," St John is telling us that those ancient images are fulfilled in Jesus. 

The first image: In the Old Covenant, God required the Jews to sacrifice a lamb twice a day to expiate the sins of the people (cf. Exodus 29:39). So the lamb symbolized the price to be paid for sin.

The second image: The primary holy day of the Jews was (and remains) the Passover. In the Passover ceremony each family sacrifices and eats a lamb to recall their liberation from Egypt in the days of Moses. On that night, God allowed the death of all the firstborn children and animals of the Egyptians, but spared those of the Hebrews. In order to indicate which households the angel of death was to skip over, God commanded the Hebrews to kill a lamb and mark their doorposts with its blood. Thus the Passover lamb signified God's merciful and saving love.

The third image: Finally, a lamb going silently and docilely to be slaughtered is one of the images used to describe the coming Messiah. He was going to take Israel's sins upon himself and wipe them away through his suffering obedience.

And so, by calling Jesus the "Lamb of God," John reminds us that all of these Old Testament symbols had been pointing towards Christ - the true Savior.

Christ is our King and our Leader. And so, to be his loyal subjects and followers, we too should bravely become Lambs of God - sacrificial offerings on the altar of our own crosses.

This self-sacrificial, self-forgetful love is so central to our faith that the Church reminds us of it in every Mass, when we pray, "Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us."

And when we receive Holy Communion, we are receiving the Lamb of God, partaking of the saving Lamb, just as the Jews of the Old Covenant partook of the Passover Lamb.

And when we receive the Lamb of God with a lively faith, he strengthens us to follow his example.

Every day of our lives in this fallen world is filled with struggles and hardships, big and little, that can become instruments of salvation.

By offering himself on the cross, Jesus reconciled sinners to God. By offering ourselves on our crosses, we can do the same thing.

When we offer our daily sufferings to God in prayer, they become channels of grace for the conversion and sanctification of the world. Pope Benedict XVI invited all Catholics to renew this ancient devotion of offering up our sufferings in union with Christ's.

Many people in the world don't pray, don't believe, don't confess their sins, are continuing in their rebellion against God... We can be a bridge between them and God by offering up our sufferings through prayer, by being Lambs with the Lamb.

Today, when we receive the Lamb of God, let's do so from the depths of our hearts, filled with gratitude for his love and with a deep yearning to love him in return.