Today Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of John (1: 29-34) in which John the Baptist says of Jesus, “Look, there is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I spoke of when I said, ‘A man who comes after me who ranks before me because he existed before me”.

Fr Paul says in contrast to the other Gospels, where we see that the disciples discover gradually who Jesus is, John’s Gospel gives us a week between the baptism and the marriage-feast of Cana, during which Jesus is given increasingly significant titles by those who meet him: Rabbi, the Messiah, Son of God, King of Israel.

Perhaps the most significant of all are those given by the Baptist himself, Lamb of God and Chosen One of God. Lamb of God overarches the Gospel, for it comes not only at the baptism but it is also used at the at the Crucifixion. According to John, Jesus dies at the moment the paschal lambs were being slaughtered in the Temple, and John alone refers to Jesus the scripture saying ‘Not one bone of his will be broken’ (John 19:36), originally part of the instructions for the sacrificing of the lamb at the Festival of Passover (Exodus 1:.46).

In the Book of Revelation Jesus is represented standing ‘as a Lamb that seemed to have been sacrificed’. It is therefore an image both of his suffering and of his triumph. It links up with the picture of Jesus as the Suffering Servant of the Lord who moves through suffering and humiliation to vindication and to the triumph of God.