Subj: JOHN 1:29-34: SUNDAY'S GOSPEL FOR REFLECTION
Date: 1/16/99 2:06:05 AM Pacific Standard Time
From: mtuazon@ix.netcom.com (Manuel Tuazon)
Reply-to: early-word@cin.org
To: early-word@cin.org
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
For: Sunday, January 17, 1999
2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
From: John 1:29-34
The Witness of John (Continuation)
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[29] The next day he (John the Baptist) saw Jesus coming toward him,
and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the
world! [30] This is He of whom I said, `After me comes a man who ranks
before me, for He was before me.' [31] I myself did not know Him; but
for this I came baptizing with water, that He might be revealed to
Israel." [32] And John bore witness, "I saw the Spirit descend as a
dove from Heaven, and it remained on Him. [33] I myself did not know
Him; but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, `He on whom
you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is He who baptizes with the
Holy Spirit.' [34] And I have seen and borne witness that this is the
Son of God."
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Commentary:
29. For the first time in the Gospel Christ is called the "Lamb of
God". Isaiah had compared the sufferings of the Servant of Yahweh, the
Messiah, with the sacrifice of a lamb (cf. Isaiah 53:7); and the blood
of the paschal lamb smeared on the door of houses had served to protect
the firstborn of the Israelites in Egypt (cf. Exodus 12:6-7): all this
was a promise and prefiguring of the true Lamb, Christ, the victim in
the sacrifice of Calvary on behalf of all mankind. This is why St.
Paul will say that "Christ, our Paschal Lamb, has been sacrificed" (1
Corinthians 5:7). The expression "Lamb of God" also suggests the
spotless innocence of the Redeemer (cf. 1 Peter 1:18-20; 1 John 3:5).
The sacred text says "the sin of the world", in the singular, to make
it absolutely clear that every kind of sin is taken away: Christ came
to free us from Original Sin, which in Adam affected all men, and from
all personal sins.
The Book of Revelation reveals to us that Jesus is victorious and
glorious in Heaven as the slain lamb (cf. Revelation 5:6-14),
surrounded by saints, martyrs and virgins (Revelation 7:9, 14; 14:1-5),
who render Him the praise and glory due Him as God (Revelation 7:10).
Since Holy Communion is a sharing in the sacrifice of Christ, priests
say these words of the Baptist before administering it, to encourage
the faithful to be grateful to our Lord for giving Himself up to death
to save us and for giving Himself to us as nourishment for our souls.
30-31. John the Baptist here asserts Jesus' superiority by saying that
He existed before him, even though He was born after him. Thereby he
shows us the divinity of Christ, who was generated by the Father from
all eternity and born of the Virgin Mary in time. It is as if the
Baptist were saying: "Although I was born before Him, He is not limited
by the ties of His birth; for although He is born of His mother in
time, He was generated by His Father outside of time" (St. Gregory the
Great, "In Evangelia Homiliae", VII).
By saying what he says in verse 31, the Precursor does not mean to deny
his personal knowledge of Jesus (cf. Luke 1:36 and Matthew 3:14), but
to make it plain that God revealed to him the moment when he should
publicly proclaim Jesus as Messiah and Son of God, and that he also
understood that his own mission as precursor had no other purpose than
to bear witness to Jesus Christ.
32-34. To emphasize the divinity of Jesus Christ, the Evangelist
includes here the Precursor's testimony regarding Jesus' Baptism (cf.
the other Gospels, which describe in more detail what happened on this
occasion: Matthew 3:13-17 and paragraph). It is one of the key points
in our Lord's life, in which the mystery of the Blessed Trinity is
revealed (cf. note on Matthew 3:16).
The dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, of whom it is said in Genesis
1:2 that He was moving over the face of the waters. Through this sign
of the dove, the Isaiah prophecies (11:2-5: 42:1-2) are fulfilled which
say that the Messiah will be full of the power of the Holy Spirit. The
Baptist points to the great difference between the baptism he confers
and Christ's Baptism; in John 3, Jesus will speak about this new
Baptism in water and in the Spirit (cf. Acts 1:5; Titus 3:5).
"The Son of God": it should be pointed out that in the original text
this expression carries the definite article, which means that John the
Baptist confesses before his listeners the supernatural and
transcendent character of Christ's messiahship--very far removed from
the politico-religious notion which Jewish leaders had forged.
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentary
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland. Printed in Hungary.
"The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries" is currently available in
the New Testament version only.
"Nihil Obstat": Stephen J. Greene, "Censor Deputatus".
"Imprimi Potest": J. O'Carroll, Diocesan Administrator, 15 October
1987.
Reprinted with permission from the U.S. publisher (see below).
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