Behold the Lamb of God: Isa 53, 1 Cor 1, and John’s testimony in Jn 1

Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sin of the world.
Jo 1,29

The second Sunday in Ordinary Time for Year A weaves together three texts focusing on Jesus’ identity and the testimony that proclaims Him. Is 49,3.5-6 proclaims the second song of the Servant: to be a servant of Israel is not enough; the mission is to be a light to the nations. 1Cor 1,1-3 opens Paul’s letter to the Corinthians with an apostolic greeting that defines the Christian community as called to holiness and communion. Jo 1,29-34 presents the testimony of John: upon seeing Jesus, he designates Him as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” and as one on whom he saw the Spirit descend and remain, the Son of God.

I. The first reading: Is 49,3.5-6

The Lord says to His Servant, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will manifest my glory” (Is 49,3). And the Servant confesses, “The Lord formed me from my mother’s womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel” (v.5). But the mission extends beyond Israel: “It is not enough for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and gather the remaining survivors of Israel. I will make you a light to the nations so that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth” (v.6). The second song of the Servant deepens the first: the mission begins with the people but transcends them. The Servant is formed in the womb for a universal mission. The phrase “from my mother’s womb” carries theological weight: the Servant’s identity is given by God from the very beginning. Jesus, the Servant par excellence, received this identity from Mary; He took human form within her womb.

II. The second reading: 1Cor 1,1-3

Paul opens his letter to the Corinthians with a greeting that is also a definition of the Christian community: “Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother, to the Church of God in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, together with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours” (1Cor 1,1-2). Three elements define Christians: sanctified in Christ, called to holiness, united to all who invoke the same name. The greeting, “grace and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ” (v.3), is not a conventional formula; it is a condensed theology. “Grace” is God’s free gift. “Peace” is biblical shalom, the integrity of one in right relationship with God. This gift comes from two interrelated sources: the Father and the Son.

III. The gospel: Jo 1,29-34

The testimony of John reveals Jesus as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Jo 1,29). This is the same John who baptized Jesus and proclaimed Him as the Messiah. He saw the Spirit descend on Jesus and remain upon Him, confirming His divine nature and mission. John’s testimony points to Jesus as the one through whom God’s love and salvation are made known to the world.

On the day following the interrogation of Jerusalem’s messengers, John sees Jesus coming to him and exclaims: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29). John testifies: He was the one of whom he said he would come after him but was before him, because he existed before (v.30). John did not know him, but came to baptize with water precisely so that he might be revealed to Israel (v.31). And the decisive testimony: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove and rest on him. I did not recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize with water told me: He upon whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit” (vv.32-33). “And I saw and bore witness that this is the Son of God” (v.34). The title “Lamb of God” is one of the richest in the New Testament: It evokes the Passover lamb of Exodus, the Suffering Servant described in Is 53 as a lamb going to the slaughterhouse, and the lamb that receives universal adoration in Rev 5. John points and testifies: The role of the Forerunner is precisely this, not to be the light but to point to it.IV. Mary and the Lamb of GodWhen John exclaims “Behold, the Lamb of God,” he points to the same one that Simeon had indicated to Mary in the temple: “Behold, this child is destined to be a sign of contradiction; and a sword will pierce your own soul” (Lk 2:34-35). Simeon saw in the baby the Servant who would become a victim. John, thirty years later, expresses the same reality with the image of the lamb. Mary knew the Lamb from before any public designation: She generated him, nourished him, raised him in Nazareth. Is 49 says that the Servant was formed “from within his mother’s womb”: The mother’s womb of the Servant of Yahweh is Mary’s womb. The universal mission of the Servant, “light to the nations, salvation to the ends of the earth,” begins at the moment when Mary says “Let it be” and the Word takes flesh in her belly. 1 Cor 1 describes believers as “sanctified in Christ”: Mary is the creature who has been most completely sanctified in Christ, because she lived more fully in service to the Lamb. Tradition invokes her as “Our Lady of Perpetual Help,” always present by the side of the Lamb offering salvation. John points to the Lamb and disappears. Mary stays: By the side of the Lamb until the end.