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

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

Introduction: In this ordinary time we move on with the very beginning of Jesus’ public life, usually referred to as his ministry.  We come upon John the Baptist seeing Jesus and pointing to him, he says, “This is the Lamb of God”.

Explanation: “Lamb of God.”  We use that term so often that it is easy for us to overlook the deep theology and the tremendous love of our God contained in his sending his Son to be the Lamb.

1)The first place we come upon the concept of the Lamb of God is in the 53rd chapter of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah.  Although this was written six hundred years before Jesus, it describes the feelings of God’s people as they look at Jesus on the cross.  “Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, While we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted.  But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed.”

Mankind’s sin was that he was so wrapped up in himself that he had no room for God. He forced the good things of the world to be an end for his selfishness rather than a means of glorifying God.   This is how man perverted God’s purpose for creation.  As long as man lived like this, true love could not exist in the world.  People could not give themselves to others or to another because their only concept of life was to take, not to give.  Life, therefore, was meaningless and frustrating.

Jesus came to live as the Father wants us all to live.  He sacrificed himself completely for others so that we could experience sacrificial love.  He called us to use creation as the Father meant creation to be used.  God’s plan for mankind could once more be put into effect since the Son of God became a man.  Still entrusted with creation, a man restores the world. 

2) And John the Baptist saw Jesus and proclaimed, “Look, there is the Lamb of God. He is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.”  Jesus’ disciples would be given the power of God to transform the world.  They would be given the power to create a new world, a world with a new way of living, the way of sacrificial love.

Anecdote:1) An artist was working on a church roof in Werden, Germany. His safety belt snapped and he fell. The area below was filled with sharp rocks. As fate would have it, a lamb chose that moment to have its lunch of grass. He fell on the lamb. The beast was destroyed, but the artist survived. He did the decent thing. He sculptured a lamb and placed it on the roof in gratitude. It stands there to this day. 
Today we come together at this Liturgy to remember and salute another Lamb. Each of us likewise owes Him much. He too gave His life for us, but with one substantial difference. Jesus voluntarily surrendered His life to save ours. 

Joke: The rich business man Raymond goes to meet his new son-in-law to be, Ben. He says to Ben, "So, tell me Ben my boy, what you do?" "I study the Theology," he replies. "But Ben, you are going to marry my daughter, how are going to feed and house her?" "No problem," says Ben, "I study Theology, and it says God will provide." "But you will have children, how will you educate them?" asks Raymond. "No problem," says Ben, "I study Theology, and it says God will provide." When Raymond returns home, his wife anxiously asks him what Ben is like. "Well," says Raymond, "he's a lovely boy. I only just met him and he already thinks I'm God."

Practical Applications: 1)When we say or sing, “Lamb of God” we are remembering what Jesus did for us and what he has empowered us to do for others. We are remembering his sacrifice to make God’s love real on earth.  We are reminding ourselves that joining Jesus in sacrificial love is the only way we can be his followers. 2) Live like a lamb by leading pure, innocent, humble, selfless lives obeying the Christ’s commandment of love and eating the Body and drinking the Blood of the Good Shepherd and deriving spiritual strength from his Holy Spirit through the Sacraments and prayers.  3) Die like a sacrificial lamb by sharing our blessings of health, wealth and talents with others in the family, parish and community.  And thus we can rebuild broken lives.  And our faithful response to God is to rebuild broken lives, reconciling them with God's love and justice through Christ Jesus our Lamb and Lord. 

Introduction: Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Message: Jesus, the Lamb of God, is the light of the nations who came to do the Father’s will.  In Christ we have been called to be a holy people.

Saints and Events in this Week:  20-Twentieth-Monday-Saint Fabian, pope, martyr; Saint Sebastian, martyr; The birth day of Martin Luther King Jr. ; 21-Twenty First-Tuesday-Saint Agnes, Virgin, martyr; 22-Twenty Second-Wednesday-A day of prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children; 23-Tweny Third-Friday-Saint Francis de Sales, bishop, doctor of the Church; 25-Tweny Fifth-Saturday-The Conversion of St. Paul, the Apostle;