Saint Rita Catholic Church and School in Webster, NY - An Introduction to Sunday's Scripture Readings

“Behold, The Lamb Of God, Who Takes Away The Sin Of The World”

This Sunday begins the liturgical period of Ordinary Time. It is the period between the high seasons of Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter. Our Readings today point to yet another manifestation of Jesus, this time as “the Lamb of God”, the sacrificial lamb who will save God’s people from the exile of sin.

Our first reading (Isaiah 49:3,5-6) is an excerpt from the second of four “Servant Songs” of Isaiah. Together, these four poems paint a complete picture of a suffering servant, anointed by God, who will deliver Israel and the nations from sin and darkness. The term “nations”, which we have been hearing about these past few Sundays, refers to all the people of the world, but more specifically to the Gentile, non-Jewish world. Isaiah’s writings make clear that God’s plan is to call all people to himself, using Israel as the “light to the nations, that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth”.

In our Epistle reading (1 Corinthians 1:1-3), we hear from the opening of St. Paul’s letter to the Church in Corinth. Paul identifies himself as one called by God “to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.” Paul converted many Gentiles while living in Corinth and gave life and meaning to the term “light to the nations.”

Our Gospel reading (John 1:29-34) adds to the multifaceted portrait of Jesus that we have been reading since Christmas. This Sunday’s passage describes Jesus as the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. He is not the cute, cuddly little lamb we often see depicted, but the sacrificial lamb of the Passover, that gave its life so that its blood would be a sign on their doorposts to deliver Israel from slavery in Egypt. Jesus, the new Paschal Lamb, will shed His blood on the cross for a new Exodus, the delivery from sin. This Lamb is the very Son of God, in whom the Spirit remains.

We are reminded today that throughout salvation history, God has called upon His children to be beacons of hope and light, leading others to the one true God. We too are called and sent by God. May it be we who become the “light to the nations”.

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011826.cfm