Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! John 1.29
Our scripture this morning follows on from last Sunday’s continuing to centre on the mission of Jesus. The Old Testament reading from Isaiah 49 prophesies that the mission of God’s servant will extend beyond Israel to all the nations: ‘It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’
This passage was chosen to illuminate the holy gospel which is from John, exceptionally in this year of Matthew. This passage draws out how this mission is a sacrificial mission, that of the Lamb of God.
I’d like to dwell a little on this sacrificial image which appears week by week and day by day in the sacrificial text of the eucharist which recalls the Old Testament Passover Lamb. When we say Lamb of God, or the priest says ‘Behold the Lamb of God’ we go on ‘who takes away the sins of the world’. These words accompany the breaking of the Eucharistic bread which recalls in turn the breaking of Christ’s body on the Cross
This gathering in the parish church is part of an eternal offering of worship stretching back to the foundation of the world and stretching forward to the consummation of all things.
Our Lord is truly the lamb slain from the foundation of the world whose sacrifice on Calvary, as Revelation 13 verse 8 envisions, draws forth in heaven blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever.
This morning we are touching reality - we are drawn to the event represented here that reveal a love touching every human concern upon the earth.
At the beginning of a challenging year for our nation and for many peoples the world over there is no more powerful action we can take on behalf of humankind than to plead Christ’s Sacrifice, offering God what is his own…on behalf of all.
To the outward eye we are a small gathering of religious people doing their own thing upon their weekly holy day.
To the eye of faith we are Christians, caught up once more, on behalf of the whole creation, into the eternal sacrifice of Jesus Christ, through whom, and with whom and in whom in the unity of the Holy Spirit, we give glory to our Father in heaven.
Here, as on Calvary, we see his body and blood separated in death and then transformed by power from heaven. In every Eucharist we witness the separate consecration of Christ’s body and blood. We pause twice in the Eucharistic prayer to recall the sacrificial sundering of the Son of God - this is my body...this is my blood...of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins
Some of us may remember the ‘Seeing Salvation’ exhibition twenty years ago at the National Gallery. One of the many images of Christ was this (show) - ‘The Bound Lamb’ by Francisco de Zurbarin who lived in the 17th century. It is an image that often appears on Nativity scenes, the Shepherds’ offering which anticipates Christ’s sacrifice.
As Jeremy Paxman wrote in the Church Times then of this painting: ‘no image I know so perfectly captures the astonishing force of the Christian story’.
It was given greater force at the time as a symbol through the images of sheep and lambs slaughtered so uselessly in the foot and mouth epidemic. The image of the bound lamb is one of innocent suffering but, for Christians, never one of useless suffering.
There is a Church in Norway, I’m told, which has the image of a sheep sculpted half way up its tower.
Only when people enter that Church and hear something of its history do they discover the full Christian significance of the sculpted sheep.
Years before the sculpture was erected some renovation work was occurring on the Church steeple in this rural community. One day a workman slipped from the steeple to almost certain death. At the same time by a remarkable twist of providence a flock of sheep was being driven past the Church.
The steeplejack fell on a sheep and his fall was cushioned. The sheep died to save him - an awesome happening! The workers expressed their gratitude to God by adorning that Church tower with a sculpted sheep. It was welcomed as a powerful symbol of Christian Faith.
Jesus is the Lamb of God whose voluntary sacrifice takes away our sin. Our Lord on Calvary takes the full impact of sin and death for us at the cost of his life.
I do not understand why God sent his Son to do just that for me. It is love beyond logic.
I cannot though deny the evil in the world and in my own heart.
I will not deny that it threatens my fulfilment - not just my sin, but my fear and doubt and sickness as well as the self-serving use of my gifts.
Neither will I as a Christian deny, though it goes quite beyond my reasoning powers, that Jesus, Christ the Son of God has taken the full impact of those evil powers for me. Our Lord has soaked up all the evil that would defeat me and offered me life to the full - life that cancels sin with forgiveness, sickness with healing, bondage with deliverance and even doubt with the gift of faith through the mighty Redemption he has won.
All of this is powerfully present to me in every celebration of the Eucharist.
I cannot understand it but I will accept it. I cannot understand the way electricity works but that does not stop me switching on the lights. I take both on authority and it works to do so.
Jesus died in my place so that he might live in my place.
Jesus died in my place to carry off the impact of evil upon me, particularly through the gift of the Eucharist.
Jesus lives in my place, cooperating with my will by his Spirit, as I welcome him again and again into my heart in this Sacrament!
This morning we make the memorial of the Offering of Jesus and enter into that Self-Offering!
It is through the sacrificial Lamb of God that we can make a perfect offering to the Father, our sinful bodies made clean by his body..our souls washed through his most precious blood.
How much God needs the offering of our lives for his work here in Burgess Hill and its surrounds!
Let’s pause for a minute or two to reflect on God’s word this morning as we prepare to behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
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