Here I am, I come to do your will

January 19, 2020

SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Is 49:3, 5-6

Most of the Second Servant Song

Ps 40:2, 4, 7-10

Here I am, I come to do your will

1 Cor 1:1-3

The greeting of the letter

Jn 1:29-34

“Behold, the Lamb of God”

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/ 011920.cfm

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We began the ordinary time of the church year last Sunday, but that is the day devoted to celebrating the baptism of John. Today we are quite explicitly in the new season — but on the second Sunday. The readings still are focused on the Baptist, though in his role as baptizer of Jesus. It is here that the public life of Jesus begins.

The first selection is from the second of the four Servant Songs of Second Isaiah. The “Servant of Yahweh” is a mysterious figure, apparently representing the Israelite community during the time of exile. Others see here an image of the prophet himself. The Gospels associate this figure with Jesus, as the fullest expression of its promise.

Last week we had the first of these, related to the baptism of Jesus. The second also presents a call, but a revised call. The final verse shifts the focus of the servant’s mission, from the Jewish community to the larger world:

“It is too little, the LORD says, for you to be my servant,

to raise up the tribes of Jacob,

and restore the survivors of Israel;

I will make you a light to the nations,

that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

In the second reading, we turn to 1 Corinthians. This letter is the standard introduction to the ordinary year, spread out over the three cycles. This year we will be reading from chapters 1-4. Today we read its opening three verses, which happen to be the formal address of the letter. Paul always begins his letters with three parts — its origin (from), its destination (to), and a blessing. The origin is Paul and Sosthenes, a member of the Corinthian church who may be carrying the letter back there. The destination is “the church of God that is in Corinth.” At this point, Paul often elaborates, hinting at what the letter is about. Here he reminds them of their call to holiness. The blessing is always the same: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

As today, the first Sundays of the year tend to feature the Gospel of John. Following the poetic prologue, John’s first chapter is constructed as an account of the first four days. Today’s is the second day. It begins with his proclamation, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” The third day begins with the same proclamation, but this time directed to his disciples, who then turn to Jesus.

We are accustomed to this phrase, since it is part of every Mass we attend, spoken by the priest right before communion, as he holds up the host. It may come as a surprise to find that it doesn’t appear elsewhere among the Gospels. In fact, scholars differ on its meaning. Why the “lamb” of God? Raymond Brown offers three options. It could refer to the “lamb led to the slaughter” of the fourth of Second Isaiah’s Servant Songs (Isa 53:7). Or it could be connected to the heavenly lamb in the book of Revelation (Rev 7:9-10).

Or, and this seems most probable to me, it could refer to the Passover lamb, since this connection is made at the death of Jesus, who dies as the lambs are being slaughtered in the temple (John 19:14). Also, the text from Exodus 12:46, concerning the preparation of the Passover lamb, is cited at the death of Jesus (John 19:36). It would be in his death, then, that the lamb “takes away the sin of the world.”

For reflection: If Jesus is the Passover lamb, it invites us to compare the significance of the Passover event with Jesus’ story.

Father Beck is professor emeritus of religious studies at Loras College, Dubuque.

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