livingtheword

Download 2nd Sunday Yr A

Reflection Question 5: As the Ordinary Time season begins each year begins with a passage from the Gospel of John. Today we have a very early and significant title given to Jesus: the Lamb of God. This title has many layers of meaning. A lamb was sacrificed in the temple at the feast of ‘passover’ which linked itself to the very early sacrifice of a lamb whose blood was put on the doorway of Jewish peoples homes so that death would ‘pass-over’ their home (see Exodus 12,7). Celebrating passover lamb sacrifice every year became the vehicle by which the blood of the lamb would ‘forgive’ sins and provide a forgiveness / reconciliation / communion meal between God and the ‘family’. God now chooses to come among us, and, in Jesus actually replaces the ‘passover lamb’ and become in himself ‘the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world’ (John 1,29). This sacrificial event happens on the cross and is connected with the last passover / supper which Jesus changes into the gift of his body and blood in holy communion. What new insight does the ‘lamb of God’ title teach you about Jesus?