2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – A
January 18, 2026 5:00pm
Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton
“Behold, the Lamb of God…”
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
These are the words of John the Baptist in today’s gospel. This is how he identifies Jesus.
These words are familiar to us. The priest recites them at every Mass, as a proclamation of what or whom we are about to receive in Holy Communion.
As with anything that we do regularly, it is easy to pass over these words without being aware of their rich meaning. And they are rich!
“Behold...”
First, notice how John the Baptist begins with the very direct word: “Behold.”
This is not just a casual comment. It is a command.
John is saying, “Stop. Look. Pay attention.” The idea is that the Christian life begins not with what we do, but with whom we behold.
Salvation begins when our eyes are looking at Jesus. John does not point to himself, his preaching, or his ascetical life.
Instead, he points away from himself and toward Jesus. And he tells us to do the same thing: “Behold.”
“The Lamb of God”
John then calls Jesus “the Lamb of God.”
Why call him “the Lamb?” And on top of that, “the Lamb of God?”
For a Jewish listener, the image of the lamb would call to mind the story of the Passover. The Old Testament Book of Exodus tells the story.
On the night of Israel’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt, each family was commanded to sacrifice a lamb and mark their doorposts with its blood. When the angel of death passed through Egypt, those houses marked by the blood of the lamb were passed over or spared.
The lamb died so that the people might live. By calling Jesus the “Lamb of God,” John asserts that Jesus is the true Passover Lamb.
His blood will not be placed on doorposts but will be shed on the cross. His sacrifice will not free just one people from political slavery.
Instead, it will free all humanity from a deeper kind of slavery. And that takes us to the next words that John speaks about Jesus
“Who takes away the sin of the world”
He identifies Jesus as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
This expression is packed with meaning. For a Jewish listener, this expression recalls thesacrifices in the Temple.
Frequently, a lamb was offered to God for the sins of the people. These sacrifices kept being repeated because they could never fully take sin away.
John calls Jesus “the Lamb of God.” He is not one lamb among many.
Instead, his sacrifice, the sacrifice of himself is offered once and for all time. No other sacrifice is needed because His gift of Himself is perfect.
Notice also that John the Baptist says that Jesus the Lamb “takes away the sin of the world.” Notice that the word is “sin” in the singular and not sins in the plural.
The idea is that Jesus first takes away or removes our alienation from God. He does this because of who he is – the One who comes directly from God.
And so, his presence and the sacrifice of himself takes away or removes all distance between the divine and the human. That’s what John’s words “the sin of the world” mean.
These Words at Mass
So, here’s what I want to recommend.
When we come forward to receive Communion, let’s repeat these words of John the Baptist silently to ourselves. Let’s repeat these words and allow them to remind us of who we are receiving and what he does for us.
“Behold” – Stop! Look! Pay attention!
“The Lamb of God” – The one, once-and-for-all-time sacrifice.
“Who takes away the sin of the world” – The One who comes from God and is God and takes away the alienation or distance between God and all of humanity.
That’s who we receive, whose Body and Blood we receive in Holy Communion.
