Hi everyone, and welcome back to the podcast where we take a look at today's reading from the gospel of mass and we attempt to provide an exegesis of the literal sense. What was the author trying to get across to his original readers? Today, we're looking at John chapter 1 verses 29. 234. Seeing Jesus coming towards him. John said, look, there is the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. This is the one I spoke of. When I said a man is coming after me, who ranks before me?
Because he existed before me, I did not know him myself. And yet it was to reveal him to Israel. That I came baptizing with water. John also declared I saw the Spirit coming down on him from heaven like a dove and resting on him. I did not know him myself, but he who sent me to baptize with water, had said to me, the man on whom you see the Spirit come
down and rest is the one. Who is going to baptize with the Holy Spirit. Yes, I have seen and I am the witness that he is the chosen one of God. Okay, so this section is mostly a monologue by John the Baptist describing. What it means to say that Jesus is the Messiah. So it starts off in verse 29 with seeing Jesus coming towards him.
So if you read just before this, in John chapter 1, Jesus was there on the previous day and he'd seen John the Baptist interact with the Jewish leaders and now but he hadn't made himself known. But now Jesus directly Approaches, John the Baptist. So the focus of this passage is about John the Baptist and it's written by another John. So it's the Apostle John who's writing about, John the Baptist.
Now, you'll notice that In this passage, Apostle John doesn't actually narrate the baptism of Jesus. There is no mention of Jesus being baptized in this particular part of early part of John's gospel, whereas some of the synoptic gospels do, mention the baptism of Jesus and most Scholars would say that's because of what John's purpose is in writing the gospel. The Apostle, John was probably
written written varieties. Gospel lat Last and probably he was trying to write to supplement what the other gospels that already said he was trying to add in some things that they hadn't mentioned yet. So there's quite a few events that John, the Baptist doesn't narrate, but the others doudna rate and it seems to be because John the Baptist, sorry Apostle John. When he sat down to write his gospel decided not to include something.
If he didn't have anything new to add that the other gospel authors had already included. So he doesn't include a lot of events that he thinks of already been narrated well by the other gospel writers. So he just adds in some additional information. Here, some additional words of John, the Baptist that the other gospel writers didn't include So John the Baptist here says behold.
And so he's announcing this to the crowd, he wants the crowd to pay attention to what he's about to say, he's about to identify for the crowd, the Messiah, because a lot of the crowd thinks that he's the Messiah because of the things, he's saying they're quite amazed and they're repenting and being baptized. So John, the Baptist here takes the opportunity to say, look, here is the Messiah. It's not me and he says, Behold the Lamb of God. There's a lot that could be said about this term.
The Lamb of God, it's a rich theological phrase. So in particular probably the primary meaning here is in the Old Testament sacrificing, an animal and it was usually a lamb with what the Jews had to do in order to cover their sin to atone for their sin. They had to sacrifice a lamb. So John the Baptist here looking at Jesus identifies. Jesus as the ultimate Lamb of God he's the one who's going to take away the sins of the entire.
Our world. Bye-bye being sacrificed much like the Lambs were in the Old Testament. And it also has Echoes of the Passover Lamb. So remember in the book of Exodus, when the Jews are about to escape Egypt, God makes them sacrifice a lamb, and then put the blood on the doorposts. So by sacrificing the lamb, they achieve deliverance from slavery and in, there's the sense in which Jesus sacrifice as the ultimate lamb achieves, deliverance from sin, from the slavery to sin.
So, John the Baptist says, takes away the sin of the world, and we know that through Jesus death on the cross. Jesus does take away the sin of the world. John, the Baptist here might be alluding to Isaiah 53 verses 6 to 7, that's part of that famous suffering Servant Song and it in that passage in Isaiah, it describes the suffering servant as carrying, the sins of of us all, and a lot of Jews had come to think of that as a reference to the coming Messiah.
So most likely John, the Baptist doesn't know that Jesus is going to die for people sins. He probably doesn't know that the crucifixion is coming but the Holy Spirit does inspire him to recognize that Jesus will one way or another, take away the sins of the world. And so he wants the crowds to understand that although he John the Baptist is the one preparing them for repentance and baptizing them, it's actually Jesus the Messiah who will truly provide forgiveness for their
sins. John the Baptist keeps going in verse 30. He says, this is the one I spoke of when I said a man is coming after me, who ranks before me? Because he existed before me. So earlier in this John chapter 1 John, the Baptist said this, he's who talked about this pre-existent, one, who is to come most likely, the people didn't understand the first time, he said it earlier in John chapter 1. So now, John, the Baptist takes the opportunity to go. This is the one I was talking
about. This is the pre. Existent one. And so, in that sense because Jesus as the Messiah existed before John the Baptist did, Even though John the Baptist, he's older, he's trying to signal to the crowds. This man is greater than I am. He's the Messiah, he pre-exists me. I'm not the Messiah. Verse 31. He John. The Baptist says, I did not know him myself. Some people said this.
See, this is a little bit strange because we know from the Gospels Gospels. That it seems that John and Jesus. John the Baptist and Jesus were related in some way often the word cousin is used but they weren't cousin in the 21st century since cousin was just a general term that meant relative so amongst the big family tree of Mary and Joseph and Elizabeth In some way, depending on how Mary and Elizabeth are related exactly in some way Jesus and
John are related, but they never met each other. Jesus grew up in Nazareth. John, the Baptist after shortly, after he was born, he went out into the desert. So John, the Baptist has never seen Jesus before. But John the Baptist he is says it was to reveal him to Israel. That I came baptizing with water. In other words, my whole purpose. Was to reveal him to Israel. And that's why are baptized with water. So he knows that his whole mission was to prepare Israel for the coming Messiah.
Through baptism and preaching repentance. Verse 32. John also says, we don't know if he says this at the time when in fact, we know from the other gospels, that he probably said this slightly later at the time, that Jesus is actually being baptized John. The Baptist says I saw the spirit and that's the holy
spirit. So the Jews at this time did have some understanding of what the Holy Spirit was, because it's mentioned in some of the later books of the Old Testament such as the wisdom of Solomon, which is in the Catholic Old Testament. The later books. So the Jews were starting to understand that there is a special spirit of God, but they didn't have a complete understanding of it. Part of Jesus mission was to reveal what the holy spirit is all about.
John. The Baptist says he sees the Holy Spirit coming down on Jesus from heaven. So John the Baptist is obviously seeing something visible here. He's seeing something happen. We know from the other gospels that the time this happens is just after Jesus is baptized, but John the Apostle John doesn't narrate the event of the baptism. He just sandwiches these two quotes of John the Baptist together.
But it appears that everyone else or the rest of the crowd, didn't see the spirit of God hovering over Jesus. It looks like it might have just been John. The Baptist that sort possibly. He says, it's like a dove. He saw the Spirit descending like a dove, and then Matthew uses the same language. This doesn't imply. Some people have taken this to mean that it looked like a dove, it's not what the phrase implies. It's more of a metaphor in the context of the sentence.
John is saying, John, the Baptist is saying, something like this. I saw something, I saw the Spirit come down and rest on Jesus, just like a dove would so in some sense, the spear rest Jesus has some similarities to the way that a dove would come to rest. So maybe in kind of a gentle light way, something like that. So it could be that it was in the actual form of a dove. But the grammar doesn't require that it actually looks like a
dove. But certainly the people of that culture would have been familiar with doves and the way that they moved. And then he finishes here by saying the spirit rested on him. So this implying that the spirit stays with Jesus as a sign of his anointing and Mission, and this recalls, Isaiah 11:2, which describes this ideal Future King. That would one day be raised up from the line of David. And in Isaiah 11:2 it says this King, the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.
So when Apostle John mentions, that this happened to Jesus, his readers would have immediately Really picked up that this is supposed to be seen as a fulfillment of that. Isaiah 11 Passage. Verse 33, John. The Baptist now tells us some part of a revelation that he's received. He says, he who sent me to baptize with water, which is God had said to me, the man, on whom you see the Spirit come down and rest is the one who is going to
baptize with the holy spirit. So God had told John the Baptist beforehand through a vision or something like that. That when you see the Holy Spirit resting on someone, Should know that. That is the Messiah and John has now seen this happen to Jesus. So he knows that Jesus is the Messiah and he is now trying to declare to the crowds. Jesus is the Messiah. He is the chosen.
One of God. The one we have been waiting for and when he says, When God says to John the Baptist, he's the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. There's many Old Testament prophecies that predict that in the end times or in the coming of the kingdom of God, when the Messiah comes the spirit would be, will be poured out on God's people in a new way. And so John the Baptist now realizes this is him. This is the Messiah. Who's going to do it? So that's our passage today,
really interesting monologue. There from John, the Baptist that tells us a lot about what he knew of Jesus, and what it means to say that Jesus is the Messiah. So, this passage, as a result is referenced a lot. In the catechism, particularly The Mention Of Jesus being the Lamb of God, is a theme that's taken up a lot as part of the Catholic teaching, and Catholic theology about Jesus crucifixion. So, there's about 10 references 10 paragraphs, I just want to read out a Of them.
So, in paragraph five 36 which is in the section about the baptism of Jesus. It says the baptism of Jesus is on his part, the acceptance and inauguration of his mission as God's suffering servant. He allows himself to be numbered among Sinners. He is already the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world. and then it goes on from there, to describe what it means when the Holy Spirit rests on him paragraph, six or eight, which is in the section about The Lamb of God. So very fitting for this passage. 608 says, after agreeing to baptize him along with the Sinners John the Baptist looked at Jesus and pointed him out as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of
the World by doing. So he reveals that Jesus is at the same time, the suffering servant, who silently allows himself to be led to the slaughter and who Bears, the sin of the multitudes and also the Paschal Lamb, the symbol of Israel's Redemption at the first Passover, Christ's whole life, expresses his mission to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. So that's quite an incredible paragraph about Jesus mission, as the Lamb of God.
And then in paragraph 6 13, which is in the discussion about Jesus, sacrifice on the cross. It says, Christ's death is both the Paschal sacrifice that accomplishes the Divine Redemption of. And through the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. And then it goes on from there. There's quite a few other paragraphs in the catechism in the discussion about what the word Christ means in the discussion about what sin is it references?
John chapter one as well. There's some more discussions about, John the Baptist in his role and confer. The Sacrament of Confirmation is actually linked to this passage as well. And so there's a lot of really interesting paragraphs here. I'll include all of them in the show notes, so that's the end of our podcast today. There's a lot in that, hopefully, you learned something new.