Lamb of God: a title of great import
"Ecce agnus Dei, ecce qui tollit peccatum mundi"
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes to a man who ranks before me, for he was before me.’"John 1:29-30
How was reconciliation made possible? How was it possible for God (Jesus) to die? These questions are answered in the sacramental economy and in the title that John the Baptist gave to Jesus, in light of previous scriptures.[1] The former is also answered in the latter since it is this single bloody sacrifice accomplished "once, for all" that was made possible through the Baptism Jesus received in solidarity with us. Thus Baptism formed the sacramental (uniting Christ to sinners and thus making His divine mortality possible) and the Paschal mystery gave it life. Christ's Messianic role of becoming the Divine Lamb to be sacrificed reverberates throughout Sacred Scripture and gave life to Sacred Tradition.
In Genesis 22, God provided a ram in place of Isaac. God was leading Abraham to be willing to sacrifice even his only son after Abraham had once clung to a nonbiological heir, Lot. The closer they got to the place the Lord appointed, Isaac began to inquire as to what they would sacrifice. The wood on which the sacrifice would take place was carried by the son. Abraham responds by saying “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”. Once the angel stopped Abraham from actually going through with it. A ram appeared in the thicket (reminiscent of the crown of thorns) and took the place of Isaac, foreshadowing Christ's sacrificial role.
In Exodus 12, the Passover meal was instituted in a way similar to the Last Supper and ultimately would become the context of encountering both the Old and New covenants. We can read about three major expressions of this: the Lamb’s Supper in Revelation (Revelation 5:6; 19:6-9; Revelation 21:14), the Last Supper; which was a Passover meal), and Passover. Everyone who wishes to partake in the benefits of Passover must partake of the Lamb (Matthew 26:26, Exodus 12:7, Numbers 19:11-12, John 6). Each of these expressions is significant to Christianity and Judaism. God’s love is expressed, the story of salvation is recalled, Abraham’s faithfulness rewarded, the cost of sin unveiled, peace is granted, and evidence of the true presence through the similarities of the Old and New covenants is made manifest in the title Agnus Dei (Lamb of God).[2]
In Isaiah 53, the suffering servant who takes every punch, jab, insult, etc. we have ever and will produce and thereby heals our affliction. This is an echo of Leviticus 16:8–10, 18, 20-22 the ritual of atonement the day for which is Yom Kippur. On this goat are placed all the sins of Israel. This is another aspect of the salvation worked on the cross, since we share nature with Christ, Himself, every sin ever committed against our dignity is committed against Christ Himself also (see Matthew 25:31-40). This is, of course, analogical because Jesus actively chose his passion being the will of the Father and the goat did not i.e. Jesus chose to be the scapegoat(John 10:18).[3]
Every sacrament is not just a memorial of Christ but participation in His life (suffering and living for others), death (expenditure of what we hold dear), and resurrection (redemption and transfiguration) (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:7, 2 Timothy 2:12, Romans 6:5, John 11:25). Literally in the text and analogically in the parenthetical clarifications of the latter sentence. Jesus incorporates the old covenant into the new and in doing so not only embodies what is prefigured but also gives new meaning to every old testament sacrifice which had no effectual grace. In the new covenant, every prescription of the old law is fulfilled by Jesus, and thus everything that once required the bloody sacrifice of animals, by means of the bloody sacrifice of Jesus, is now possible through the re-presentation of the bloody sacrifice in an unbloody way. The "source and summit" of these is the Mass. The Church encouraged the depiction o the Lamb of God at Council in Trullo (A.D. 692) in Canon 82.
In conclusion, every aspect of sin is undone by Jesus in a real and concrete way in a causal way, and then through our unity with Christ, we are called to actualize/participate in the sacrifice and thus be rewarded with its effects (cf. Colossians 1:24). Christ's role as the Lamb of God is not only significant to the Christian mystery but fundamental. In Christ, is the old law and its prescription fulfilled, and the new law, still containing the old law, is made available to any who concretely participates in it. In the horror of His Passion, Christ takes on through violence every mental and physical (and thus spiritual desolation/thirst) agony all of which comes from sin. St. Augustine, in a sermon on the sacraments (375), said, "Why a lamb in his passion? Because he underwent death without being guilty of any iniquity. Why a lion in his passion? Because in being slain, he slew death. Why a lamb in his resurrection? Because his innocence is everlasting. Why a lion in his resurrection? Because everlasting also is his might".
From the Divine Comedy by Dante:
O Company Elect to the Great Supper
Of the Lamb benedight, who feedth you
so that for ever full is your desire
If by the grace of God this man foretaste
Something of that which falleth from your table,
or ever death prescribe to him the time
Direct your mind to his immense desire,
and him somewhat bedew; ye drinking are
For ever at the fount whence comes his thought
NOTE: The name of this blog is meant to cite the above. "Agnus Dei" means "Lamb of God". "Vivat" meaning "he lives" is meant to direct attention to the eternal existence of the Church and its sacramental economy (see footnote one) fueled eternally by Christ's sacrifice and by means of the Holy Spirit and Baptism we are called to enter not Just God's kingdom but his household. Further, the Paschal Sacrifice, Christ, lives in spite of death.
FN:
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 608, 1076, 1084-5, 1104-1107.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 601.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 602.
