Catechism Links
CCC 604-609: Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away sins of all
CCC 689-690: mission of Son and Holy Spirit
CCC Cross Reference:
Is 49:1-6 713; Is 49:5-6 64
Ps 40:7-9 LXX 462; Ps 40:7 2824
1 Cor 1:1-6 401; 1 Cor 1:2 752, 1695
Jn 1:29 408, 523, 536, 608, 1137, 1505; Jn 1:31-34 486; Jn 1:31 438; Jn 1:32-34 713; Jn 1:32-33 536; Jn 1:33-36 719; Jn 1:33-34 1286
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Reading 1
Is 49:3, 5-6
The Lord said to me: You are my servant,
Israel, through whom I show my glory.
Now the Lord has spoken
who formed me as his servant from the womb,
that Jacob may be brought back to him
and Israel gathered to him;
and I am made glorious in the sight of the Lord,
and my God is now my strength!
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.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10
R. (8a and 9a) Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
I have waited, waited for the Lord,
and he stooped toward me and heard my cry.
And he put a new song into my mouth,
a hymn to our God.
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
Sacrifice or offering you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Holocausts or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, “Behold I come.”
R. Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me,
to do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!”
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O Lord, know.
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
Reading II
1 Cor 1:1-3
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
and Sosthenes our brother,
to the church of God that is in Corinth,
to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy,
with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Gospel
Jn 1:29-34
John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said,
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
He is the one of whom I said,
‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.’
I did not know him,
but the reason why I came baptizing with water
was that he might be made known to Israel.”
John testified further, saying,
“I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven
and remain upon him.
I did not know him,
but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me,
‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain,
he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’
Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
First reading Isaiah 49:3 – 6
The Lord said to me, ‘You are my servant (Israel)
in whom I shall be glorified’;
I was honored in the eyes of the Lord,
my God was my strength.
And now the Lord has spoken,
he who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
to gather Israel to him:
‘It is not enough for you to be my servant,
to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back the survivors of Israel;
I will make you the light of the nations
so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth’.
Psalm: Psalm 39:2,4,7-10
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
I waited, I waited for the Lord
and he stooped down to me;
he heard my cry.
He put a new song into my mouth,
praise of our God.
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings,
but an open ear.
You do not ask for holocaust and victim.
Instead, here am I.
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
In the scroll of the book it stands written
that I should do your will.
My God, I delight in your law
in the depth of my heart.
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
Your justice I have proclaimed
in the great assembly.
My lips I have not sealed;
you know it, O Lord.
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
Second reading 1 Corinthians 1:1 – 3
I, Paul, appointed by God to be an apostle, together with brother Sosthenes, send greetings to the church of God in Corinth, to the holy people of Jesus Christ, who are called to take their place among all the saints everywhere who pray to our Lord Jesus Christ; for he is their Lord no less than ours. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ send you grace and peace.
Gospel John 1:29 – 34
The next day, seeing Jesus coming towards him, John said, ‘Look, there is the lamb of God 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.’
Readings and Commentary from the Navarre Bible
2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
From: Isaiah 49:3, 5-6
Second Song of the Servant of the Lord
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[3] And he said to me, You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified."
[5] And now the LORD says,
who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
and that Israel might be gathered to him,
for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD,
and my God has become my strength --
[6] he says:
"It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the preserved of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
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Commentary:
49:1-55:13. Chapter 49 marks the start of the second section of the second part of Isaiah. The first section (40:1-48:22) dealt with the release of the Jews from exile in Babylon on the orders of the Lord, the ruler of the world and of all nations. This second section sings of the restoration of Zion and the renewal of the people.
Almost all the oracles here presuppose that Babylon has fallen and the exiles have returned home (although neither event is explicitly referred to). Nor is there mention of the universal scope of salvation: the focus is mainly on future hopes and on Jerusalem.
Most of the oracles in this section were probably proclaimed, between the years 515 and 500 BC. If that was the case, then they were addressed to a disillusioned people: the enthusiasm that came with the return from exile and the efforts made to rebuild Jerusalem failed to produce the desired results: there are still class differences, greed is plain to see, and huge sectors of society are experiencing poverty. The kind of Jerusalem that the exiles dreamed of had not come about: it bore no relationship to what they were experiencing; nor did it fit the image of Jerusalem found in many texts of the Priestly tradition (cf. "Introduction to the Pentateuch", in "The Navarre Bible: Pentateuch" (p. 20). These oracles are designed to dispel discouragement and to raise people's hopes by telling them about the liberator that God is going to send, the servant of the Lord, and by proclaiming that the holy city (now given the sacred name of Zion) will very soon be restored. In fact, the section can be divided into alternating poems on the servant and on Zion: 49:1-13, the "servant" (second oracle); 49:14-50:3, "Zion"; 50:4-11, the "servant", (third oracle and exhortation); 51:17-52:12, Zion; 52:13-53:12, the "servant" (fourth oracle); 54:1-17, "Zion" (Jerusalem). Verses 1-13 of chapter 55 are an exhortation to commit oneself to the new Covenant.
49:1-6. In the first Song of the Servant of the Lord (42:1-9) we meet the "servant" for the first time and we are told of his mission to liberate the exiles. In this second song, the servant himself speaks. He addresses the "coastlands", "peoples from afar", and he is conscious of having been chosen by God from his mother's womb to carry out God's plans of salvation even in those distant parts (cf. vv. 1-3). Here we are told about two aspects of his mission, which we will hear more about in the oracles that follow. First, he is to play a leading role in the recovery of the tribes and the repatriation of the exiles (v. 5); second, he will extend salvation to the ends of the earth (cf. v. 6).
This poem contains things that the servant has to say about himself (vv. 1-4), and things that God says about the servant (vv. 5-6). The servant is well aware that he was called by God, even from his mother's womb, (like Jeremiah; cf. Jer 1:5) and has been charged with preaching to the pagan peoples ("the coastlands") or at least to his compatriots in the diaspora (cf. v. 1; cf. Jer 1:1-10; 25: 13-38); he has been endowed with qualities that enable him to speak out, with words that find their mark like arrows, even if that creates divisions (v. 2; cf. Jer 1:10); and also, despite the divine protection given him, he feels depressed and disappointed, as happened to Jeremiah (vv. 3-4; cf. Jer 1:7; :8:18-20). Everything that the servant does is grounded on what the Lord has told him: "You are my servant, Israel" (v. 3). Some commentators are of the view that "Israel" here is a later interpretation, put in to support the collectivist interpretation of the servant that soon became widespread; but there is little evidence to support that: the word "Israel" is missing only in one manuscript, and not an important one at that. The mention of Israel does not argue against the servant's being an individual rather than a collectivity, for in poetry a person can be addressed by his own name or by his family name. In fact, both in biblical Israel and nowadays we often find people using their place of birth as a surname.
In vv. 5-6 the Lord spells out the servant's mission: it is to renew the people in such a way that even non-Israelites can see the light and attain salvation. Although the universal mission of the servant is not clearly defined here, for his work is meant to be confined to the tribes of Jacob, still the achievement of this objective (the re-assembling of Israel) will be a kind of light to help the pagan nations see and acknowledge God. The expression "light to the nations". (v. 6) already occurred in the earlier poem (42:6); there it could be taken in a social sense--to bring about the liberation of the exiles and captives; here, the religious meaning is clear: salvation will spread to all the nations.
To sum up, the servant of the Lord (be he an individual or a collectivity, or more likely both) has been chosen by God, who loves him most specially; he has all the main qualities of a prophet; and he must influence his compatriots so as to enlighten those from outside, and bring them salvation.
The messianic interpretation of the servant figure, based on this second song, was widespread among the Jews of Alexandria who made the Septuagint Greek translation; it was also held by members of the Qumran community and by some authors of the period between the Old and New Testaments (the author of the "Book of Enoch", for example). All these interpreted the servant as standing for the entire people of Israel. Christians, from the beginning, applied the songs of the servant to Jesus, and saw them as finding fulfillment in his life. Thus, although the image of the "sharp sword" (v. 2) refers to the effectiveness of the word of God, in Hebrews 4:12-13 we find it used with reference to Revelation as a whole which is fully and perfectly manifested in Jesus Christ (cf. also Rev 1:16 and 2:12). We find the expression, "light to the nations" or "light to the peoples" being applied by Simeon to Jesus (Lk 2:32). Indeed, in the Acts of the Apostles it is applied to those who, in line with Jesus' teaching and as cooperators in his work of salvation, are setting out to preach to the Gentiles, as the words Paul and Barnabas speak in the synagogue of Psidian Antioch testify: "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, 'I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth" (Acts 13:46-47).
Hence the Church sees her mission as spreading the truth about Jesus, the light that enlightens everyone: "The light, of God's face shines in all its beauty on the countenance of Jesus Christ, 'the image of the invisible God' (Col 1:15), the 'reflection of God's glory' (Heb 1:3), 'full of grace and truth' (Jn 1:14). Christ is 'the way, and the truth, and the life' (Jn 14:6). [...] Jesus Christ, the 'light of the nations', shines: upon the face of his Church, which he sends forth to the whole world to proclaim the Gospel to every creature (cf. Mk 16:15). Hence the Church, as the people of God among the nations, while attentive to the new challenges of history and to mankind's efforts to discover the meaning of life, offers to everyone the answer which comes from the truth about Jesus Christ and his Gospel" (John Paul II, "Veritatis Splendor", 2).
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From: 1 Corinthians 1:1-3
Greeting
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[1] Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,
[2] To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
[3] Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Commentary:
1-9. With slight variations almost all St Paul's letters begin in the same kind of way: there is a greeting (vv. 1-3), which carries the name of the writer, information on the addressee(s), and the conventional phrase; and an act of thanksgiving to God (vv. 4-9), in which the Apostle refers to the main qualities and endowments of the Christians to whom he is writing. By comparing his letters with other letters that have come down to us from the same period, it is quite apparent that St Paul usually begins his letters in the style of the time. Yet he does not entirely follow this rigid pattern: he changes the usual opening--"Greeting!" (cf. Acts 15: 23; 23:26)--to this more personal one, which has a pronounced Christian stamp: "Grace to you and peace." Also, the way in which he introduces himself and describes those he is addressing tells much more than a simple "Paul to the Corinthians: greeting!" Even his words of thanksgiving convey tenderness and warmth -- and their tone is not merely human, for he attributes to God the virtues he praises in the faithful.
The Fathers of the Church have drawn attention to this characteristic of Paul's letters -- the way he manages to convey a deep doctrinal message in a familiar style, nicely suited to whomever he happens to be addressing: "A doctor", St John Chrysostom explains, "does not treat the patient in the same way at the start of his illness as when he is recovering; nor does a teacher use the same method with children as with those who need more advanced tuition. That is how the Apostle acts: he writes as suits the needs and the times" ("Hom. On Rom", Prologue).
1. St Paul attaches to his name three features which identify him -- his divine calling; his office as Apostle of Jesus Christ; and the will of God, the source of his apostolic vocation.
"Called": this is a carefully chosen word designed to convey the vigorous and personal way God called him. He calls all men to faith, to grace, to holiness, and to heaven (cf., e.g. Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:2; 1:26; 7:20; Eph 1:18). By defining himself as "called" (cf. Rom 1:1), St Paul is very probably referring to the episode on the road to Damascus (cf. Acts 9:1-19), when Christ changed his life, as he had earlier changed the lives of the Twelve.
"Apostle of Christ Jesus": Paul can find no stronger expression than this to describe his mission: he is forever applying this title to himself--thirty-five times by our reckoning. This fact of his apostleship is the basis of his authority – authority to praise, teach, admonish and correct orally and in writing. He is so totally identified with this mission that he has no other purpose than to pursue it; his life is dedicated to this end; all his thoughts, words and actions are aimed at achieving it. Humbly (because he once persecuted the Church: 1 Cor 15:9) and yet forthrightly (cf. 1 Cor 9:1-2) he puts himself on the same level as the Twelve as far as vocation and apostleship are concerned.
"By the will of God": the Apostle's energy and vitality are ascribable not to himself but to God, who had plans for Paul ever since he was in his mother's womb (Gal 1: 15); so much so that later in this letter he actually says, "If I preach the Gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel" (1 Cor 9:16).
"Our brother, Sosthenes": it is uncertain whether this was the same person as the ruler of the synagogue in Corinth mentioned in Acts (18:17). The prominent position given him here suggests that he was someone well-known to the community at Corinth, either for his ministry among them or because he often accompanied St Paul; he may have been the secretary, or scribe, who actually wrote the letter down (cf. 16:21).
2. "The church of God at Corinth": the addressee of the letter. The very grammar of the phrase emphasizes the fact that the Church is not the totality of the local communities: rather, each local community--here, the Christians of Corinth -- represents the whole Church, which is one and indivisible: "The Apostle calls it [the community] 'the church of God' in order to show that unity is one of its essential and necessary characteristics. The Church of God is one in its members and forms nothing but a single Church with all the communities spread throughout the world, for the word 'church' does not mean schism: it means unity, harmony, concord" (St John Chrysostom, "Hom on 1 Cor", 1, "ad loc".).
In another three brush-strokes St Paul here describes those who make up the Church -- those sanctified in Jesus Christ, those called to be saints, those who invoke the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
"Those sanctified in Christ Jesus": the faithful receive at Baptism the grace which makes them a holy people (cf. Ex 19:6; 1 Pet 2:9); the participle "sanctified" implies something stable, such as is the intimate union between the individual Christian and Jesus. The formula "in Christ Jesus" here refers to the fact that the baptized are grafted on to Christ like branches attached to a wine (cf. Jn l5:1ff); this link with Christ is what makes them saints, that is, sharers in God's own holiness; and it involves a duty to strive for moral perfection. "As those who profess any art, even though they depart from its rules, are still called artists, so in like manner the faithful, although offending in many things and violating the engagements to which they had pledged themselves, are still called holy, because they have been made the people of God and have consecrated themselves to Christ by faith and Baptism. Hence, St Paul calls the Corinthians sanctified and holy, although it is certain that among them there were some whom he severely rebuked as carnal, and charged with grosser crimes" ("St Pius V Catechism", I, 10, 15).
"Called to be saints": through faith and Baptism "all Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of love" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 40).
"Those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ": this circumlocution describes Christian believers (cf. Acts 9:14, 21; 22:16; Rom 10:12); what makes them different from others is that they worship Jesus Christ as Lord and God, in the same way as the faithful of the Old Covenant invoked the name of Yahweh. To be a member of the Church of God, therefore, it is essential that a person believe that Christ is God. "We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God. He is the eternal Word of the Father before time began, one in substance with the Father, "homoousios to Patri", through whom all things were made. He was incarnate of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit and was made man. 'Equal, therefore, to the Father according to his divinity, less than the Father according to his humanity, his unity deriving not from some impossible confusion of substance but from his Person"' (Paul Vl, "Creed of the People of God", 11).
3. Peace of soul, that "serenity of mind, tranquility of soul, simplicity of heart, bond of love, union of charity" of which St Augustine spoke ("De Verb. Dom. Serm.", 58), originates in the friendship with God which grace brings with it; it is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal 5:22-23). This is the only true kind of peace: "There is no true peace, just as there is no true grace, other than the grace and peace which come from God," St John Chrysostom teaches, "Possess this divine peace and you will have nothing to fear, even if you be threatened by the direct danger, whether from men or even from the demons themselves; whereas see how everything is a cause of fear for the man who is at war with God through sin" ("Hom. on 1 Cor", 1, "ad loc".).
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From: John 1:29-34
The Witness of John (Continuation)
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[29] The next day he (John the Baptist) saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! [30] This is He of whom I said, `After me comes a man who ranks before me, for He was before me.' [31] I myself did not know Him; but for this I came baptizing with water, that He might be revealed to Israel." [32] And John bore witness, "I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from Heaven, and it remained on Him. [33] I myself did not know Him; but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, `He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' [34] And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God."
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Commentary:
29. For the first time in the Gospel Christ is called the "Lamb of God". Isaiah had compared the sufferings of the Servant of Yahweh, the Messiah, with the sacrifice of a lamb (cf. Isaiah 53:7); and the blood of the paschal lamb smeared on the door of houses had served to protect the firstborn of the Israelites in Egypt (cf. Exodus 12:6-7): all this was a promise and prefiguring of the true Lamb, Christ, the victim in the sacrifice of Calvary on behalf of all mankind. This is why St. Paul will say that "Christ, our Paschal Lamb, has been sacrificed" (1 Corinthians 5:7). The expression "Lamb of God" also suggests the spotless innocence of the Redeemer (cf. 1 Peter 1:18-20; 1 John 3:5).
The sacred text says "the sin of the world", in the singular, to make it absolutely clear that every kind of sin is taken away: Christ came to free us from Original Sin, which in Adam affected all men, and from all personal sins.
The Book of Revelation reveals to us that Jesus is victorious and glorious in Heaven as the slain lamb (cf. Revelation 5:6-14), surrounded by saints, martyrs and virgins (Revelation 7:9, 14; 14:1-5), who render Him the praise and glory due Him as God (Revelation 7:10).
Since Holy Communion is a sharing in the sacrifice of Christ, priests say these words of the Baptist before administering it, to encourage the faithful to be grateful to our Lord for giving Himself up to death to save us and for giving Himself to us as nourishment for our souls.
30-31. John the Baptist here asserts Jesus' superiority by saying that He existed before him, even though He was born after him. Thereby he shows us the divinity of Christ, who was generated by the Father from all eternity and born of the Virgin Mary in time. It is as if the Baptist were saying: "Although I was born before Him, He is not limited by the ties of His birth; for although He is born of His mother in time, He was generated by His Father outside of time" (St. Gregory the Great, "In Evangelia Homiliae", VII).
By saying what he says in verse 31, the Precursor does not mean to deny his personal knowledge of Jesus (cf. Luke 1:36 and Matthew 3:14), but to make it plain that God revealed to him the moment when he should publicly proclaim Jesus as Messiah and Son of God, and that he also understood that his own mission as precursor had no other purpose than to bear witness to Jesus Christ.
32-34. To emphasize the divinity of Jesus Christ, the Evangelist includes here the Precursor's testimony regarding Jesus' Baptism (cf. the other Gospels, which describe in more detail what happened on this occasion: Matthew 3:13-17 and paragraph). It is one of the key points in our Lord's life, in which the mystery of the Blessed Trinity is revealed (cf. note on Matthew 3:16).
The dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, of whom it is said in Genesis 1:2 that He was moving over the face of the waters. Through this sign of the dove, the Isaiah prophecies (11:2-5: 42:1-2) are fulfilled which say that the Messiah will be full of the power of the Holy Spirit. The Baptist points to the great difference between the baptism he confers and Christ's Baptism; in John 3, Jesus will speak about this new Baptism in water and in the Spirit (cf. Acts 1:5; Titus 3:5).
"The Son of God": it should be pointed out that in the original text this expression carries the definite article, which means that John the Baptist confesses before his listeners the supernatural and transcendent character of Christ's messiahship -- very far removed from the politico-religious notion which Jewish leaders had forged.
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
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