Second Sunday in Ordinary Time — “Behold the Lamb of God”

The Church moves today from celebration to mission.

Christmas has ended.
The feasts are quieter now.
But what the Church gives us today is not less important — it is more direct.

Today the Gospel does not ask us to marvel. It asks us to look.

“Behold the Lamb of God.”

These words are so familiar that we risk hearing them without weight.

We hear them at every Mass. We respond automatically.

And yet, John the Baptist’s words are among the most profound
ever spoken about Jesus.

John does not say:
“Here is the teacher.”
“Here is the prophet.”
“Here is the miracle-worker.”

He says: “Here is the Lamb.”

To understand that word is to understand the Gospel.

In the first reading from Isaiah, we hear about the Servant of the Lord.

This Servant is chosen before birth, formed in secret,
called not only to restore Israel but to be “a light to the nations.”

The Servant’s mission is universal. God’s salvation is never private.

But the Servant’s path is not one of triumphal power.

Isaiah’s Servant will save
through obedience,
through suffering,
through faithfulness.

This prepares us for John’s declaration.

When John calls Jesus the Lamb, he is drawing together
the whole history of Israel.

The Passover lamb — whose blood marked the doors
so that death would pass over.

The daily lambs offered in the Temple — morning and evening,
for the sins of the people.

And the suffering servant — led like a lamb to the slaughter.

John is saying something breathtaking:

Jesus is the sacrifice.
Jesus is the offering.
Jesus is the one through whom sin is taken away.

Taken away, not ignored.
Not excused. Taken away.

That phrase matters.

Sin is not simply forgiven as if it did not matter.

It is confronted, carried, and removed.

This is why John adds: “who takes away the sin of the world.”

Not just my sin. Not just your sin.The sin of the world.

All that distorts creation.
All that breaks communion.
All that wounds the human heart.

Jesus comes not merely to improve behaviour, but to redeem reality.

John then says something surprising. “I did not know him.”

This is not ignorance in the ordinary sense. John knows who Jesus is.

But he means something deeper.

He did not know how Jesus would fulfil God’s plan until God revealed it.

John’s role is not to explain everything. It is to point.

That is the heart of Christian witness.

“I saw the Spirit descend and remain on him.” The Spirit remains.

This is crucial. In the Old Testament, the Spirit comes and goes.

In Jesus, the Spirit abides.

Jesus is not merely inspired by God.
He is the one in whom God dwells fully.

And then John says the final, decisive line:

“I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

The Gospel today is about recognition.

Not everyone sees.
Not everyone understands.

But John sees enough to point beyond himself.

This brings us to St Paul in the second reading.

Paul writes to a community already struggling.

Divisions, misunderstandings, pride.

And how does he begin?

Not with criticism.
Not with authority.

He reminds them who they are.

“Called to be saints.”

Not later. Not when perfect. Now.

Holiness is not an achievement. It is a calling.

And it is rooted not in self-improvement,
but in belonging to Christ.

This matters because the Lamb of God is not a concept. He is a person
who calls us into relationship. And that relationship changes us.

The Second Sunday of Ordinary Time asks a simple but demanding question:

Do we recognise Jesus for who he truly is?

Not who we would prefer him to be.

Not a comfortable teacher.
Not a harmless moral guide.

But the Lamb — the one who takes away sin.

Because recognising Jesus means recognising our need.

The Lamb is only necessary if sin is real.

If we deny sin, the Gospel becomes a hobby.

If we take sin seriously, the Lamb becomes essential.

This is why the words we hear at Mass are so important.

“Behold the Lamb of God.”

The priest is not pointing to an idea.

He is pointing to the living Christ made present sacramentally.

The same Jesus John pointed to.
The same Jesus who was offered.
The same Jesus who takes away sin.

And we respond: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof.”

That response is not humiliation. It is truth.

And truth is always the doorway to grace.

This Sunday is about mission because once we have seen the Lamb,
we cannot keep him to ourselves.

John’s disciples hear his words and follow Jesus. John steps back.

That is authentic faith. Not drawing attention to ourselves.
Not controlling outcomes.

Pointing — and letting Christ do the rest.

Many people today are not hostile to Jesus. They simply do not see him.

Our task is not to win arguments. It is to witness.

To live in such a way that others can say: There is something different here.

John does not make himself the centre. Neither should we.

The Church exists to point to the Lamb.

To say, again and again, to a wounded world:

Here is the one who takes away sin.
Here is the one who brings healing.
Here is the one who gives peace.

The Second Sunday of Ordinary Time quietly points.

And it asks us to decide whether we will look — and follow.

With Jesus or against Him, conversion or resistance, life or death, light or darkness, truth or self deception, repentance or rebellion — the Gospel leaves us no middle ground.

The Lamb stands before us: either we follow Him and let Him take away our sin, or we refuse and keep our sins — there is no third way.