The Baptism in the Jordan

Saint John the Baptist was standing by the river Jordan with a couple of his disciples, when he saw Jesus walking past. John looked at Him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God; "Behold Him Who takes away the sins of the world." 

These are words we hear at every Mass right before receiving Holy Communion. They are so familiar that we may have never stopped to ask, “Why do we say that,” especially when you look at it in light of John 1:29-34: And John gave testimony, saying: I saw the Spirit coming down, as a dove from heaven, and he remained upon him. And I knew him not; but he who sent me to baptize with water, said to me: He upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining upon him, he it is that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and I gave testimony, that this is the Son of God. [32-34]

Although John recognised that Jesus is the Son of God, he did not  say, “Behold, the Son of God,” instead of saying, “the Lamb of God” There was a good reason for this and it takes us both back to the Old Testament, specifically Genesis and Exodus and forward to the Book of Revelation.  

1] Genesis 22:6-8
And he took the wood for the holocaust, and laid it upon Isaac his son: and he himself carried in his hands fire and a sword. And as they two went on together, Isaac said to his father: My father. And he answered: What wilt thou, son? Behold, saith he, fire and wood: where is the victim for the holocaust? And Abraham said: God will provide himself a victim for an holocaust, my son. So they went on together.

The place of sacrifice was Mount Moriah where Jesus was later crucified. God did indeed provide the victim for the sacrifice, His Lamb.

2] Exodus 12
We are told that the father of each family had to procure for his family a lamb. The lamb had to be a male without blemish and it was to be sacrificed at the evening twilight.. That is precisely what our heavenly Father has done. 

Saint John’s Gospel gives us a timeline that is based on the lunar calendar instead of the solar calendar. Accordingly, the time at which Our Lord was sacrificed was exactly the same time that the lambs would be sacrificed in the temple. John was indicating that Jesus is the Passover Lamb, that He is the sacrifice that God our Father has made on behalf of His own children.

In the Book of Revelation 5:5, we hear about the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the One Who is victorious, the One Who is found worthy to open the book that was sealed with the seven seals. It is exactly what you see in the middle of the altar if you look at it carefully, the Lamb who is upon the book with the seven seals. But in this vision of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Saint John suddenly sees a Lamb Who had been slain. The Lamb and the Lion are one and the same. This fulfills what had been prophesied regarding Judah at the end of the Book of Genesis, and it also fulfills God's promised through Abraham.

John the Baptist
John's ministry was spent trying to prepare the people of Israel for the imminent arrival of the Messiah. John preached the same message to everybody, but they put their own interpretation on what he said, much as we do today. People tend to hear what they want to hear, except where they have innocent hearts. We measure others with our own yard-stick.

One group of people took his message to heart, repented, were baptised and prepared themselves to be ready for the One to come. When Jesus appeared at the bend in the Jordan, they were predisposed to accept Him.

Then there were those who were a bit sceptical and adopted a wait and see attitude, some of them John's own disciples.

The last group were those John called a "brood of vipers". They also prepared, but not with repentance. They prepared to watch and wait, not to see if Jesus really was the Messiah, but to see if He could be manipulated and used for their own purposes.  
 
More to come . . .