“Behold, the Lamb of God”

Part 2 of 2 - click here for part 1

Now that we have taken a look at the pre-figurement of Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God in the Old Testament, we turn our attention to the New Testament where we see Jesus fulfill his role as Lamb of God. We will also see how the Church, the apostles, and Church Fathers made the connection of Jesus being the Lamb of God.
 
The Last Supper/Mass (Luke 22:14-20)
On Holy Thursday, the night before Jesus was to be handed over, He had prepared one last meal with His apostles. Jesus said He “eagerly desired to eat this Passover” (Lk. 22:15) Jesus is now the Lamb of God who is about to be sacrificed. The unleavened bread He gives to the apostles as His Body and Blood. “Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.’ And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.’” (Lk. 22:19-20)
 
There is a lot to unpack from this event. First, this is the time of the Passover. This is the third Passover of Jesus’s public ministry. The first was at the Baptism of the Lord, when the Blessed Trinity was revealed. The Father’s voice was heard from the cloud and the Holy Spirit hovered over the Son of God, Jesus Christ. The second Passover was the feeding of the five thousand followed by the Bread of Life discourse recorded in the sixth chapter of the Saint John’s Gospel. The third and final Passover, which Jesus “eagerly desired to eat,” is that of His Sacrifice, His total gift of self. Jesus is the unblemished lamb that would be led to the slaughter. In Moses’ time, the blood of the lamb was spread on the doorposts and a covenant was made with God and His people. On Holy Thursday, a new covenant with the perfect lamb’s blood, Jesus Christ’s, would be shed so that the covenant could never be broken. Why couldn’t the covenant be broken? Jesus is God. He is eternal and therefore the covenant is the “new and eternal covenant.” [1] The death of Jesus is perfect, a pure sacrifice that is lacking nothing. The covenant is eternal as long as we remain with Jesus in His bride, the Church. He also offers the unleavened bread, which He says is His very body. In the original Passover, the Jewish people eat the unleavened bread with the meat of the lamb. In the Mass, Jesus is the Lamb of God; the Word made flesh gives Himself as bread. At the second Passover of His public ministry He says, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” [2] A year later at His third Passover, the Last Supper, Jesus fulfills His promise “the bread that I will give is my flesh.” Within the context of the Passover, unleavened bread becomes the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ. At this moment the Passover ceases to exist and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is instituted as the “new and eternal covenant.”
 
Jesus says “do this in memory of me.” In today’s society we misunderstand what Jesus is saying. He does not mean, recall what I did 2,000 years ago and look upon it fondly. “The Eucharist is the memorial of Christ’s Passover, the making present and the sacramental offering of his unique sacrifice, in the liturgy of the Church which is his Body. In the liturgical celebration of these events, they become in a certain way present and real. This is how Israel understands its liberation from Egypt: every time Passover is celebrated, the Exodus events are made present to the memory of believers so that they may conform their lives to them.” [3] In the same way that the Israelites celebrated Passover as real and present, Catholics understand Jesus Christ to be real and present in the Mass. This is not a mere spiritual presence, but a true or physical presence. The Mass is not just a memorial service and it is also not a re-killing of Jesus. “The Church teaches that the Mass is the re-presentation of the sacrifice of Calvary, which also is invariably misunderstood by anti-Catholics. The Catholic Church does not teach that the Mass is a re-crucifixion of Christ, who does not suffer and die again in the Mass.” [4] People and time change, but the one true sacrifice does not. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was once and for all. “The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: ‘The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different.’ ‘And since in who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and offered in an unbloody manner…this sacrifice is truly propitiatory.’” [5]
 
However, his Paschal Meal, His very Body is given to us all at every moment. “In the New Testament, the memorial takes on new meaning. When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, she commemorates Christ’s Passover, and it is made present: the sacrifice Christ offered once for all on the cross remains ever present. ‘As often as the sacrifice of the Cross by which ‘Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed’ is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out.’” [6]
 
St. Paul, St. Peter, St. John, and the Church Fathers
 
The image of Jesus being the ‘Lamb of God’ did not go unnoticed by the first apostles or the early Church Fathers.
 
St. Paul wrote, “Your boasting is not appropriate. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough? Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” [7]
 
St. Peter wrote, “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers…with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was destined before the foundation of the world but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake.” [8]
 
The Church Fathers also saw Jesus as the true Lamb of God.

St. Gregory of Nyssa (383AD) wrote, “Jesus offered himself for us, Victim and Sacrifice, and Priest as well, and ‘Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’ When did he do this? When he made his own Body food and his own Blood drink for his disciples; for this much is clear enough to anyone, that a sheep cannot be eaten by a man unless its being eaten is preceded by its being slaughtered. This giving of his own Body to his disciples for eating clearly indicates that the sacrifice of the Lambhas now been completed.” [9]
 
The Church and Book of Revelation
The Church has always been seen as the spotless bride of Christ. The Second Vatican Council wrote, “The Church, further, which is called ‘that Jerusalem which is above’ and ‘our mother’, is described as the spotless spouse of the spotless lamb. It is she whom Christ ‘loved and for whom he delivered himself up that he might sanctify her.’ It is she whom he unites to himself by an unbreakable alliance, and whom he constantly ‘nourishes and cherishes.’” [10]
 
The book of Revelation has over thirty references to Jesus as the Lamb of God. Revelation describes a wedding feast banquet and at the center of this heavenly feast is the slain lamb. “Then I saw standing in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and the elders, a Lamb that seemed to have been slain.” [11] The lamb surrounded by saints, martyrs and virgins, who render him the praise and glory due him as God. “I looked again and heard the voices of many angels who surrounded the throne and the living creatures and the elders. They were countless in number, and they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and blessing.’ Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, everything in the universe, cry out: ‘To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might forever and ever.’ The four living creatures answered, ‘Amen,’ and the elders fell down and worshiped.” [12]
 
We see from the beginning to the end of the Scriptures and in the Church that Jesus as the Lamb of God is an important and central figure. This is celebrated at every Mass.
 
The Mass
Finally, much of this lesson has pointed to the Mass. Where in the Liturgy do we hear the title ‘Lamb of God?’ The most predominant place is after the sign of peace when the priest and congregation chant, sing, or recite the Agnus Dei ‘Lamb of God.’ “It may be repeated as often as necessary, but the conclusion is always ‘Grant us Peace.’” [13] In America it is usually repeated three times. Once everyone kneels, the priest raises the host and chalice and says, “Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.” [14] At that moment we are taken back to the exact words of St. John the Baptist said in the Gospel Reading today, we are able to be aware of the magnitude of the moment. We are gazing at our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. We are at the Last Supper, the supper of the Paschal Lamb, Jesus Christ.
 
How old is the Agnus Dei in the Liturgy? The Agnus Dei at the Communion Rite has been in the Liturgy since the 6^th century. Agnus Dei is also found in the Gloria in excelsis Deo which has been in the Liturgy since the 2^nd and 3^rd centuries. In the Gloria in excelsis Deo we pray “Lamb of God, Son of the Father, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us; you take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer; you are seated at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.”

How is the image of the Lamb of God portrayed? In many churches there are stain glass windows or some sort of artwork portraying the Lamb of God. “Various aspects show the animal balancing a staff by its right front leg, with a wound in its chest pouring blood into a chalice, representing Christ’s Blood in the Passion; the staff bearing a flag signifying Christ’s victory in the Resurrection; the lamb resting or standing on a closed book with its seven sealed streamers symbolizing Christ as the judge. The lamb is the emblem of docility; ‘harshly dealt with, he bore it humbly, he never opened his mouth like the lamb that is led to the slaughter house’ (Isaiah 53:7). But the lamb triumphant is portrayed symbolically in the song ascribed to St. Ambrose, ‘Now at the Lamb’s high royal feast.” [15]
 
Search: The Virtue of Docility (Part I)
Search: The Virtue of Docility (Part 2)
 
Why is the image of Jesus as the Lamb of God important to the Christian? The Christian imitates the Lamb of God in patience, docility, and resignation to do the will of God. “In the Old Law a lamb was one of the usual animals of sacrifice. Jesus Christ is the one true Lamb, who atoned for and effaced the sins of the world in His blood. His designation as a Lamb refers also to the patience and voluntary resignation with which He subjected Himself to suffering and death.” [16] The Christian must have the voluntary resignation to do the will of God, patience in discerning the will of God, and fortitude in uniting our will with the will of God. The Blessed Virgin lived perfectly Saint John the Baptist’s words, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” The Lamb of God was all that Mary beheld from the annunciation forward. We ask the Blessed Virgin Mary’s intercession to better practice the virtues of patience and resignation to the holy will of God.

[1] The Order of the Mass, The Liturgy of the Eucharist
[2] John 6:51
[3] CCC 1362
[4] http://www.catholic.com/tracts/the-institution-of-the-mass
[5] CCC 1367
[6] CCC 1364
[7] 1 Cor. 6-8
[8] 1 Pet. 1:18-20
[9] "Orations and Sermons" [Jaeger: Vol 9, p. 287] ca. 383 A.D.
[10] Lumen Gentium 6
[11] Rev. 5:6
[12] Rev. 5:11-14
[13] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary, pg. 17
[14] The Order of the Mass, The Communion Rite
[15] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary pg. 307
[16] Roman Catholic Daily Missal; 1962; The Agnus Dei