"Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." This is the first testimony about Jesus given by any human person in John's Gospel, and it is given by that greatest of the prophets, John the Baptist. It is intended to colour all that we read about Jesus in that Gospel. It became an important title for Jesus in the Church, a title we use in three separate parts of the Mass. There is, of course, that part of the Mass we call the Lamb of God, the Agnus Dei. As the Bread of Life is broken so that we can receive Him, we pray three times, "Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world." In the Gloria, we pray, "Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us." And just before communion, the priest holds up the host and proclaims, with the Baptist, "This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world."

Now, I don't really expect you people to understand this imagery of the Lamb of God. Not because you're dumb or illiterate in matters of scripture and liturgy. It's just that you don't' have the relevant experience to exercise your intelligence on. You see, when you talk about lamb in Canada, it's nearly always New Zealand lamb. And there's the rub. For there's just no way you can use New Zealand lamb, or anything New Zealandish really, as an analogy for Jesus. Your proclivity for New Zealand lamb - for which I can't blame you, since you don't really know better - it leaves you blinded when it comes to deeper realities. It requires an Aussie, perhaps, to remove the New Zealand wool from your eyes. So let's spend a bit of time looking at three strands of thought woven into this image, all of which combine to deepen our understanding of who Jesus is. Also, in this Year of the Eucharist that the Pope had proclaimed, we might find some deeper understanding of those parts of the Mass where Jesus is referred to as the Lamb of God.

Firstly, of course, there is the Passover Lamb. When God was ready to free his people from their captivity in Egypt, he commanded them to sprinkle the doors of their houses with the blood of a lamb. This would be the sign that the angel of God should pass over those houses and keep them safe from the destruction that was to come. And year by year, the people of Israel continue to remember and celebrate this occasion, eating a lamb as their ancestors had done on that first Passover, and through this ritual, remembering all the ways in which God had freed them in the past and had continued to free them from harm of any sort. The lamb here spoke of liberation.

It's clear that the writer of John's Gospel wanted to make this connection between Jesus and the Passover Lamb. Firstly, he structures his Gospel around three Passover celebrations in Jerusalem. At the first Passover, in John Chapter 2, Jesus clears the Temple. At the second Passover, in John Chapter 6, Jesus multiplies the bread and speaks about himself as the Bread of Life. The third Passover forms the setting for Jesus' passion and death. As these events are prepared for and then unfold, we are reminded ten times that it is the time of the Passover festival (Jn 11:55, 56; 12.1, 12, 20; 13.1, 29; 18.28, 39; 19.14). But not only does John want to make a general connection between Jesus and the Passover ceremony. He also makes specific connections between Jesus and the Passover Lamb. The whole point of the Passover pilgrimage to Jerusalem was to take your Paschal Lamb to the priests who would slaughter and prepare them for the Passover feast. John is at pains to point out that Jesus' crucifixion occurred precisely on this "Day of Preparation," when the lambs were being slaughtered in the Temple. Three times he makes this point: "Pilate…sat on the judge's bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon." (Jn 19.13-14). At the death of Jesus, the story again points out that it was the day the Passover lambs were killed: "He bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews…asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed." (Jn 19.30-31) Here, by the way, the fact that Jesus had already died and did not need to have his legs broken points to another connection with the Passover Lamb, for the Israelites were commanded not to break any of its bones (Ex 12.46). Finally, when Jesus is taken from the cross, we are reminded again what day it is: "It was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there." (Jn 19.42)

For John, then, the first meaning of the Baptist's statement, "Here is the Lamb of God," is that Jesus is the true Passover Lamb. Jesus is the one who brings to fulfilment God's plan of liberation, that plan which began that first Passover night, when God protected his people from death and rescued them from slavery in Egypt. Jesus, like the Passover Lamb, is about liberation. You'd never have worked out that by reflecting on New Zealand lamb.

The second allusion in the Baptist's description of Jesus as the Lamb of God comes from the Songs of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah, one of which we heard in the today's first reading. We hear many of these songs read during Lent and Holy Week. They are texts that the Church, from its earliest days, has found helpful in understanding the mystery of Christ's suffering and death. The lamb reference comes in the context of this passage: "He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity... We accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. Upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed…He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth…He was cut off from the land of the living…My servant shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities…he poured out himself to death." (Is 53:3-5, 7-9, 11-12)

Three points are significant here. Firstly, the suffering servant is as innocent as a lamb going to be slaughtered. "He had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth." (Is 53.9) What he suffers is not the result of any bad choices on his part, any dividedness, any complicity in violence or destructiveness. What he suffers is the effect of the sins of others - the effects of our sins, the results of our resentment, our violence, our self-pity, our injustice, our selfishness, our shame, our rejection of God. "He has borne our infirmities, carried our diseases." (Is 53.4) He stands with us, as he stood with us at his baptism - standing shoulder to shoulder with sinners, indistinguishable from them, numbered with the transgressors (Is 53.12) - and he stands with us to the end, ready to bear whatever burdens this solidarity with sinners will entail. Secondly, Jesus does this for us and for our salvation. His suffering "made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed." (Is 53.5) He does this so that we might have life and have it to the full (Jn 10.10). "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but may have eternal life." (Jn 3.16) Thirdly, Jesus does this freely, out of love. A lamb is overpowered by a greater force and has no choice in the matter; it has its life taken from it. But not the Lamb of God. Jesus says, "I lay down my life... No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down." (Jn 10:17-18). Power to lay down my life. That greatest of powers, the power to surrender, to let oneself go into the hands of God, to give oneself completely in self-gift.

"I have the power to lay my life down," Jesus says. And he continues, "I have the power to take it up again" (Jn 10.18). This is the third image of the Lamb. We have seen the liberating Lamb, the Lamb standing with the transgressors. Now we have the victorious, resurrected Lamb bringing about God's final victory. In scripture, we find this lamb in the Book of Revelation. Again, three points are relevant. Firstly, the Lamb had clearly been slain; his blood has ransomed a holy people from "from every tribe and language and people and nation," making them "a kingdom and priests serving God." (Rev 5.9-10). But having been slain, the Lamb is now alive, victorious over death (Rev 5.6, 12; 13.8). Secondly, this Lamb is the centre of heavenly worship. "I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne…; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, singing with full voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!' Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing, "To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!" (Rev 5:11-13) Thirdly, this is a Lamb whose wedding supper is the culmination of God's plan. "Then I heard … the voice of a great multitude, crying out, 'Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.'" (Rev 19.6-7) We, the Church, are that bride, the bride of Christ. Intimate covenant union with Christ is our goal, our end, the fulfilment of our every real desire. And that marriage relationship has begun. Our marriage covenant with Him began in baptism. It is renewed in every Eucharist, our body united with His. The Jesus we receive in this Eucharist is the Lamb who liberates, the Lamb carrying our burdens, the Lamb leading us to ultimate fulfilment. He is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world; happy are those who are called to his supper.