The Lamb of God

Today's Reading:
AM - Psalm 37:1-18
PM - Psalm 37:19-42
Gospel - John 1:29-34

For reflection: What does it mean to you that Jesus was the Lamb of God?

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Lent reminds us that we are human.  We hear humanness in the refrain for Ash Wednesday: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” We experience humanness in traditional Lenten practices. If I give up a certain food or a meal for Lent, for example, I inevitably discover my attachment to eating what I want, when I want it—a process that serves to remind me both of the God I aim to desire more than food and my fellow humans who don’t have regular meals. From the time we are born to the time we return to the dust, life is filled with humanness—strength and weakness; beauty and ugliness; despair and rejoicing; excitement and boredom; love and sin.

Sin. As humans, we have all had our encounters with sin.  We have been mesmerized by its sparkling exterior. We have recoiled at seeing it lurking in our own hearts.  We have witnessed its crushing effects.  It is such a powerful force that the first words John the Baptist exclaims upon seeing Jesus for the first time in the gospel of John are, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” He takes away the sin of the world: pride, selfishness, greed, and along with it injustice and oppression.  He takes away the sin that infests our lives and plagues our societies so that we may learn to live the human lives God intended for us.

- Tera Harmon