SUMMARY
When he sees Jesus, John the Baptist proclaims him to be “the Lamb of God.”
ANALYSIS
John the BaptistJohn the Baptizer was the forerunner of Jesus the Messiah, preaching a gospel of repentance and preparing the way of the Lord. introduces JesusJesus is the Messiah whose life, death, and resurrection are God's saving act for humanity. as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” As a result of this testimony, the first two disciples begin following Jesus. Calling Jesus “the Lamb” draws in part on Old Testament traditions concerning the PassoverPassover commemorates the deliverance of the Hebrew people from Egypt as described in the book of Exodus. It is celebrated with worship and a meal on the fourteenth day of the month called Nisan, which is the first month of the Jewish year. The time... lamb. The Passover tradition celebrates Israel’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt. The people of Israel were told to sacrificeSacrifice is commonly understood as the practice of offering or giving up something as a sign of worship, commitment, or obedience. In the Old Testament grain, wine, or animals are used as sacrifice. In some New Testament writings Jesus' death on the cross as the... lambs and smear some of the blood around the doorposts of their houses in order to protect them from the destroyer, who slew the firstborn in the households of the Egyptians (Exodus 12). The sacrifice of lambs each year at the Jewish Festival of Passover commemorated this deliverance from death. The lamb imagery also draws on the description of the suffering servant of God, who is compared to a lamb that is led to the slaughter and is said to have taken upon himself the sin of others (IsaiahIsaiah, son of Amoz, who prophesied in Jerusalem, is included among the prophets of the eighth century BCE (along with Amos, Hosea, and Micah)--preachers who boldly proclaimed God's word of judgment against the economic, social, and religious disorders of their time. 53:6-7). According to John 19:14, Jesus was crucified on the D
ay of Preparation for the Passover, the day when the lambs were sacrificed. It was stipulated that no bone of a Passover lamb was to be broken, and John points out that none of Jesus’ bones was broken in the process of crucifixion. He dies as a perfect Passover sacrifice (Exodus 12:46; John 19:36).
